PC Gamer: Paradox pulls Stellaris mod that makes all humans "European"

No one needs to host your free fucking speech on their servers. It's like asking a store to be forced to sell nazi armbands or forced to allow white supremacists to put posters on your front door. Free speech does not mean you have the right to broadcast your bullshit through a company's platform.
 
As far as I know (correct me if I am wrong) they can still have as racist mods as they would like hosted elsewhere. There really isn't anything controversial about them banning a mod that was obviously bating for this exact reaction.

The mod itself was allowed, but the racist agenda in the description / links to propaganda was not. There are indeed several other mods on Steam Workshop that accomplish the same thing, and not just for "Europeans".
 
Wait, why are mods like this not acceptable?

I support paradoxs right to not have this in a storefront, but I also support modders rights to do as they please with games they purchased, even if it offends me

Nobody is saying they can't make this mod, they're saying to take it elsewhere. Make as many racist mod descriptions as you want, but it won't be given a platform by Paradox.
 
As far as I know (correct me if I am wrong) they can still have as racist mods as they would like hosted elsewhere. There really isn't anything controversial about them banning a mod that was obviously bating for this exact reaction.

I know

The other guy said mods like this aren't acceptable which I assume means shouldn't exist?

I'm of the belief you should be allowed to make the grossest, most racist mods you want but obviously don't expect the Dev or gaming public to accept them

Why would I want to tell someone what they can or can't make?

But yes, it's paradoxes ip and they have every right to delete what they don't feel is representative of its game
 
Nobody is saying they can't make this mod, they're saying to take it elsewhere. Make as many racist mod descriptions as you want, but it won't be given a platform by Paradox.

Bingo.

Though the thing about the whole 100% absolute creative freedom argument is that when pressed essentially nobody actually believes it. Everyone has their "well, clearly THAT shouldn't be allowed" breaking point. But in those cases it isn't about political correctness because reasons.
 
Nobody is saying they can't make this mod, they're saying to take it elsewhere. Make as many racist mod descriptions as you want, but it won't be given a platform by Paradox.

Pretty much the stance taken for Bethesda game mods. There are Skyrim mods on Steam Workshop that Valve and Bethesda regulate, Skyrim mods on Nexus that Nexus regulates, and Skyrim mods elsewhere that other people or even nobody regulates.
 
It should be noted that there's now three mods
One Race Humans - [African \ European \ Asian], which convert all humans to the specified ethnicity.
Perfectly allowed. The issue was that whoever made the first mod was a grade-A bigot.

Also, Stellaris has racism as a mechanic, it's not like they want to tip toe around anything - i mean, the shit you could pull in their games...
 
It should be noted that there's now three mods
One Race Humans - [African European Asian], which convert all humans to the specified ethnicity.
Perfectly allowed. The issue was that whoever made the first mod was a grade-A bigot.

Also, Stellaris has racism as a mechanic, it's not like they want to tip toe around anything - i mean, the shit you could pull in their games...

Speciesism, not racism.
 
The other guy said mods like this aren't acceptable which I assume means shouldn't exist?

I'm of the belief you should be allowed to make the grossest, most racist mods you want but obviously don't expect the Dev or gaming public to accept them

You might want to rethink, or at the very least rephrase, your position.
 
Why would you buy Stellaris to just play like this?

It'd be like going to a multicultural food festival and just eating McDonalds.
I might actually consider using a mod like this some time. It sort of feels more right when what is essentially a Space Nazi empire consists only of white people with European sounding names.
 
Man, it's good to see so many staunch defenders of free speech on GAF. It warms my heart. I look forward to your posts supporting Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump protests.
 
No one needs to host your free fucking speech on their servers. It's like asking a store to be forced to sell nazi armbands or forced to allow white supremacists to put posters on your front door. Free speech does not mean you have the right to broadcast your bullshit through a company's platform.

I always wonder if people asking this silly stuff actually understands what free speech refers to or are just content in believing it means you can say anything anywhere without any repercussions.
 
I mean, it's a videogame. If I wanted to create some sort of weird all white utopia in space somewhere I should feel free to do so.

At the same time I get why Paradox doesn't want that kind of stuff advertised directly via their own distribution (which I gather is the case since it's still available via ModDB), so I'm not really against this at all. So long as they don't take the step further to try and stop the mod from working at all.

Mods like this have existed for games forever and will continue to do so.

You are free to do so. The company that made the game is also free to not allow mods at all or not associate themselves with certain mods removing it wherever they can. You can still play the mod if you asked the creator.
 
Makes total sense that they would remove it, since it was showing up on their product page.

Honestly, this sounds like the ideal situation to me, it's hard to fault Paradox at all. They found it tactless, but let it be, then it was only when the obvious agenda showed up (and on the game's page) that they decided to take it down. Hard to argue against that decision.
 
Wait, why are mods like this not acceptable?

I support paradoxs right to not have this in a storefront, but I also support modders rights to do as they please with games they purchased, even if it offends me

no, they cant be racist as they please. Thats not how it works. You can be offensive to other people when you want just because.
 
I might actually consider using a mod like this some time. It sort of feels more right when what is essentially a Space Nazi empire consists only of white people with European sounding names.

Oh I misread the mod, I thought it made ALL races white Europeans.

Still, I think it's silly. :P
 
I love Paradox, and the community is often quite good, but my god does it attract these loons sometimes. It's really unfortunate.

Totally frank and anecdotal, but I believe computer war sims attract a fairly interesting and diverse crowd... That sometimes overlaps with fascist sympathizers and archaic dynasty worship. Hyper conservative History majors are strange like that sometimes, I mean, these are the same kind that attend gun conventions for WW2 "memorabilia". Years of Civilization mods featuring slave rule and exploitation systems modded in "for the lulz" or "historical accuracy" kind of desensitized me, but then again, a lot of these games are allowing the use of some really heinous shit for the means of entertainment.

I agree with their reasoning of letting it be until the messaging became caustic. I like my virulent racists in the open, exposed, with their names attached to their work.

In my experience Paradox actually does a pretty good job of dealing with these kinds of people at least on their website. They know this particular crowd games like EU and Vic can attract and try to head them off before they get too terrible.

The games definitely can attract the worst kind of gamers, but unfortunately that's what history seems to do in general, looking up articles about history online for example, the comments are always filled with racists, revisionists, etc. For the most part their niche games have always had fantastic communities, the filth was always moderated away and stayed on 4chan boards.

I don't think it's that history attracts these people, we just live in a world where historical fact is powerful knowledge. Extremists think it can add legitimacy to their games. I have a feeling for everyone that want sot be a space nazi empire and exterminate the space jews, there are plenty of people that play something like EU3 or Victoria and try to set European nations on a better path. I know that's how I tend to play, much like I always refuse to use slaves in either Civ or Stellaris, and end the slave trade as early as I can in EU.
 
Looks like they were successful in what they set out to do. The fact that I don't even play the game and now know about this is proof of that. Seriously, why do people keep paying attention to these morons? Ignore them, don't write articles on them, stop giving them the attention they crave.

Pretty much.
 
Good on Paradox. So absurd that just including women and minorities is seen as agenda pushing and not something that should be the default if it wasn't for already existing imbalances of representation in media.

Was disappointed to see Matt Chat involuntarily chuckle at the African name of the default human leader in his Stellaris video.
 
I understand the logic of some posters (one banned) in this thread.

They think that Paradox should let whatever go like YouTube does.

Difference is YouTube is an intentional platform meant to be open to everything.

If I go to Stormfront and post I'll be banned for being black, if a white person posts on Afromaxino then he'll be banned for being white.

that's the difference, paradox is not YouTube or Dailymotion. It's a private host about a game made by that host.

If racists want to make their trash they do it by making their own game and servers, Paradox shouldn't be forced to let them in because PC. Heck, they even gave it a chance before the agenda was obvious, they blew it themselves.
 
Last time i played one of their games (unmodded), i expelled jews from my realm and confiscated their gold.

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I understand the logic of some posters (one banned) in this thread.

They think that Paradox should let whatever go like YouTube does.

Difference is YouTube is an intentional platform meant to be open to everything.

If I go to Stormfront and post I'll be banned for being black, if a white person posts on Afromaxino then he'll be banned for being white.

that's the difference, paradox is not YouTube or Dailymotion. It's a private host about a game made by that host.

If racists want to make their trash they do it by making their own game and servers, Paradox shouldn't be forced to let them in because PC. Heck, they even gave it a chance before the agenda was obvious, they blew it themselves.

Youtube is probably a bad example as they have content guidelines and regardless of their own views, subject to US and Foreign laws concerning subject matter. Enforcement is slow and a bit lax due to the volume of videos posted each day, but it does exist.

Man, it's good to see so many staunch defenders of free speech on GAF. It warms my heart. I look forward to your posts supporting Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump protests.

lol
 
Reading the topic on reddit for this is pure facepalm. People arguing that being against multiculturism doesn't mean you're racist, when, in the context of this mod, not being multicultural means that everyone is white. Yeah... Makes sense. *sigh*

I assume the line between of people like that and those who lost their shit over the non-white leaders in Civilization Beyond Earth is thinner than we think.

Part of me feels like these grand strategy and 4x games are attractive to the worst kind of gamers.

Eh... I'd say that title belongs to competitive games where the developers get death threats for balance changes.
 
Good decision. Workshop should be moderated to exclude offensive content. Especially since it's not like you can't get mods from other sources. If somebody wants to play this mod there are other venues to download it from. No reason to use Workshop to promote the agenda.
 
Also...lol at the "no multiculturalism" part. So according to whoever made this mod before the recent migration waves the whole Europe, all those dozens of countries with different languages, histories and traditions were just one homogenous cultrue? lol.

That seems like pretty big distrimination of native european cultures :D
 
I wouldn't mind a skin color changer mod, but I'd like it to be made by someone who has the sense to let me decide which skin color that ends up being rather than a white supremacist.
 
I'm honestly most confused by the idea that having just Europeans means a lack of multiculturalism.

I mean I know, shock horror, an obvious racist bigot is displaying an astonishing lack of knowledge, but still, what a total plonker.
You mean a continent that has seen massive Migrations from all directions over it's entire history isn't homogoneous?

I for one am shocked. Shocked I tell you.
 
The guy behind the mod has issued the following statement.
Video: Paradox Shadow Banned My Mod and then Slandered My Name
Can we get a quick summary so we don't need to give this guy a view?

I guess it's not hard to imagine the content though..

Yet they leave the black only mod still on the workshop. Real classy, Paradox.

Here's the mod:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=688751838
Did you even read the OP?
 
Does it say no multiculturalism here and link to an agenda YouTube channel?

Said Paradox in a statement to Eurogamer:

“We shipped the game originally with an accurate representation of humans, that is to say diverse in both ethnicity and personality. We embrace the idea that players mod the game to best represent how they want to play, we do NOT however wish to enable discriminatory practices. We appreciate any inappropriate mods being brought to our attention and will take them down where necessary, we also encourage players to make use of the flagging function provided by Valve where needed.”

I'd easily classify the black only mod as discriminatory just like the white one.
 
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