The most important thing to note here is that were not actually using "trap" as a transphobic slur at all. The character whos being called a "trap" is being accused of pretending to be a girl on the internet in order to curry favor with her male co-posters. She is NOT being accused of being a transgendered woman -- the idea is one of deception, not trans*.
This is important to note, because the word itself is not ALWAYS used as a slur. In fact, in common internet parlance (especially on 4chan), its used for exactly the purpose weve used it: to suggest that someone is not actually female, but pretends to be (and is quite convincing about it). Thus, a "trap": someone who fools men into thinking he is a she, trapping them into flirtatious behavior, including money and favors.
This usage of "trap" became popular when the Guilty Gear character Bridget was revealed to be male (not transgendered, mind you; he is still very much a he), and continues to be used regularly in the more politically-incorrect corners of the internet. 4chan is most notable for using this term in this fashion, which is why we chose to use it ourselves: Pitter is largely a parody of 2ch, which was the Japanese inspiration for 4chans existence. And in the original Japanese, the term "nekama" is used -- a word which combines "net" with "okama," the latter being a Japanese word of often negative connotation typically reserved for highly effeminate homosexual men who crossdress (especially in the entertainment and service industries).
The two terms are surprising similar in meaning and tone -- at least, if you go by the internet meaning of "trap," as opposed to the transphobic slur. And while we did consider other words to use here -- and indeed, have had other words suggested to us -- nothing else felt quite as "authentic." The most common suggestion we received, for example, was to replace "trap" with "G.I.R.L." (an acronym meaning "guy in real life"). The problem with this is, no one on 4chan actually uses G.I.R.L. in conversation. Its hard to type, for one thing, and if you leave out the periods, you just get "girl" or "GIRL," neither of which convey any meaning other than "young female" (or, in the latter case, "YOUNG FEMALE").
And authenticity is key to this games experience. Pitter HAS to feel like an actual internet message board, or else the immersion is completely lost. The posters on Pitter all represent stereotypical 2ch/4chan tropes: the super-mean guy who always wants to start something (and who uses a female avatar and username himself), the girl who makes a point of ALWAYS saying shes a girl, the guy who cant type worth a damn, the guy who role-plays every single thing he says, etc. Theyre all meant to represent "people you might interact with on the internet," and thanks to the tremendous translation and editing that went into their lines (not self-aggrandizing here, as I only personally worked on the main scenario and some of the other system text), they sound the part to a T.
And unfortunately, people on the internet are not always kind. Especially when their entire identity centers around being a jerk to everyone in order to feel better about themselves.
So no, I dont believe any word other than "trap" would capture both the meaning AND the tone of whats being said in the Japanese. But that then raises the question: does it need to?
This is where Im sure Ill lose a lot of people, but in my opinion, yes, yes it does. Akibas Trip, for all the irreverence and political incorrectness and silliness and stupidness, is a social satire at its core. It presents itself as a snapshot of modern Akiba culture, both good and bad -- and those who say "the whole game was so lighthearted, and then all of a sudden there was a slur out of nowhere" probably hadnt been talking to a lot of NPCs, as this title can be pretty scathing and offensive. Mixed in with all its silliness youll find casual xenophobia, misogyny, misandry, sexism and more, and its all played completely straight and may leave you feeling a little aghast and uncomfortable at times.
But thats the subtle beauty of Akibas Trip. Its painting a picture of Akihabara thats flattering in parts, but disturbing in others... and its not outright saying "this is good and this is bad," but its taking everything to such over-the-top levels that players are going to naturally (if subconsciously) get the message that some of what theyre seeing and reading is just... really awful. Its humanity laid bare at its pettiest and most base, in many cases... and yet youre defending the rights of people to BE petty and base, because you cant have the good without the bad. You cant have a place as magical as Akihabara without also accepting that its NOT a utopia -- people WILL misbehave, and eventually theyll get their comeuppance... but it may not be right away, and you may not be around to see it. But you still KNOW its wrong, and the game isnt suggesting otherwise in any way. When Eriko tells another user on Pitter, "Shut up, you g*ddamned tr*p," youre supposed to be like, WHOA. Not cool. Not cool at all. That is the appropriate reaction, and nothing in the game indicates that its acceptable or right to speak to other people in that manner.
Should we have used that word in the game? I believe so. Akibas Trip is history -- its quite literally a moment in time, captured in the medium of video game. Painting over the potentially hurtful elements of the game would be whitewashing history -- it would be like painting out the swastikas from early 1940s portraiture, or censoring every instance of the N-word in Django Unchained.
In fact, its even more innocent than that since the particular version of "trap" were using is not intended as the transphobic slur, but as the still commonly-used internet slang word. So to use a different simile, this would be like creating a game set in the 19th century, in which a woman is sent out to gather firewood and is referred to by her peers as a "faggot-gatherer." Historically, this would be an accurate use of another controversial word in its original form, before it ever became a slur -- and it would likely produce just as much controversy on Twitter as our use of "trap" did in Akibas Trip, despite our intent being only to represent a particular period and subject matter as true-to-life as possible.
Ultimately, we never, ever meant any offense whatsoever, and never even considered the fact that people might misinterpret our usage of the word "trap" until the controversy began this past weekend. We have since discussed what to do about this, and our decision was... not to do anything. We used what we felt to be the best word for the situation, and we maintain that to be true. And if one believes, as I do, that video games are a valid form of artistic expression (even games bearing the subtitle "Undead and Undressed"), we owe it to the industry not to back down on this. It may be "just one word," but next game, maybe itll be two. And then the game after that, maybe itll be a whole monologue