Nexus Mods bans controversial political mod being used in Marvel Rivals and faces backlash yet again for obstructing freedom of expression.

Client-side cosmetic mods are the life and blood of the free-to-play community. They are often harmless and are usually just an expression of creativity. They allow the user to paint their character in various colors and images on their system without affecting the experience of other players in the game.

A still of Black Widow in Marvel Rivals | Credits: NetEase

Recently, Nexus Mods, a website made to share mods with the community, got backlash again for banning political mods made for the new Superhero-based PvP shooter game Marvel Rivals. Let’s go over the specifics of these political mods.

Nexus Mods bans the mod to add Trump’s head to Captain America

Trump’s head on Captain America in Marvel Rivals | Credits: NetEase

Players use video games as an outlet for their emotions and they want to be able to express themselves freely while playing these games. Cosmetic mods help them achieve this. Recently, Nexus Mods banned the use of a mod that allowed Trump’s head to be used on Captain America in Marvel Rivals. Hence, fans were not happy about this ban and the mod platform is receiving backlash yet again.

There was a similar backlash in 2022 when Nexus Mods banned anti-LGBTQ mods in Spider-Man 2. On the surface, it makes sense to not want to promote the use of controversial mods. However, fans are bound to fight for their right to enjoy games on their terms, especially when it doesn’t impact the overall experience of other players of the game.

After a Spider-Man PC mod aimed to remove every Pride flag in the game, Nexus Mods removed the mod, banned the creator’s accounts and said those upset by the policy can delete their accounts and move on. https://t.co/a9t3JxsRal pic.twitter.com/BONqNNI1EJ

— IGN (@IGN) August 18, 2022

Moreover, Marvel Rivals’ creator NetEase hasn’t even started addressing any of these issues. With the game being a new release, they have other issues to solve like in-game bugs, UI optimization, cheaters and much more. What makes things worse is that Nexus Mods hasn’t banned the use of such mods on their entire platform. They allow the use of such controversial mods on games like Skyrim and Fallout 4.

Game creators need to be selective about which mods they ban

Spruce up your Helldivers 2 experience with some visual mods! | Credits: Arrowhead Game Studios

From an outside point-of-view, mods are frowned upon by game creators. Free-to-play games like Marvel Rivals, Fortnite, DOTA 2, etc. rely on in-game cosmetic purchases to make money. The use of mods allows players to make cosmetic changes to their environment and characters. This in turn potentially reduces the profits the game generates.

On the other hand, certain mods can help improve the performance of the game on low-end systems and allow a better experience for players. High graphic-intensive games like Helldivers 2, Black Myth Wukong, etc. are examples of such games. Some mods offer more variety to players such as Seamless Co-op in Elden Ring which allows players to play the single-player game as a co-op instead with almost no restrictions.

At the end of the day, it should come down to the game creators which mods they want to disallow on their games. While profits are important to a business they need to keep in mind that maintaining an active player base is important as well. Players need their freedom to express themselves as games are more than mere entertainment.