Some Social Justice Warriors are attempting to get Eroge Japan’s visual novel Trap Shrine removed from Steam and to force the developers to change the name of the game because they claim that the word “Trap” is harmful to transgenders and that it gets “trans folk killed”.

The barrage against Eroge Japan, whose title recently released on Steam, was initiated by an enmity-filled tweet that was sent out on April 2nd, 2019. Twitter Mombot captured the entire conversation between the Twitter user and Eroge Japan, who was confused at how the word “Trap” could get people killed.

This person must be one of those right-wing Evangelical Christians that Matt Myers talked about. pic.twitter.com/Z5jqFgFINn — Best Mom Eva (@mombot) April 2, 2019

The relevant tweet that started it all is pictured below, which was captured after the original account that tweeted out the call for a removal of the game protected their tweets.

Eroge Japan attempted to quell the rage by explaining that the game, Trap Shrine, is a humorous, romantic comedy, but their pleas for calmness weren’t being reciprocated.

Humor depends on the allowance of the person. This is 100% fictional story, and nothing to do with real incident or person. As you can see in the review, there is no motivation for hate or murder to trans people after reading this VN. — Eroge Japan (@eroge_japan) April 2, 2019

Please do not be threatening. The meaning of the word varies by the usage, time, occasion. Did you see anyone who enjoyed our game using the word “trap” for slur or murder to trans people?

In our game reviews, It is used as a nutral or positive word. — Eroge Japan (@eroge_japan) April 2, 2019

Things continued to snowball, as others joined in on the fray, claiming that “trap” was a harmful word to trans people.

I will buy this game just because it triggers someone like you. — Ahmed Ali (@AhmedAl477) April 2, 2019

@JimSterling thought you’d like to know steam allowed a game with a slur against trans people in its title onto the platform (and going with the game’s storyline, it is totally used as a slur) https://t.co/ByKke5Ulbw — 💜An 🏳️‍🌈🛡️ (@An_telope) April 2, 2019

reminder to my six followers to report trap shrine on steam pic.twitter.com/PgtL1E2HBu — Quadruple Gay Shit Extraordinaire (@LibrarianOfAlex) April 2, 2019

Seriously though:

Using the word “trap” to refer to trans women or effeminate men, real or fictional, ties into a long history of “trans panic” that literally gets trans women killed in real life. Maybe don’t use it. — grog (@grogfella) April 1, 2019

Thankfully there were sensible people about who came in to support Eroge Japan, who – before the Twitter accounts of the people piling into their feeds decided to protect their accounts – was getting hammered pretty badly by the SJWs.

Hello, Please understand that this person simply enjoys acting angry while online and probably would have never bought your game. This person is a very small portion of your Western audience that many find annoying. Please do not think they represent the rest of us. Thank you. — #PrayForCovfefe (@J_Weenus) April 2, 2019

Even some self-described “genderfluid” types with pronouns in their profile came out to support Eroge Japan, and tell the other SJWs to cool it because they were trying to essentially put a poor Japanese developer out of work.

Mass reporting to get a legitimate game on off steam storefront because of the word trap and potentially ruining the dev’s livelihood for woke points. Congrats, trans twitter. You became the same bullies you hate the most. Here’s a sarcastic clap. Sincerely, a genderfluid. pic.twitter.com/KtpwexRN6o — rizkitsunekiリゼキ 🍰🔞 (@rizzydraws) April 3, 2019

There were also some trans gamers who also came to the defense of Eroge Japan and trap culture in general, explaining that there’s nothing defamatory about the word as it relates to crossdressing. It was also explained for about the hundredth time that it isn’t a slur.

Trap means crossdressers, it is not a slur against trans people. Also a word doesn’t have the ability to kill people. Calm down, it’s not actually all that important. https://t.co/eQMwB22s1W — Lilith Lovett (@LilithLovett) April 2, 2019

These kind of attacks on people who use the word “trap” have been frequent and constant within the Social Justice Warrior community. It happened with the Warframe community last year whenthe word “trap” was banned in the chat. Anime News Network also banned the word “trap” from being used in the forums, claiming it was harmful to trans.

The insanity over such a harmless word always kicks up a fuss within SJW circles. Thankfully, for now, Trap Shrine is still up and available on Steam but if the game does end up getting removed you might know the reason why.

You can pick up a digital copy from the Steam store for $14.98.

(Thanks for the news tip Ebicentre, Consumer and Lilith Lovett)