YandereDev

About

YandereDev is the online handle of Alexander Mahan, the developer of the stealth-action video game Yandere Simulator. Online, many have criticized Mahan's coding skills as subpar and his work schedule as inconsistent, a combination of which has lead to the game being in development for over six years with no estimated date of release. This has resulted in YandereDev being antagonized by a large part of the Yandere Simulator community and him becoming a subject of memes and mockery.

Online History

On April 1st, 2014, Alexander "YandereDev" Mahan, previously known as EvaXephon, pitched an idea for a "yandere simulator" on 4chan's /v/ board,^[1] asking other users to brainstorm ideas for the game, with several more threads^[2][3][4] being created in the following days.

On April 2nd, 2014, YandereDev announced that he started the development of the game,^[2] launching a development blog^[5] and a YouTube^[6] channel on April 4th, 2014. The channel accumulated over 1.2 million subscribers in three years and over 2.7 million subscribers in six years. On the same day, YandereDev posted a prototype video for the game.^[7]

The game gained significant online notoriety in 2015 after it was discovered by popular YouTubers such as PewDiePie^[8] and Markiplier^[9] (Let's Play videos shown below).

The development of the game continued in the following years, with the process being significantly hindered by YandereDev's insufficient programming abilities, his inconsistent work schedule and his unwillingness to accept external help. This resulted into growing antagonism towards YandereDev from a large part of the game's userbase. This antipathy first became evident in June 2018, when YandereDev posted videos "The Photography Club and Sleuths in Yandere Simulator"^[10] and "Where's Osana?"^[11] on YouTube. The comment sections of the videos were subsequently flooded with criticism and comments about the partnership between the developer and tinyBuild being severed. YandereDev then disabled comments on the second video, later also disabling comments on his personal blog. The actions lead to an increased amount of negative discussions about the developer on Discord, Reddit and other platforms, particularly discussions bringing up Mahan's "cringy" past, such as the notorious video of YandereDev drinking milk from a chalice.

On June 11th, 2018, YandereDev^[12] made a blog post addressing the wave of criticism.

There are people in this world whose hobby is shaming and ridiculing other people. Digging for dirt in other peoples’ lives is their favorite past-time. Humiliating their victims is like a recreational activity for them. They’ll go as deep as they possibly can into your personal life and look for absolutely any quote, screenshot, or chat log that can be used against you. They’re not doing it for any noble reason; they just enjoy the cruelty of it.

On June 19th, 2018, YouTuber^[13] Mayonaka posted a video titled "WR speedrun banned from Yandere Dev server Only Kiwifarms no youtube Only Keyblade Critical Lvl1 run" in which he got himself banned from the Offical Yandere Simulator Discord^[14] server by posting a meme based on an old photograph of YandereDev. On the same day, YouTube^[15] user ToadDan posted a similar video titled "YandereSim Server Ban (No BLJ) Former WR (0:06)." The videos received over 12,800 and 255,700 views in one and a half years, respectively (shown below, left and right).

On June 10th, 2019, Twitter^[16] user @SeasonalPhotos posted an Are Ya Winning, Son? meme based on an old photograph of YandereDev (shown below, left). The tweet received over 290 retweets and 1,100 likes.

The amount of mockery aimed at YandereDev through memes saw a significant increase starting in November 2019, when on November 20th, Twitter^[17] user @ShibeAlt_92 reposted the meme, gaining over 4,300 retweets and 22,600 likes (tweet shown below, left). On November 21st, 2019, Twitter^[18] user @blarksyy posted the image in the YandereDev's Discord server and reported being banned within several seconds after posting the image (tweet shown below, right).

This, as well as a November 23rd, 2019, YouTube^[19] reupload of a video of YandereDev drinking milk from a chalice, self-recorded by YandereDev at an unknown point before February 26, 2010, resulted into YandereDev receiving much mockery online in December 2019 and January and February 2020 through the YandereDev Discord Ban Speedruns trend and through the spread of Consume the Cum Chalice meme.

#RIPYandereDev

While the online mockery of YandereDev somewhat subsided in the March-June 2020 period, it regained popularity after on July 12th, 2020, Twitter^[20] account @YandereDevOOC tweet a screenshot of a Discord message from YandereDev to DrApeis (DrAieius), the developer of Yandere Simulator-inspired video game Lovesick, reading, "If the cost of Yandere Simuilator was ending a person's life, I'd cancel development." On July 13th, Twitter^[21] user @RoesellieQueen tweeted a screenshot of a March 3rd, 2019, conversation between YandereDev and EpicMealDev, the developer of Watashi No Mono, a game inspired by Yandere Simulator. In the conversation, YandereDev attempted to convince HomemadeMeal to abort his project, claiming that Watashi No Mono was a sham project of poor quality that was being used by YandereDev's opponents as a justification for harassing him. Additional screenshots of Discord conversations between YandereDev and DrApeis were posted by other users starting on July 13th.^[22]

@YandereDevOOC's and @RoesellieQueen's tweets received over 1,700 retweets and comments and 8,900 likes and over 2,700 retweets and comments and 10,000 likes in three days. This resulted in #RIPYandereDev hashtag reaching trending on Twitter^[23] between the hours of 6am and 9am EST on July 14th, with Twitter users tweeting about YandereDev's conflict with DrAieius, YandereDev's previous failings and posting memes about him.

On July 15th, 2020, Yandere Dev tweeted about the conflict,^[24] saying that he had never threatened suicide.

Personal Life

Alexander "YandereDev" Mahan is an independent American game developer residing in California. He was born on June 30th, 1988. Prior to his work on Yandere Simulator, he worked for a video game company for a period of three years.^[25]

Related Memes

Yandere Simulator

Yandere Simulator is a stealth-action video game developed by YandereDev. In the game, players control a Japanese highschool student named Ayano "Yan-Chan" Aishi, who must eliminate other students who compete for her love interest.

YandereDev's Discord Ban Speedruns

YandereDev's Discord Ban Speedruns refers to a parody speedrun category which involves the runner getting themselves banned from the Discord server owned by the developer of the Yandere Simulator Alexander Mahan, known as YandereDev, as quickly as possible. The goal was usually achieved by posting memes referencing YandevDev's past, particularly a video of him drinking milk from a chalice, or memes poking fun at his coding abilities. On February 3rd, 2020, YandereDev locked his Discord server in order to stop the raids.

Consume the Cum Chalice

Consume the Cum Chalice refers to a viral video of Yandere Simulator developer YandereDev toasting with a glass chalice filled with milk and drinking from it. In January and February 2020, a GIF-based on the video captioned "Consume the Cum Chalice," which implied that the chalice contained semen, gained popularity, largely in connection to YandereDev being criticized online, and as a method of getting banned from his server. The GIF inspired redraws and similar memes, with the caption also gaining online recognition.

Search Interest

External References