No-pronoun Starfield mod has been banned
While many players have moved on from the pronoun debate sparked by Starfield’s launch, especially after noting that the decision impacts very little in terms of dialogue or gameplay, some people are still looking for ways to bypass their inclusion.
A popular mod website, NexusMods, has banned a Starfield mod which was created to remove pronoun options from the game, instead having all characters listed as They/Them.
A Starfield player made a mod which removed pronouns from the game
Starfield’s character creation screen offering players the option to choose their pronouns led to several people, including some streamers and YouTubers, being upset with Bethesda for bringing ‘wokeness’ into their video games.
Due to the amount of upset, one Starfield player who disliked the inclusion of pronouns created a mod which removed them from the game, which was uploaded to NexusMods.
The mod reportedly removed she/her and he/him pronouns from the game, however did not remove they/them pronouns. This means that all players using the mod are refered to in a gender neutral way.
NexusMods has banned a mod which removes pronouns from Starfield
NexusMods has recently removed the pronoun mod from their platform, stating that it was not a political choice but a statement about what the company stands for.
In an email to 404 Media, NexusMods said: “Hosting this mod was not for us and it is certainly within our rights not to host content on our platform. It's not a ‘political statement’ or an ‘alignment to one side or the other in the culture war.’ We stand for diversity and inclusion in our community and the removal of diversity, while appealing to many, does not promote a positive modding community.”
The modding website’s spokesperson went on to say that they are “not the police of what people can and cannot mod into (or out of) their games,” however they can control what they allow on their platform.
Some Starfield players are upset with Nexus while others commend them
Several Starfield players have come out to express their feelings towards Nexus for removing the mod, seeing it as a political action intended to push an agenda.
In a Steam Community thread titled ‘confirmed: NexusMods Bans Mods That Remove Pronouns Or Inclusive Functions’, one user said: “Of course they would. They have to support their ideology. They are bigots that want to force their subculture on to others.”
Another user commented saying: “If we want to mod out woke nonsense, that's our business and our game. Nobody is hurting anyone by giving others a choice of how they want to play.”
Several other commenters commended Nexus for their decision to remove the mod. Some users stated that they would donate to the website to thank them for standing up for inclusive features and others asked why some users were positioning inclusion and diversity as a bad thing.
