Summary
A Donald Trump character mod for the video game Marvel Rivals has been removed from Nexus Mods, reportedly due to its sociopolitical nature, violating the modding platform's established rules against such content. NetEase Games, the developer of Marvel Rivals, has yet to comment on the use of character mods, including those depicting controversial figures.
Marvel Rivals, a recently released hero shooter, has quickly gained millions of players. Players are experimenting with various mods, altering character models with skins from Marvel comics and movies, and even incorporating models from other games like Fortnite.
A Nexus Mods user created and uploaded a mod replacing Captain America's model with Donald Trump. This generated significant social media attention, with some users even seeking out a purported Joe Biden mod for competitive matches. However, both the Trump and Biden mods are now inaccessible on Nexus Mods, resulting in error messages indicating their removal.
Reasons for Removal:
Nexus Mods' 2020 blog post explicitly stated a policy banning mods related to US sociopolitical issues. This policy, implemented around the time of the 2020 presidential election, aimed to prevent potentially divisive content on the platform.
The removal of the Trump mod has elicited mixed reactions on social media. While many found the ban unsurprising, given the perceived incongruity between Captain America and Trump's image, others expressed dissatisfaction with Nexus Mods' stance on political imagery in mods. It's important to note that this isn't an isolated incident; while many similar mods have likely been removed, Trump-themed mods persist in other games like Skyrim, Fallout 4, and XCOM 2.
NetEase Games, the game developer, has not publicly addressed the use of character mods or the removal of the Trump mod. The company is currently focused on addressing various post-launch issues, including bug fixes and resolving wrongful account bans.
