Everyone's Talking About Booty: 'Minecraft' Creator Weighs In On 'Overwatch' Tracer Pose Controversy

The creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson, weighed in on the controversy currently brewing in the Overwatch community today. In a tweet, Persson said:

Many of the people who replied to Persson pointed out that the controversy stemmed over one person’s thoughtful forum post, not a horde of enraged mobs harassing Blizzard en masse. In a reply, Persson made it clear he felt the hubbub over the post was representative of a wider “culture” of devs bowing to unreasonable and overwhelming pressure:

Lest the most despicable of twits feel too much kinship, however, Persson stated:

Overwatch game developer Jeff Kaplan came into the original forum topic after 30 pages of discussion to say, “We'll replace the pose. We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented.”

After an actual horde of enraged booty-poppin’ fans screamed about censorship, Kaplan explained his team’s decision further. According to Kaplan, Tracer’s booty-presenting pose wasn’t an artistic favorite among the team anyway, and they have a better pose on the way.

“With this particular decision, it was an easy one to make—not just for me, but for the art team as well. We actually already have an alternate pose that we love and we feel speaks more to the character of Tracer. We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively. That the pose had been called into question from an appropriateness standpoint by players in our community did help influence our decision—getting that kind of feedback is part of the reason we’re holding a closed beta test—but it wasn’t the only factor. We made the decision to go with a different pose in part because we shared some of the same concerns, but also because we wanted to create something better.”

Kaplan also made an effort to put to rest fears such as those Persson expressed regarding “caving” to “outrage bullies”:

“We wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice our creative vision for Overwatch, and we’re not going to remove something solely because someone may take issue with it. Our goal isn’t to water down or homogenize the world, or the diverse cast of heroes we’ve built within it. We have poured so much of our heart and souls into this game that it would be a travesty for us to do so.

We understand that not everyone will agree with our decision, and that’s okay. That’s what these kinds of public tests are for. This wasn’t pandering or caving, though. This was the right call from our perspective, and we think the game will be just as fun the next time you play it.”

It’s quite a claim to holler censorship when a team under no outside restriction decides amongst themselves to excise something its community has already expressed reservations about. But ass fans should rest easy: Chief Booty Officer Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect retains the most perfect derriere ever spotted in the business.

Alternatively, take Persson’s suggestion and litter the field with booty-poppin’ dudes. Surely no one can argue against a wide assortment of diverse and perfectly globular cheeks enticingly bedecked with the clingiest of latex? Feel free to weigh in on #BootyControversy2k16 in our comments section below.