South Korean game studio Shift Up recently posted a developer interview video to celebrate the third anniversary of its RPG Goddess of Victory: NIKKE. And as reported by Automation Media and ThisIsGame, during this video, the studio’s director Hyungsuk Yoo took a hard stance against “hateful expressions” in the popular RPG, saying: “We will never tolerate anyone intentionally inserting hate speech into NIKKE or approaching the game with that mindset.”
However, the devs don’t directly mention what this is in reference to in the video; it’s very likely an attempt to address a controversial situation involving a piece of art created for NIKKE and an odd conspiracy online involving a pinched hand gesture that many men in South Korea believe mocks men with small penises.
In August, to celebrate the game’s 1,000th day in operation, a piece of artwork was released. Some South Korean men online alleged that two characters in the artwork were covertly flashing the pinched fingers gesture. Shift Up quickly apologized, edited the image to remove the gestures, and blamed the whole incident on an overseas team responsible for the art. But that hasn’t stopped many online players from continuing to harass the devs and leave angry comments. So the recent commitment against “hateful expressions” is seen by many as the studio’s latest attempt to calm things down.
It’s unlikely this will work, though, as the “Crab Hand” gesture has become a widely embraced conspiracy theory among many men in South Korea who believe it to be connected to a feminist movement in the country that some believe went too far. As a result of this situation, many, many companies have faced backlash for artwork or ads that seem to include “crab hands”, even when it seems obvious that the art wasn’t intended to mock or the hands are only vaguely pinched.
