Video game modding communities can augment titles with a seemingly endless array of ideas, and one large repository of these mods is a site called Nexus Mods. As of this writing, Nexus Mods lists itself as having 275,687 files for modifications across 1,078 games, ranging from Fall Guys being added as followers in Skyrim to premiering films like The Godfather in the Stardew Valley movie theater. However, for the foreseeable future, no mods related to sociopolitical issues in the United States will be allowed on the site.
This ban on mods related to American politics comes in response to the Presidential election set to take place on November 3. In a blog post released by site owner Dark0ne today, they said there was a trend of “provocative and troll” memes of “low quality” uploaded to the site in 2016, and given a recent influx of similar content they will be banning all related content uploaded after September 28, 2020.
Given the line of demarcation for uploads, the current increase in sociopolitical mods have likely come as a result of the first 2020 Presidential Debate between incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on September 29. Dark0ne said most of the mods are being uploaded by “sock puppet accounts deliberately to try and cause a stir,” and site moderators will review the restriction again “sometime” after the next inauguration.
According to PCGamesN, one example of a mod which may have caused a stir this week purportedly changed the names of Raiders in Fallout 4 to “antifa,” though the actual files were empty. Typical mods for a game like Fallout 4 will make changes like adding Halo Plasma Rifles, and Dark0ne said “we have neither the time, the care or the wish to moderate” sociopolitical content rife with name calling and baseless accusations.
Though Nexus Mods is leaning away from political content, with Dark0ne saying anyone upset can, “Say and do what you want on other sites or services,” other companies have seemingly been looking to profit on the 2020 election. In January, Hasbro released the politically-charged Monopoly: House Divided that “echoes” America’s political divide by having players choose one of six parties.
The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Witcher series are currently the most active parts of Nexus Mods, with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim having nearly 65,000 files that have been downloaded over 1.7 billion times total as of this writing. Fan-made content related to games like Skyrim can also be found on Steam Workshop, or any number of other sites.
Sources: Nexus Mods, PCGamesN
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