It appears that South Korean developer SHIFT UP has made an alleged faux pas for American snowflakes who are considered videogame journalists to froth at the mouth over when it comes to Stellar Blade. Up until its release, the video game industry had been up-in-arms over the “oversexualization” of Stellar Blade’s female protagonist Eve. But this time, the cry of outrage wasn’t about toxic masculinity or the sexual deviancy present in this outrageous game from the East. Instead, it was a graffitied word “Hard” next to a neon sign that reads “R Shop” for video game journalists to suddenly think that Stellar Blade’s Hard R stood for the term “nagger.”
Wait…that’s not the right word?
Journalists, who played the game before its release so they could squeeze out their grudging reviews most likely filled with subtle snipes at the game to undermine it as much as possible, had acknowledged that the “R Shop” in a circulating screenshot references an information broker named Roxanne. Yet, instead of thinking that maybe that the words combined might have meant Hard Roxanne shop or Hard Rox Shop akin to the Hard Rock Cafe; that couldn’t be the case.
Instead, they overwhelmingly came to the same conclusion that it is an intentional reference to the word “nigger:” a racial slur targeted at black people. Anyone who isn’t obsessed with racism or isn’t a racist in America, wouldn’t have come to the same conclusion or even make a connection with the graffiti and the Roxanne shop reference. Not to mention that gamers outside of America wouldn’t have made the connection at all. But for IGN and Kotaku, among the other bastions of wokeness in the video game industry, they were quick to spot the “unintentional objectionable phrase” and bring Sony to task.
The collective outcry from these proletariat snowflakes resulted in a quick response from Sony that put out the following statement:
“The placement of two graphics near each other in Stellar Blade resulted in an unintentional objectionable phrase. Shift Up had no intention of creating offensive artwork and will be replacing the graffiti for the Day 1 patch.“
So what will the word “hard” be replaced with? “Crime” will be the word replacing “Hard” thus giving us the word “Crimer” or “Crimer Shop.”
Frankly, the whole situation feels like that funny South Park episode which did something similar. You know, the one where Randy Marsh is on Jeopardy and has to solve the puzzle that was a word for someone who annoys you. It was one of the most brilliant and hilarious scenes from that show which separated the racists from the non-racists. It is also reminiscent of woke journalists freaking out over Resident Evil 5 being set in West Africa which they declared to be racist: all because it is set it in Africa and the zombie hordes gamers shoot down are Africans.
In the case of Stellar Blade’s “Hard R” incident, it feels like a similar litmus test for the self-righteous journalists who are either racist or they aren’t. However, in the spirit of fair play, there is a slight justification that the “Hard R” was intentional but, before you try to say “AH-HA,” not for malicious reasons.
For a while now, Koreans have used the term “nigga” in pop culture and as a part of their lingo in some cases. Yet it isn’t used as a slur, but as another way of saying “my dog” or “my homie.” The first time I noticed them using “niggas” was when I was listing to the Korean hip hop group Drunken Tiger back in the late 1990s and their song “Return of the Tiger.” They used the term a number of times, but it was used the same way that African Americans used the term amongst themselves.
In fact, this isn’t just regulated to Korea but other Asian countries which have adopted the term for similar usage as African Americans. They are mimicking hip hop and rap culture and are mostly not aware that it is a term steeped in racism. Why? Because they really like hip hop and rap.
Nothing malicious about that.
As someone who has been the recipient of the N-word many times throughout my own life because of my ethnic heritage, I am not offended or would have even thought to connect Stellar Blade’s “Hard R” phrase. It feels more like journalists and faux woke junkies were desperate to find something to pin on the developer and the game.
They found something, but it really isn’t anything. In fact, some believe that it was a coordinated attack by journalists given how quickly the articles were published and the rapid response from Sony.
But I do hope that, if Stellar Blade comes to PC, they will release it fully uncensored no matter what these video game journalists have to say.
By the way, I would recommend you check out Drunken Tiger.
They were pretty awesome!
Update: A petition has a been created to #FreeStellarBlade as well as gamers are urged to cancel their PlayStation Plus subscriptions.
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