Summary
- A Donald Trump mod for Marvel Rivals has been banned from Nexus Mods due to its sociopolitical nature, violating the platform's rules.
- Marvel Rivals developer, NetEase Games, has yet to comment on the issue of character mods.
Launched less than a month ago, Marvel Rivals has quickly amassed millions of players worldwide, mastering various Marvel heroes to climb the leaderboards. This hero shooter offers strategic gameplay, encouraging players to discover unique character interactions for victory. Many players enhance their experience with mods, altering hero models with skins from comics and movies, or even substituting characters with models from other games, like Fortnite versions of Captain America and Spider-Man.
Recently, a Nexus Mods user uploaded a Donald Trump mod replacing Captain America's model. This generated significant social media buzz, with some users even seeking a Joe Biden mod for competitive matches. However, Nexus Mods has since removed the Trump mod, resulting in an error message when searching for it on the site. Similarly, a Biden mod appears to be unavailable.
Why Was the Donald Trump Marvel Rivals Mod Removed?
Nexus Mods' 2020 blog post outlined a policy banning mods related to US sociopolitical issues, urging users to report any violations. This policy was implemented around the time of the contentious 2020 presidential election.
Social media reactions to the ban were mixed. Many Marvel Rivals fans saw the ban as unsurprising, citing the incongruity of Trump's likeness with Captain America's established persona. Others expressed dissatisfaction with Nexus Mods' removal of politically charged content. This isn't the first instance of Trump-themed video game mods; while many have been removed from Nexus Mods, some remain available for games like Skyrim, Fallout 4, and XCOM 2.
NetEase Games, the developer of Marvel Rivals, has not yet addressed the use of character mods, particularly those depicting controversial or political figures. As a new game, NetEase is currently focused on addressing gameplay bugs and resolving player account issues, such as wrongful bans.
