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 use of character mods, including those depicting political figures.
Launched nearly a month ago, Marvel Rivals has quickly amassed millions of players worldwide, mastering Marvel heroes to climb the leaderboards. This hero shooter offers strategic gameplay, encouraging players to discover unique character interactions. Many players enhance their experience with mods, altering hero models with skins from comics and movies, or even replacing them with characters from other franchises like Fortnite.
Recently, a Nexus Mods user uploaded a Donald Trump mod replacing Captain America's model. This sparked online discussion, with some even searching for a Joe Biden counterpart. However, Nexus Mods has since removed the Trump mod (and apparently the Biden mod as well), resulting in an error message when searching for it.
Why the Ban?
Nexus Mods' 2020 blog post clarified their policy against mods involving US sociopolitical issues, urging users to report violations. This policy was implemented around the time of the contentious 2020 US presidential election.
Social media reactions were mixed. Many Marvel Rivals fans found the ban unsurprising, citing the visual incongruity of Trump as Captain America. Others expressed dissatisfaction with Nexus Mods' restriction of political imagery. 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.
In contrast, NetEase Games, the developer of Marvel Rivals, has not addressed the use of character mods, particularly those featuring controversial or political figures. As a new game, NetEase is currently focused on addressing gameplay bugs and resolving player account issues.
