Spider-Man Mod That Swapped Pride Flags for US Flag Axed by Modding Sites

pcmag.com:

Insomniac Games' Spider-Man Remastered swung onto the PC with all the modding fun a PC port can offer. But when a modder decided to post a homophobic mod, major mod sites hit back.

A modder who created a mod that removed Pride flags from the game apparently tried to fly under the radar by naming the mod “Non-Newtonian New York” on one site and claiming that it “replaces Newton’s Prism’s artifacts with the stars and stripes," Kotaku explains(Opens in a new window). In reality, the mod swapped Pride flags with the US flag.

The mod was posted to two of the biggest modding sites, Nexus Mods and ModDB. Its listing on ModDB appears more explicit, saying in the description that it “changes the stupid pride flags to american flags." Both sites have removed the mods and taken action against the modder.

In a tweet(Opens in a new window), ModDB said it “removed the content and banned the user,” and noted that the site is “an inclusive environment” that does “not permit targeting marginalized groups” and has a zero-tolerance policy for such mods.

In a post, Nexus Mods shared(Opens in a new window) that it removed both the mod and the author, who appeared to use a newly created sock puppet account, named “Mike Hawk,” to post the mod. 

“The fact the user needed to make a sock puppet like a coward to upload the mod showed their intent to troll and that they knew it would not be allowed. Had they not been a coward and had they used their main account instead, we would have simply removed the mod and told them that we did not want to host it, only banning them if they reuploaded it again after being fairly warned,” Nexus Mods explained in its post.

The site added: “We are for inclusivity, we are for diversity,” and said that it will