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grill, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

Censorship is censorship; I mean, it’s their right, but it still stinks. One day they can/will remove all sexual mods for being too misogynistic, etc.

Basically, fuck people crying over pronounces and fuck Nexus Mods.

Rose,

Are you a centrist by any chance?

grill,

Yeah, probably :/

Tranus, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

I’m finding it very difficult to phrase this comment. I want to share my thoughts, but I know that if I am perceived as a bigot, everything I say will be seen as something to be defeated rather than understood. But tiptoeing around the subject doesn’t convey my meaning any better. So please, give me the benefit of the doubt long enough to hear me out.

I think what nexus is doing here is inappropriate. Mods, by their very existence, give players choice. Even this one: it means players can now choose he or she or to not be asked at all. Nexus, by removing this mod, is exerting what influence they have to eliminate that choice.

Nexus has considerable influence. For many games, particularly Bethesda games, they are seen as the default and complete source of mods. When looking for new mods to install, most people wouldn’t bother checking other sites since everything is on nexus. If players aren’t aware a mod exists, in other words they are unaware an option exists, that hinders them from making that choice. Also, their vortex mod manager makes installing mods from nexus super simple. By removing the mod from their site, they are making installing the mod at least a little bit more difficult.

I have seen multiple people posit here that removing the mod is fine because it does something so silly and pointless that no one should care about it. But we all care about silly, pointless things from time to time. I have spent days comparing all of the ways of getting unified GTK and QT themes on my desktop to try and get them just right. That was entirely pointless. But I wanted it that way, so I made it that way. I don’t have to justify it to anyone, and neither do the users of this mod. Installing the mod will only affect their game, no one else even has to know about it. Nexus’ decision does effect other people. They do have to justify themselves. Removing the mod is telling people they must select a pronoun. If it is really so pointless, nexus shouldn’t have bothered removing the mod.

People also claim that the political implications made by the mod are dangerous, and must be suppressed. I know you’ll roll your eyes at me, but yes: I’m making the free speech argument. It really is important though. If we, as a society and as individuals, accept suppressing speech for it’s ideological contents, then we are begging the question: which ideas are ok, and which aren’t? The ability to control public discourse is powerful, and highly coveted by anyone who wants to bend society to their will. It has been done before, and we know how horrible the consequences can be. It is incredibly dangerous. Answering that question at all is only justifiable in the face of a comparable danger. Is the idea of not being asked one’s pronouns really a comparable danger? Nexus seems to think so.

Of course, free speech also protects Nexus’ right to control what they put on their platform. I am not saying they shouldn’t have that right. But nexus is a platform, not a person. They position their site not as a place for them to share their own content, but for others to share theirs. Any modification to the contents of their site is a modification to other people’s speech, not just Nexus’s. They ought to use their capability in this regard responsibly and sparingly. Their actions here are neither.

I thought that others here on Lemmy believed in the same principles I do. That people should have total control over their own software and activities with it. That neither corporations nor governments should take any action to unduly control what they do with their own property. The belief in FOSS and decentralization seemed to go hand in hand with that. But if something like this can make you all turn on those principles, then maybe the resemblance wasn’t even skin deep.

regbin_,

“Free speech” means you will not be captured by the cops because of your opinion. Private entities are free to enforce any restrictions they want on their site. If you disagree with them, simply stop using the site, like we did with Reddit.

steventrouble, (edited )

It wasn’t removed because of the pronouns though. It was removed because the mod description violated their community policies.

There are plenty of mods just like it that the site keeps up. Dozens of mods even remove black characters from games, which is way worse. The difference is, those mods don’t write long rants about how much they hate minorities and liberals in their descriptions.

Ookami38,

To be entirely fair, if it’s not the mods content itself, but the description, that got it removed, that should probably be clarified front and center. That’s a pretty big shift from the mod being removed based on it’s simple existence.

Mikina,

This finally explains it. I was about to write something similar as the comment you are replying to, because it did felt like a totally unnecessary PR stunt of another corporation that only exploits the issue for publicity, and I really hate that.

But if the mod description was as bad as you say, then removing it was the right move.

Astaroth, (edited )

It wasn’t removed because of the pronouns though. It was removed because the mod description violated their community policies.

There are plenty of mods just like it that the site keeps up. Dozens of mods even remove black characters from games, which is way worse. The difference is, those mods don’t write long rants about how much they hate minorities and liberals in their descriptions.

if that’s true then it makes sense

Edit: I just found out about the spider man pride flag removal mod debacle and read the official statement by Nexus Mods: www.nexusmods.com/news/14733

In regards to the replacement of Pride flags in this game, or any game, our policy is thus: we are for inclusivity, we are for diversity. If we think someone is uploading a mod on our site with the intent to deliberately be against inclusivity and/or diversity then we will take action against it. The same goes for people attempting to troll other users with mods deliberately to cause a rise. For our part, we will endeavour to do a better job of moderating our website to this ethos ourselves.

We aren’t the authority on what users can and cannot mod. Us removing a mod only means it cannot be found at Nexus Mods, nothing more, nothing less. We also note that we are not the only site that has removed this mod from their platform. As a private business, we have a right to choose what content we do and do not want to host on our platform. Respect this right the same way you want respect for your rights.

By Nexus Mods’ own words they will take action against anti diversity/inclusivity mods and actively take a stance on what kinds of mods are allowed on Nexus Mods.

So regardless of what the mod descriptions may or may not have said, it seems Nexus Mods would’ve deleted this pronoun removal mod as well.

These aren’t mods I would’ve bothered using (and I don’t even play these games either) but Nexus Mods trying to police what mods players are allowed to use is pretty shit.

The great thing about mods is they only affect the people who choose to get them and gives everyone more choices to change games to what they want, and I don’t think anyone should try to force what kinds of mods are allowed or not.

The whole point of modding is that you find something you don’t like or think could’ve been improved in some way, so you change it to your preference.

Saltblue,

The fact that you wrote that wall of text just to not get attacked speaks volumes of the current state of progressivism in this place, you can’t say anything and you are walking on eggshells.

And you know what? Fuck those dipshits.

PoliticalAgitator, (edited )

And are these “progressives” in the room now? No, they’re clearly not. Nobody is attacking him and he’s not even being downvoted.

He wrote the wall of text because he has the self awareness to know that the comment he is writing is functionally identical to what a far-right reactionary “hiding their power level” would write.

Saltblue,

What are you fuckin talking about? Are you are bot or something?

Saltblue,

He wrote the wall of text because he has the self awareness to know that the comment he is writing is functionally identical to what a far-right reactionary “hiding their power level” would write

This paragraph is the funniest shit I have read today.

PoliticalAgitator,

Yep, you’re exactly what everyone expected.

Saltblue,

Yeah sure I’m the boogeyman booooh, the irony is so delicious.

vivadanang,

if you’re having trouble comprehending what he wrote in a few sentences, perhaps your bot needs more tokens to parse what he’s putting out, for humans it’s incredibly straight forward.

Saltblue,

He edited his comment and added more, Sherlock

vivadanang,

If I’m Holmes what does that make you, Boebert?

Saltblue,

I haven’t been caught jacking off men in theaters in front of children, so I guess no?

Any more incredible witty remarks?

vivadanang,

I haven’t been caught

it’d be better for everyone if you just didn’t jerk them off in the first place, jeeze…

instead of waiting for enforcement and accountability take responsibility for your life.

Saltblue,

it’d be better for everyone if you just didn’t jerk them off in the first place, jizzz…

Fixed

vivadanang,

chortleworthy

WalrusDragonOnABike, (edited )

Did they edit your comment too where you quoted them?

In case you edit your comment, the quote was

He wrote the wall of text because he has the self awareness to know that the comment he is writing is functionally identical to what a far-right reactionary “hiding their power level” would write

Kirkkh,

Walking on eggshells vs having a weak stance to argue from isn’t the same thing

Rose,

Look up the paradox of tolerance.

uglyduckling81,

This is not a place of acceptance. This is a left wing echo chamber. You either tow the narrative or GTFO.

I think of myself as very moderate. I’m neither supportive of right wing horse shit or the lefts batshit insanity. I’ll get downvoted into oblivion every time for pointing out this place being extreme left, or for making any comment that doesn’t align strictly with the narrative taking points.

JackbyDev,

Literally enlightened centrism.

saze,

Yah, how dare someone not be a polarised momo and make me have to assess their pov without a convenient label with which to dismiss it.

MomoTimeToDie,

deleted_by_author

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  • saze,

    😄😄 No personal offence meant good sir.

    teuast,

    what exactly is the left’s batshit insanity in this instance? literally that the game lets you pick your pronouns?

    did you know that fallout: a post-nuclear role playing game (1997) also allowed you to do this? a few other games that have let you do this are fallout 2 (1998), mass effect (2007), fallout 3 (2008), mass effect 2 (2010), skate 3 (2010), the elder scrolls 5: skyrim (2011 and also every year since), mass effect 3 (2013), fallout 4 (2015), sonic forces (2017), mass effect andromeda (2017), cyberpunk 2077 (2020), trackmania 2020 (2020), and literally every other game ever to feature a character creator. if this is batshit insanity, then i can’t wait to find out what you think of unions.

    saze,

    Dude I thought reddit was leftist and then I came here. Funny thing is I’m a pansy lefty European (believe in social healthcare, UBI and all that good stuff) yet this place is a bit much for me.

    PsychedSy,

    I can deal with lefties a lot easier than r/politics types.

    saze,

    Great distinction.

    PsychedSy,

    Depends on the community. I have had reasonable results, but I do have to be extra careful. It probably helps that I’m kind of a stealth leftist.

    mindbleach,

    I think of myself as very moderate.

    You were wrong.

    Stanley_Pain,
    @Stanley_Pain@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    What narrative talking points? Gay people exist, trans people exists. There’s nothing political about that. If you think otherwise you need to adjust thinking of yourself as a moderate.

    Skcyte,

    I mean we already have seen this before with Marvel’s SpiderMan pride flag removal mod.

    barsoap, (edited )

    I think what nexus is doing here is inappropriate. Mods, by their very existence, give players choice. Even this one: it means players can now choose he or she or to not be asked at all. Nexus, by removing this mod, is exerting what influence they have to eliminate that choice.

    I don’t think you’re a bigot, but I also think you’re off the mark.

    First off, the mod has quite literally zero value. Installing it is more work than ignoring an option during character creation. I constantly ignore options I don’t care about during character creation, it really isn’t hard. It’s hard to interpret the intent of the creator of the mod, as well as its users, as anything else but being out for blood.

    That alone though isn’t a reason to remove the mod – Nexus is full of useless mods. But something neat happens when you do nuke the mod: Bigots come out of the woodwork, you can ban them in one fell stroke, and thereby lessen your moderation load in the long term.

    Last, but not least, the curse of neutrality aka the Nazi bar thing.

    Oh, EDIT:

    Removing the mod is telling people they must select a pronoun. If it is really so pointless, nexus shouldn’t have bothered removing the mod.

    You don’t have to select a pronoun. The default will match the phenotype of the body you select.

    Corkyskog, (edited )
    @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works avatar

    I am now totally confused as to what is even going on. After reading multiple top level comments, many responses and then reading the article (gasp I know… blasphemy) I can’t tell if conservatives are mad about pronouns being an option or not being an option. Many of the comments made it sound like they added pronouns, the way the article is written makes it sound like they removed the ability to choose pronouns.

    So which is it. Who is mad, and why exactly?

    Edit: Okay, maybe I understand now. Someone created a mod that removed pronouns. The place that hosts mod downloads, removed that mod from their list of downloads. Now people are mad it was removed. Do I have that right? If so, my only remaining question is if one were to use the mod, does it mean others not using the mod can’t see their pronoun(s)?

    Nath,
    @Nath@aussie.zone avatar

    I think this is the reply that prompted me to reply at the top of the post. Does your edit mean I was of some help? You appear to have the right of it, yes.

    As to your second question: what mod loadout a player has will have zero bearing on another’s experience. If one were to use the mod, others would not be affected.

    Corkyskog, (edited )
    @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Yes, I believe re-reading your comment (not sure if it was post or pre edit) finally made me put all the pieces together.

    If this is single player, the controversy is even more dumb than I had originally thought.

    Now I am curious what the default pronoun options are, and if you were able to skip choosing it entirely, or pick “other” or “none”?

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    Apparently it defaults to the one matching your phenotype. The game gave you the option to change it if you felt like it. The mod removed that option and may have had a rant against the existence of LGBT+ people in its description and that description was the cause for removal (I can't verify since it was removed, but that's what others have said).

    Corkyskog,
    @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Does anyone know what the list is? Can you even choose they/them or xe/xem? Or is it just you could pick the inverse?

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    "There are three pronoun options right now, He/Him, She/Her, and They/Them."

    barsoap,

    Selecting the sex of the PC has been a standard feature in practically every RPG with character creator ever, and definitely in Bethesda RPGs, what they added is an option to change pronouns the PC is referred to by NPCs from the default. If you want them to match you simply don’t touch that option, done.

    From a developer’s perspective it’s dead simple, similar in triviality as allowing people to mix+match any voice to any body type. Cyberpunk’s free choice of genitals needs some implementation care but if you’re planning for it from the start it’s also easy.

    Where things get more complicated is things like dresses for male bodies, especially if you don’t have any shape keys in place. But if you use one body mesh for everything and simply shape key it into male and female then it’s again no issue (you also need to lerp animations then, probably, male and female bodies walk differently because hips). Basically it’s hard if your asset pipeline is simple, if the pipeline is sophisticated it’s easy.

    SolOrion,

    If so, my only remaining question is if one were to use the mod, does it mean others not using the mod can’t see their pronoun(s)?

    It’s a singleplayer game. Nothing you do can have any effect on the experience other people have with the game.

    mindbleach,

    Removing the mod is telling people they must select a pronoun.

    No, it defaults to body type.

    This option is literally nothing to people who don’t care - and the people who care enough to dislike it, are assholes. They have their private reasons and their private reasons are bad. Bigotry is not an OK idea. We’ve had that discussion, it went very predictably, and it has a right answer. We don’t need to endlessly litigate whether we’ve been too harsh about demonstrable bigotry.

    A website saying ‘no thank you’ to an act of petty bigotry is a non-event. There is no fucking danger in moderation excluding that. That’s what moderation… is. That’s why we have human beings reviewing stuff, instead of offering an unfiltered pile of everything all the time.

    In this context of moderation: game modifications must successfully and safely do something useful. This fails on two out of three points. It successfully removes a feature. But that feature is easily ignored with no side effects or consequences, and the blindingly obvious motivation behind its removal is overt sexual prejudice. While safe in the sense that it won’t brick your computer, it’s plainly a threatening message to the people who use this feature - it is dehumanizing. It is treating the possibility of their existence as something intolerable, to be excised. To be physically removed.

    You can still install this stupid mod. It hasn’t been erased from reality. It’s just not approved on one website with clear rules against exactly that sort of thing. Making bad things harder to do is not some betrayal of your right to make terrible decisions. A lot of things that are possible have barriers for good reasons.

    And none of you grasping at freedom as an excuse to entertain bigotry seem remember - we all have a right to freedom of association. We don’t want to deal with that shit. You can’t make us, and still pretend you care about choice.

    SpaceCowboy,
    @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca avatar

    This mod is taking away a choice though.

    I’m pretty sure the vanilla game has the option to choose pronouns that conform to whatever your feelings about gender are. So choose that option and play the game.

    Why should Nexus devote resources to a mod that removes options from a game? There’s no point to this mod for anyone that’s of sound mind. The only reason for it’s existence is some petty bullshit from people that hate trans people so much they will install a mod in a feeble attempt to feel like they hurt people in some small way.

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    If the mod just totally skipped character creation and the goal was to just save time, I could see the purpose. But its clearly not there to save anyone time; its just there as an excuse to tirade against certain demographics for existing.

    AWittyUsername,

    No it’s not, you have the choice not to download it it’s not forced upon you.

    SwampYankee,

    I’m pretty sure the vanilla game has the option to choose pronouns that conform to whatever your feelings about gender are.

    If you’re a hardcore heteronormie, congrats, the default behavior of the game conforms with your worldview. Simply choose a male or female body, and don’t even touch the pronouns. They’re automatically what they’re “supposed” to be.

    FluffyPotato, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod
    JokeDeity, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    Oh lord what a bunch of cringe. Who fucking cares? About any of this? There’s so much awful shit in the world and so many people spending their time worrying about the absolute nothing issues of the world.

    Blamemeta, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    Well they’re fine with murder but not removing the pronoun selector? Odd mentality.

    Wonder what they’re going to ban next.

    CaptnNMorgan, (edited )

    Murder?

    Edit: wait, do you just mean the concept of murder in video games?

    CileTheSane,
    @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca avatar

    Well they’re fine with murder but not removing the pronoun selector? Odd mentality.

    Said the person arguing in favour of removing the pronoun selector, but not arguing that they should remove the murder.

    Keep clutching those pearls Karen.

    Lewdiculous, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    Of course is Kotaku coming with a whole tempest in a teapot over this.

    Kotaku is an absolute joke, but that’s not new, they are the laughing stock of game journalism for a reason.

    hal_5700X, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod
    @hal_5700X@lemmy.world avatar

    I don’t see the big deal about the pronoun mods. You have to download and install it. Just don’t download the mods.

    mindbleach,

    It has no reason to exist besides being a middle finger to a queer minority.

    This is a website deciding not to become a Nazi bar.

    raptir,

    By the same token, I don’t see a big deal about the pronoun choice. Just choose She/Her or He/Him. You don’t have to choose They/Their.

    pinkdrunkenelephants,

    So what about people who do want to use they/them? Adults could install software like this for their kids and use the mod to deny their kid the right to choose what pronoun they want to use.

    raptir,

    My whole point is that there’s no reason for this mod to exist.

    pinkdrunkenelephants,

    My bad fam, I misread you

    Blamemeta,

    Exactly. So whats the big hullabuloo here? Let people mod their single player game the way they want.

    And its not like the player doesn’t kill hundreds in a normal play through, pronouns seem like a minor thing in comparison.

    Virual,

    People are welcome to mod games in whatever way they want, but Nexusmods has zero obligation to host anything, let alone content that violates their TOS.

    Blamemeta,

    That’s fair, they don’t have that obligation.

    Just feels like an odd mod to ban.

    MikeT, (edited )

    It’s not the first time they banned mods like this. Nexus had the same shit storm last year when they banned Spiderman mods that tried to remove pride flags. It’s mentioned in the same article here as well.

    The only reason it is getting this much outrage is because of the same reason last time, this is the hottest game on the market right now, just like Spiderman was when it came out for the first time on PC.

    worsedoughnut,
    @worsedoughnut@lemdro.id avatar

    That you think it’s “odd” for Nexus to remove a bigoted anti-trans mod is such a red flag lol.

    Gullible,

    Huh, just considering practicality, how many new characters would one have to create in order to save rather than waste downloading this? Given the time required to download, read, and set up, I’d guess somewhere in the range of 20-30 characters.

    Speedrunners might download a mod to skip setup entirely, not a single option. Of the millions who purchased starfield, perhaps a few dozen might use this ergonomically. Neat.

    SuddenDownpour,

    Speedrunners might download a mod to skip setup entirely, not a single option.

    I’m pretty sure that this would disqualify the run, unless it’s specifically allowed in a particular category.

    Gullible,

    Practice mods are occasionally used if, say, there’s a tricky section 1.5 hours in. With route highlighting or landscape deemphasizing, if necessary. Speedrunning has slowed to a crawl in the last decade so that seems unlikely.

    tomi000,

    It is not a big deal. It doesnt have to be. Its just a small mod with a small change that some people apparently wanted for their experience. They didnt demand to change the game. I dont see problem with choosing pronouns, but I also dont see a problem with changing pointless stuff in your game.

    CileTheSane,
    @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca avatar

    Just pick your pronouns when you create your character. These are people getting their panties in a twist because they are being reminded that other people can choose different pronouns.

    PoliticalAgitator, (edited )

    These are people getting their panties in a twist because they are being reminded that other people can choose different pronouns.

    That’s nothing new. The vast majority of far-right reactionaries know exactly zero trans people. They’re getting upset because a stranger, who exists entirely in their imagination, may have an opinion about their own body that the far-right have not approved as “okay to have”.

    Of course, there’s probably deeper reasons that they won’t say out loud. What if they accidentally find a “man” attractive? What if they have to treat a casual acquaintance with basic human decency?

    The horror.

    Kirkkh,

    That’s the best part of this. People getting really exhausted over other people having freedom.

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    I'd imagine for some, the problem is being reminded they too can choose. And they've had the option to choose for a long time.

    Honestly, that was my biggest issue the idea of asking other people their pronoun was sort of a trend (at least according to the rightwing media? idk; I've never once seen a person ask another person their pronouns in IRL). For some reason I never wondered why I, as a "cis man", I'd be afraid of such a question (especially since I was the type to like when people mistook me for being gay, so it wasn't like I was afraid of having my "masculinity questioned" or was anti-LGBT).

    Thranduil, do games w Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3 getting remasters early next year

    No last revelation? D:

    ebenixo, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    problem solved

    Anonymousllama, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    Another reason for not piling everything onto Nexus mods, their site, their rules unfortunately.

    phantasmagoria,

    I’m fine with you leaving too.

    radau,

    Cool but I’m pretty sure they didn’t ask you

    phantasmagoria,

    You too can leave

    radau,

    Leave what

    Thranduil, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    Personally they should just make an offensive section and let them put them there

    Delphia,

    Why would you make an offensive section? Thats not offensive, its inclusive.

    VonCesaw,

    Why let a tumor fester

    Thranduil,

    I just like freedom of speech and expression by having them in its own section you would have to seek them out rather than appear in new

    GreenMario,

    They can form their own mod site.

    yuun,
    @yuun@lemmy.one avatar

    but you are supposed to remove tumors, not give them their own section of the body

    VonCesaw,

    Unless literally the US Government owns the website, freedom of speech does not apply

    mindbleach,

    Bash.org used to have a “worst of” section, for the lowest-voted quotes. It was mostly racist garbage. At some point the worst went something like, ‘that’s where black people belong: back of the bus, bottom of Bash.’

    They nuked that shit shortly after, because why the fuck would you want that on your server?

    mindbleach, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    Moderation exists to identify and exclude people who are being absolute cocks.

    You don’t need any grand philosophical statement about values. You don’t need to defend the paradox of tolerance against absolutist demands for unrestricted expression. It’s perfectly fine to say: you were doing some diet Nazi shit, that’s awful, fuck off.

    Metal_Zealot,
    @Metal_Zealot@lemmy.ml avatar

    “but you need to hear BOTH side of the arg-”
    No we don’t.

    snooggums, (edited )
    @snooggums@kbin.social avatar

    We already heard the terrible arguments for intolerance and don't need to rehash it over and over again in every new piece of media.

    Metal_Zealot,
    @Metal_Zealot@lemmy.ml avatar

    Yea don’t even give these dinks the light of day, they’ll instinctively slink back to Voat and enjoy their hate echo chamber

    mindbleach,

    Yep. Some questions have a right answer. Next.

    rambling_lunatic,

    In this case the guys who are leaving are literally trying to make one side shut up.

    icepuncher69, (edited ) do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod

    I dont know who is the most pathetic group here, if nexus mods for taking down a dumb harmless mod for ridiculous reasons or the moders that made a mod that takes out a dumb harmeles feature for ridiculous reasons. Nexus mods sucks either way and the mod devs suck too.

    snipgan, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod
    @snipgan@kbin.social avatar

    Considering their policy doesn't allow for other stuff like this, yeah I am not surprised.

    Content that may be generally construed as provocative, divisive, objectionable, discriminatory, or abusive toward any real-world individual or group, may be subject to moderation. This includes but is not limited to content involving politics, race, religion, gender identity, sexuality, or social class. We tolerate content related to real world issues and events as long as the appropriate tag ("Real World Issues") is used and the content is handled in a tasteful, respectful, and non-inflammatory manner. Users who do not wish to see such content should make use of our content blocking feature.

    Reminds me of the time when a Spiderman mod removed the VERY few instances of a pride flag in a recreation of NEW YORK CITY and a Skyrim mod that removed any potential gay romances that only occur when wearing a very specific amulet (including a single dead skeleton couple off the beaten path.)

    Those got booted as well cause.....come on now. Its blatantly targeting a group of people about their sexuality and gender who have BARELY any presence to begin with in these games.

    Starfield is even more egregious as its LITERALLY just a menu option and the rare use in dialogue....

    Really pathetic and sad people would even feel the need to make them to begin with. Let alone feel the need to upload them to a platform.

    people_are_cute, do games w Nexus Mods Fine With Bigots Leaving Over Removed Starfield ‘Pronoun’ Mod
    @people_are_cute@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    This is all fine and well, but am I the only one a bit concerned about how NexusMods is practically a monopoly in the modding scene? Why does literally every modder have to use a rate-limiting host as a platform, especially when Github exists?

    derin,
    @derin@lemmy.beru.co avatar

    I mean, github does exist. It looks like people just prefer platforms with a pre-existing community.

    Chailles,
    @Chailles@lemmy.world avatar

    Mods uploaded to github does really suck for discoverability though. There’s the roguelike Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. The modding scene exists entirely on Github and you’d basically never find them unless you go searching for mods on their Discord channel.

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    Steam workshop exists as well, for games that support it.

    ahornsirup,
    @ahornsirup@artemis.camp avatar

    That's even worse though. Plenty of games (e.g. Stellaris and RimWorld) are also available on platforms like GOG or, ugh, Epic. But if you want to use mods and you bought the game on any platform other than Steam it's fuck you.

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    Even if you buy Terraria off of steam, you can use steam mods. Sounds like a per-game problem, rather than a steam problem.

    ahornsirup,
    @ahornsirup@artemis.camp avatar

    I know it is, developers can block downloads unless the user is signed into a Steam account that owns the game. But as an end-user that's distinction without difference.

    MonkCanatella,

    steamworkshopdownloader.io never gotten this to work myself but I put the least amount of effort in as possible. There may be others as well but I remember when I did my research a couple years ago that it was a real trudge and almost not worth it.

    brsrklf,

    I know there are workarounds, but this is true. There are very little games I buy (at least directly) through steam nowadays, because I didn’t like what it became after the Greenlight/Direct debacle and I didn’t want my library to be that dependent of them anymore.

    I have playnite as a unified game library launcher (with GoG, itch.io, humble, Ubi, EA, even Amazon Prime and freaking EGS just for the free games), so where I get my games from doesn’t matter much for me now.

    But workshop integration is basically the only thing that makes me want a Steam copy for a game.

    Though among the games in that case, there were Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress, and for both if you get a copy directly from the developers, you get DRM-free and a Steam key. So, that’s what I did.

    Chailles,
    @Chailles@lemmy.world avatar

    There’s a couple issues with it. I mean, it’s simple for games where you’re not using a bunch of mods, but at some point it just becomes excessive. Not to mention that when a mod updates, the mod will automatically update breaking your game sometimes, or when you’re trying to play a game, a mod just doesn’t update causing it to break the game that way too. There’s just a lack of control that’s often necessary when modding.

    WalrusDragonOnABike,

    For beatsaber (which doesn't use steam workshop), the there's no steam integration and its a pain to deal with.

    For terraria (which uses steam workshop), the modloader is smart enough to know which mods don't work with the current version of the game and disables them and steam lets you easily change which version of the game you have by using the "beta" options. Only time I've had issues with updates breaking things since 1.4 release was during beta-builds of 1.4 tmodloader (and those were generally easily fixed by going to the discord and finding the file to fix it). Since then, no needing to find files and paste them over the existing files, etc. No trying to install one mod at a time out of a dozen or two until you find which one breaks it and redoing the whole process over again. Pretty sure it also just uses the version of mods that support the game version you have, deals with dependencies automatically, etc.. The modloader will also direct you to things like the non-steam pages for mods (sometimes forum posts, sometimes discord, etc).

    I don't think the steam integration is needed for such a seamless mod experience, but its certainly compatible with it. And terraria is an outlier because the game devs encourage mods and has a huge and dedicated community. For smaller games with devs that don't like mods, simply trying to keeping things working may take so much work, so that time that making a good integrated user experience is probably difficult.

    Chailles, (edited )
    @Chailles@lemmy.world avatar

    Let’s be real here though, Terraria is an unfair comparison considering it’s modloader is integrated into the game itself and holds significantly greater support than most other mods with Steam Workshop support. (Oh and that the modloader is basically a community made mod manager anyways and is akin to using the community mod managers for the games mentioned below)

    Stellaris, Rimworld, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Total War: Warhammer 3, Binding of Isaac, Dwarf Fortress, Space Engineers, Cities: Skylines, all of these very popular games with massive modding support are still plagued by the issues I mentioned above. And you know what? It has the issues you mentioned as well. Did you subscribe to an outdated mod? Oh, well, good luck figuring out which one that is. Forgot to download a dependency? Crash. Did a mod update and Steam just didn’t update the mod? Figure out what mod that was and unsubscribe to it and subscribe to it again. Did a mod just update and Steam updated the mod, even though the update breaks save compatibility? Well, unless the mod author uploaded the older version of the mod, good luck trying to have fun.

    HipHoboHarold,

    I think it’s just the internet being the internet. Or at least how it’s been for awhile. There are big sites that a lot of people crowd to and that becomes the default. Like auctioning things off online. Ebay. That was where everyone went to. Need to order a few different things online? Amazon. Are there other online stores? Plenty. But Amazon is seen as cheap and convenient.

    Nexus mods is just the popular site, but the moders have other options.

    Metal_Zealot,
    @Metal_Zealot@lemmy.ml avatar

    That’s kinda like saying PlanetMinecraft monopolized sharing world’s, isn’t it?

    XTL,

    That went so well until your proposed alternative was Microsoft.

    Nioxic,

    At least github is easier than the shit that is nexusmods

    Also there are alternatives

    Gitlab… sourceforge…

    Ive downloaded a lot of mods from sourceforge over the years

    Cypher,

    Ive downloaded a lot of mods from sourceforge over the years

    Your poor malware ridden computer….

    mindbleach,

    Yeah, but all of it’s for Windows XP.

    Cethin,

    Yeah, an alternative using git would be good probably, but maybe don’t use github. Preferably though, it’d be agnostic and just target some git repo anywhere. It’d pull from a description file for the page to ensure a uniform appearance preferably, and it’d show and manage versions from some uniformly named folder on the repo.

    people_are_cute,
    @people_are_cute@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    I know what Microsoft’s general reputation is, but it’s undeniable that GitHub has only seen improvements since Microsoft acquired it.

    Patches, (edited )

    since Microsoft acquired it.

    Embrace

    Extend

    Estinquish

    They have not changed.

    JackbyDev,

    That only makes sense if Microsoft had a GotHub competitor lol. I think it was more about getting that juicy data and making copilot.

    Kaldo, (edited )
    @Kaldo@kbin.social avatar

    I was really hoping thunderstore and mod.io would take off more since they seem more platform-agnostic and FOSS-like with their integration with git and versioning (and for some games they have), but people just prefer convenience of nexusmods and steam workshop unfortunately. They just have a bigger community and better discoverability in the end

    forgotaboutlaye,

    They have integration with Ready Or Not iirc. MSFS also has far more mods on Flightsim.TO than on Nexus.

    stillwater,

    Natural monopoly. Nobody else offers as good of an experience. The closest is ModDB and their UX is stuck in the mid 2000s.

    niemcycle,

    I remember using ModDB back then, I’m shocked that they have never updated their site since then

    Justdaveisfine,

    They’ve sort of moved on to mod.io, leaving Moddb on the back burner.

    Kazumara,

    I don’t think that term really applies here. It’s not like the barrier to entry for a webservice hosting game modification data is all that high. It’s very different from the railway, waterworks and power grid markets.

    Also there are at least the competitors Loverslab, Curseforge, ModMD and Modrinth from the top of my head.

    stillwater,

    Indeed, it applies as much as accusations of monopoly. Two sides of the same coin. Really, it’s not a monopoly situation or any kind at all. It’s just by far the best of its kind and it has no competition.

    mindbleach,

    Network effect creates barriers to new competitors, regardless of quality. Either for the upstarts or the leaders. See: Twitter. Once some choice is the default, anything else faces an uphill battle.

    Adoption is a feature you can’t design.

    barsoap, (edited )

    Does any one of those integrate with Mod Organizer or do I have to download the mod (often also with an annoying wait time) and then point Mod Organizer to it. Do they have an API that enables “a new version is out” notifications, or do I have to hunt everything down manually.

    It really wouldn’t be that hard, but none of them cares. Nexus kinda has itself positioned well there as they would not have to support any third-party API endpoints in Vortex, but Vortex isn’t even the popular choice for many games.

    Ganbat,

    Well, for one thing, Nexus gives modders a share of ad revenue. Under a different name, I have a mod that’s a backend requirement for a big, popular mod, and that nets me a reliable few bucks a month.

    That said, a good portion of the modding community also exists on Gamebanana. If you want BotW, ToTK or Source engine mods, GB is the go-to.

    Aermis,

    Wait I have a stupid subscription to nexus and idk why I haven’t canceled it (used it for one month for some mod back in the day). I use nexus for all mods. Should I keep my sub then because all I care about is modders getting something.

    Default_Defect,
    @Default_Defect@midwest.social avatar

    I bought lifetime premium years ago when it was still an option and have never once regretted it.

    Crismus,

    The lifetime access was such a good investment. I missed a lot of other lifetime subscriptions, and am glad I get such great download speed.

    Ganbat,

    Well, if you’re paying for premium, you’re still part of the site’s profit, part of which goes to the mods you use, so either way shouldn’t matter.

    kamaii,

    R2Modman and thunderstore.io has grown it’s catalogue quite a bit as of late, but it’s mostly (don’t know if it’s entirely or not) unity games. It’s my favorite modding platform with features that make sharing modlists for multiplayer a breeze.

    ech,

    There’s stuff like Curseforge, but it’s only for some games, mostly Minecraft. The problem, if someone considers it a problem, is really that communities for games generally centralize around one site for their mods for the most part, and Nexus has garnered a lot of trust and therefore has more pull/inertia for communities working those things out.

    As for Github, I believe the vast majority of mods have Github pages, but Github itself doesn’t really have a UI suited for mod downloaders, and no real incentive to implement one. So sites like Nexus and Curseforge are still a necessity.

    RaoulDook,

    www.curseforge.com/starfield

    Starfield mods (a few) on Curseforge currently

    ech,

    Nice! Personally I don’t have any particular issue with Nexus, but it’s always nice to see diversity. Monopolies are pretty much never good for end users.

    RaoulDook,

    My only issue with Nexus is that I have to create a login to download mods there. I don’t want to sign in to websites just to DL something. Curseforge is good for Minecraft mods and doesn’t hassle me with a login prompt

    ech,

    That’s fair.

    yokonzo,

    Nexus has the lions share, but only for some games, I had a premium subscription but still found for like half the games I mod that nexus either didn’t have a modpage for them or that most modders for that game used other sites to host their mods

    rambling_lunatic,

    In Curseforge we trust

    carpelbridgesyndrome, (edited )

    Not really sure curseforge is better. Its another of those sites with an sketchy bloaty overwolf launcher that makes you jump through hoops to load mods onto a server.

    It’s concerningly hard to avoid overwolf in modding

    DAMunzy,

    I hope that was snarky because CF has really gone downhill.

    JackbyDev,

    It’s like I didn’t think it could get worse but it just kept getting worse and worse lol.

    rambling_lunatic,

    Yeah no question Curseforge ain’t great and if you want to get a modpack as opposed to a singular mod you get kind of screwed by the launcher.

    Thing is, the alternatives tend to suck more. Plus my point was that Nexus ain’t alone.

    MonkCanatella,

    There’s also steam workshop. Neither are shining examples of a free modding community. I think nexus mods starting out better and slowly enshittified but I don’t know the extent of it.

    JackbyDev,

    Nexus hasn’t changed much over the years. They just make a new mod tool every few years it feels like lol.

    gothicdecadence,

    There’s also the Thunder store!

    Rose,

    We don’t. My ultrawide mods get thousands of downloads and I haven’t uploaded a single one to Nexus.

    barsoap,

    Their rate-limiting isn’t bad at all, their integration into everything is excellent, and for games without much of a community Vortex is often the only mod manager. Their API isn’t closed down, so Mod Organiser can integrate with Nexus just as well, and they probably would also do it with other mod sites if those ever bothered to set up a version check etc. API. They have an excellent search function.

    In short: They provide a good service. Like the most annoying part about Nexus as a freeloader is the five or what seconds wait before your mod manager picks up the download.

    And, no, their rate limiting really isn’t bad. 1.5MB/s for people with adblock, 3MB/s for people without. How often do you download gigabytes worth of mods it’s not like they’re bullying you into a subscription.

    people_are_cute,
    @people_are_cute@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    But any rate-limit is worse than no rate-limit. GitHub exists and can provide the same features in a better manner with no limits whatsoever.

    barsoap,

    Github has other ways to make money, and Microsoft capital to back up everything. And granted Nexus could use a better bug tracker, but you won’t see them getting into the private repository business any time soon.

    Spudwart,

    I believe modrinth will be expanding to be more than Minecraft mods iirc.

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