Just Canceled My SFV Pre-Order

So, I finally went through with it. I decided to cancel my Pre-Order for Street Fighter V. And it is, indeed, for the silly reason you might expect. An ass slap.

Recently, with the upcoming Street Fighter sequel info rolling in, a bit of a change was noticed and took over the fanbase by storm. R. Mika, the SFIII veteran and wrestling champ had a bit where she would slap her ass to taunt the opponent. It was amusing. However, Capcom has since gone back and re-edited the scene, removing the slap from view. Their later explanation was that they decided to remove it to avoid possibly offending anyone, and ostracizing players.

I'm an M. Bison guy. He's my main in every version of Street Fighter so far. The chances of me bothering to pick up R. Mika were slim. But I loved her over the top ridiculousness in her debut trailer. The whole thing made me laugh out loud. But this idea of censoring your work to avoid offending people is not funny in the least. It's a damn ridiculous move made by a ridiculous character in a cast of ridiculous stereotypes. That's part of the fun of Street Fighter. If you're offended by ANY of the nonsense in the games, you need a severe reality check. For Capcom to go out of their way to make this change is... worrying. This is not something they should be focusing on and in turn have made a stupid little taunt into something that pushes people to decide to spend their money elsewhere.

People don't have the right to not be offended. In fact, people should do their best to BE offensive. Offending people is not some sort of crime, it is an aid. When something offends you, it is a moment for you to look inside and analyze an element of yourself. Figure out why this particular thing offends you and grow as a person. One of the greatest comedians ever was George Carlin. The man TRIED to be offensive because some of the things people wig out over are ridiculous. You use the offensive material to push the boundaries because there are so many little things in this world that people balloon out of proportion. A chain of letters forms a particular word that somehow becomes a "Curse Word". It's letters, a sound, the words themselves have no value beyond the intent behind them. You can express affection with a string of "Fuck!"s as easily as you can wound with words of love. The words themselves are meaningless. And we NEED people out there pushing the boundaries. An ass slap is meaningless. And the intent behind the ass slap was not some greater statement about women as objects or some such. It's a joke. However, by removing it, you made it into something else.

I will always support creators in whatever mad idea they wish to follow. I'll criticize choices sure, but if you 100% feel something is creatively needed for whatever you are doing, go for it. However, I will NOT support someone shying away from POSSIBLY offending anyone. This tells me you are no longer trying to have fun, make something cool, letting something live unto itself, you're making a product. A bit of plastic and data with all the edges shaved off to please the most amount of people possible. I have zero respect for that mindset. It is a product, but as creators you have a responsibility to that product to make it as it needs to be made. If it is a good product, people will flock to it. But to do something like this shows you are not trying to make the product itself the best possible, it says you are trying to make it the most consumable. And that should be far more disrespectful to everyone that the idea of a single character who decided to smack her own ass.

I have no doubt SFV will be a blast to play. But I am absolutely fine coming back and adding the game to my collection in the distant future. Until then, I just picked up a copies of SFII and Super SFII for the Sega Genesis. I can play those and not worry about paying $60 for a game that offends me.