Post by ottemis on Jan 17, 2017 1:55:45 GMT
Modding and Social Issues
With the rise of social justice groups advocating for the proper treatment and inclusion of minority and/or under-represented demographics in movies, games and tv, this has also become a hot topic with regards to modding. I understand that for marginalized groups it’s not fun and may even be considered offensive to see a mod surface that changes aspects of a character they identify with, and this resonates with the community on current social issues.
I believe that modding should, to a reasonable extend, be exempt from being directly associated with such social issues. Games can touch on social issues and canon representation is important, but as modding and which mods you use is a personal choice for reasons that can have nothing to do with said social issues, I don't feel certain mods and modding your game a certain way should automatically be considered problematic.
Modding exists not just to add diversity to games and cater to those least catered to, it is there to offer everyone equal choice and equal chances. Modding is very personal, and most importantly, modding does not erase Canon. How someone else mods their game does not affect you directly, nor do mods take anything away from your gaming experience, rather than offering options to add to it in places you (or anyone else) feels a need. Any mod that wouldn't improve your personal experience can simply be ignored.
While you could make all characters in a game black or white, gay or straight, whatever your personal preference, personally identify with or feel most comfortable with, you do this within your own space. Your motivations are yours alone and can be extremely diverse. As such, creating a mod that changes the sexual orientation or skin colour of a character doesn't automatically make the author racist, bi-phobic, homophobic or hetero-phobic. Nor does it do users of said mods as long as they don't openly state to do it for reasons that are considered problematic.
I realize this is a bit of a controversial statement, as this is such a hot topic and people are easily offended. I probably would be too if I belonged to a marginalized group. Although I suppose I actually do being a woman, but I am white and straight and I could have it much worse. Still, I didn't form this opinion in a vacuume. I've seen these issues flare up and I've been personally involved on multiple occasions.
For your consideration, here are views of some well-known figures in the gaming/modding world that largely reflect my own:
David Gaider:


Source

Source
Mike Laidlaw:
The Nexus:
The DAI Tools Forums:
DAI Tools Coder, Dawn:
Callout posts and Anonymous Hatemail
Callout posts and anonymous hate are both extremely problematic Tumblr fandom past-times that have the potential to hurt people quite severely. If you choose to consciously inflict harm on another rather than ignore whatever it is that might be vexing you when it's not directly aimed at or affecting you, you are wrong. Without exception.
If you see a mod whose existence you personally find problematic and you feel the author might lacks perspective on certain issues, you can always choose to send the author a private message about this. If they engage with you publicly, it's perfectly fine to respond, but don't turn it into a witch hunt. People that see it can form their own opinion and act accordingly.
Keep in mind that while speaking your mind is good, it doesn’t automatically mean you are right and they are wrong, however strongly you might feel about a certain subject. It is your right to open a healthy debate about it and share your opinion, as it is theirs to either engage with you on the subject or refuse to do so. You're not going to sway someone whose not willing to listen, and when they are not it's simply not worth the time and energy you would spend on it. Take a leaf out of Obama's book and engage them in a constructive manner. Take a look at this video interview if you don't know what I'm referring to.
But what if...
Users express homo/bi/hetero-phobic or racist motivations explaining their use of a controversial mod, or generally employ hate-speech?
They would be assholes. Still, this doesn't give you permission to publicly burn them at the stake and doing so is extremely unlikely to change their minds rather than just cause them to either double down on said problematic views or self-harm. Do you feel that, when any individual has truly problematic views they then lose the right to live freely? Do you feel anyone with truly problematic views is automatically incapable of learning and no attempt should be made or that all actions made against these people are warranted, even when they might threaten their life? I don't.
Mod authors express homo/bi/hetero-phobic or racist motivations explaining their decision for creating a controversial mod, or generally employ hate-speech?
Again, assholes. As above. Feel free to report them to the administrators of whatever modding site their mod is hosted on. That's what they are there for. You can bet your ass it will be against their ToS.
That's my take on things. Feel free to (dis)agree with me and discuss this subject here. Please read this blogpost. It should give you perspective on how far these things can go and how important it is to openly have this discussion.
With the rise of social justice groups advocating for the proper treatment and inclusion of minority and/or under-represented demographics in movies, games and tv, this has also become a hot topic with regards to modding. I understand that for marginalized groups it’s not fun and may even be considered offensive to see a mod surface that changes aspects of a character they identify with, and this resonates with the community on current social issues.
I believe that modding should, to a reasonable extend, be exempt from being directly associated with such social issues. Games can touch on social issues and canon representation is important, but as modding and which mods you use is a personal choice for reasons that can have nothing to do with said social issues, I don't feel certain mods and modding your game a certain way should automatically be considered problematic.
Modding exists not just to add diversity to games and cater to those least catered to, it is there to offer everyone equal choice and equal chances. Modding is very personal, and most importantly, modding does not erase Canon. How someone else mods their game does not affect you directly, nor do mods take anything away from your gaming experience, rather than offering options to add to it in places you (or anyone else) feels a need. Any mod that wouldn't improve your personal experience can simply be ignored.
While you could make all characters in a game black or white, gay or straight, whatever your personal preference, personally identify with or feel most comfortable with, you do this within your own space. Your motivations are yours alone and can be extremely diverse. As such, creating a mod that changes the sexual orientation or skin colour of a character doesn't automatically make the author racist, bi-phobic, homophobic or hetero-phobic. Nor does it do users of said mods as long as they don't openly state to do it for reasons that are considered problematic.
I realize this is a bit of a controversial statement, as this is such a hot topic and people are easily offended. I probably would be too if I belonged to a marginalized group. Although I suppose I actually do being a woman, but I am white and straight and I could have it much worse. Still, I didn't form this opinion in a vacuume. I've seen these issues flare up and I've been personally involved on multiple occasions.
For your consideration, here are views of some well-known figures in the gaming/modding world that largely reflect my own:
David Gaider:


Source

Source
Mike Laidlaw:
ON MODS IN DRAGON AGE, A SNIPPET FROM "PLAYERS LIKE ME - REPRESENTATION IN GAMING" PANEL
He says that as a general rule, he likes mods. He appreciates the effort that modders take to add or extend the world, as it is the ultimate compliment. He says that in someone releasing a mod changing something fundamental, that "does not in itself bother me". He also referenced the Cassandra bisexual mod as well in this context. Because the end user has to install this, and it is not built into the game, that's not a problem. That does not an offense.
However, where the mod "goes off the rail" depends on the modder's language. If a modder has the language like "I have fixed the character by..." and follows it up by the change they have made in their mod, that's where the problem lies. The idea that they "fixed" that individual. Laidlaw does not mind changes being made, and people opting into that change. But if a modder were to do so, with the assumption that changing one's sexual identity is a good thing, "that's a disturbing line of thought."
Source
He says that as a general rule, he likes mods. He appreciates the effort that modders take to add or extend the world, as it is the ultimate compliment. He says that in someone releasing a mod changing something fundamental, that "does not in itself bother me". He also referenced the Cassandra bisexual mod as well in this context. Because the end user has to install this, and it is not built into the game, that's not a problem. That does not an offense.
However, where the mod "goes off the rail" depends on the modder's language. If a modder has the language like "I have fixed the character by..." and follows it up by the change they have made in their mod, that's where the problem lies. The idea that they "fixed" that individual. Laidlaw does not mind changes being made, and people opting into that change. But if a modder were to do so, with the assumption that changing one's sexual identity is a good thing, "that's a disturbing line of thought."
Source
The Nexus:
Even though located in the UK, Nexus Mods is run as a multicultural modding site and aims to keep an open mind about content submitted by people from all over the world. While we acknowledge that differences in tastes inevitably exist we strive to ensure that the ‘content shared with like minded people’ principle is enforced and mod authors enjoy an environment where they can share their creations without hassle and harassment from those less tolerant of an individuals personal tastes.
Source
Source
The DAI Tools Forums:
It is up to you what you see online. It is not anyone else’s place to tell you what you should or should not consume in terms of content; it is not up to anyone else to police the internet so that you do not see things you do not like. At the same time, it is not up to YOU to police fandom to protect yourself or anyone else, real or hypothetical. There are tools out there to help protect you if you have triggers or squicks. Learn to use them, and to take care of your own mental health. If you are consuming fan-made content and you find that you are disliking it - STOP.
Everyone likes different things. It’s not up to you to determine what creators are allowed to create. It’s not up to you to police fandom. If you don’t like something, you can post meta about it or create contrarian content yourself, seek to convert other fans to your way of thinking.
But you have no right to say to any creator “I do not like this, therefore you should not create it. Nobody should like this. It should not exist.”
and that includes modding… Don’t like the mod, don’t use it, rant about it, discuss it with like minded souls but NEVER HARASS THE MODDERS
Source
Everyone likes different things. It’s not up to you to determine what creators are allowed to create. It’s not up to you to police fandom. If you don’t like something, you can post meta about it or create contrarian content yourself, seek to convert other fans to your way of thinking.
But you have no right to say to any creator “I do not like this, therefore you should not create it. Nobody should like this. It should not exist.”
and that includes modding… Don’t like the mod, don’t use it, rant about it, discuss it with like minded souls but NEVER HARASS THE MODDERS
Source
DAI Tools Coder, Dawn:
I don’t have many rules concerning the mods.
a) Don’t give an advantage to multiplayer players.
b) Don’t allow DLC content to be added to the main game without owning it.
EVERYTHING else is fair game. If you don’t agree with a mod for whatever reason, don’t download it. That’s it. Period.
Source
a) Don’t give an advantage to multiplayer players.
b) Don’t allow DLC content to be added to the main game without owning it.
EVERYTHING else is fair game. If you don’t agree with a mod for whatever reason, don’t download it. That’s it. Period.
Source
The hate the modders get isn’t just focused on the controversial stuff like the sexuality mods. It’s about… EVERYTHING. They get hate for hair mods, armor mods, cheat mods, complexion mods. ALL THE MODS.They get hate even though they have nothing to do with the controversial stuff. Because they think it’s ugly. Because they think it contradicts the lore. Because it’s not how they wanted it. Because… I don’t know, man. They had a bad day, I guess? And this has been going on for a VERY long time. Way before I was even involved in the project. The hate has been there from the very start, pretty much, and it breaks my heart.
Modders: If even only one person likes your stuff, your efforts were worth it. If YOU like your mod, it was worth it. The only comments that should matter are the positive ones
Throw all of the negative ones in the trash and light it on fire. They don’t matter. Not even a little bit.
Source
Modders: If even only one person likes your stuff, your efforts were worth it. If YOU like your mod, it was worth it. The only comments that should matter are the positive ones

Source
Callout posts and Anonymous Hatemail
Callout posts and anonymous hate are both extremely problematic Tumblr fandom past-times that have the potential to hurt people quite severely. If you choose to consciously inflict harm on another rather than ignore whatever it is that might be vexing you when it's not directly aimed at or affecting you, you are wrong. Without exception.
If you see a mod whose existence you personally find problematic and you feel the author might lacks perspective on certain issues, you can always choose to send the author a private message about this. If they engage with you publicly, it's perfectly fine to respond, but don't turn it into a witch hunt. People that see it can form their own opinion and act accordingly.
Keep in mind that while speaking your mind is good, it doesn’t automatically mean you are right and they are wrong, however strongly you might feel about a certain subject. It is your right to open a healthy debate about it and share your opinion, as it is theirs to either engage with you on the subject or refuse to do so. You're not going to sway someone whose not willing to listen, and when they are not it's simply not worth the time and energy you would spend on it. Take a leaf out of Obama's book and engage them in a constructive manner. Take a look at this video interview if you don't know what I'm referring to.
But what if...
Users express homo/bi/hetero-phobic or racist motivations explaining their use of a controversial mod, or generally employ hate-speech?
They would be assholes. Still, this doesn't give you permission to publicly burn them at the stake and doing so is extremely unlikely to change their minds rather than just cause them to either double down on said problematic views or self-harm. Do you feel that, when any individual has truly problematic views they then lose the right to live freely? Do you feel anyone with truly problematic views is automatically incapable of learning and no attempt should be made or that all actions made against these people are warranted, even when they might threaten their life? I don't.
Mod authors express homo/bi/hetero-phobic or racist motivations explaining their decision for creating a controversial mod, or generally employ hate-speech?
Again, assholes. As above. Feel free to report them to the administrators of whatever modding site their mod is hosted on. That's what they are there for. You can bet your ass it will be against their ToS.
That's my take on things. Feel free to (dis)agree with me and discuss this subject here. Please read this blogpost. It should give you perspective on how far these things can go and how important it is to openly have this discussion.