Understanding the Removal of Body Type Mods – A Polite and Courteous Discussion

[Kefka03]

Hello, I just have a question about the mods that change the Body Type. I see some mods coming out that restore the Female and Male body types as they were in the original game, but these mods keep getting removed. I would just like to understand why—what is wrong with these mods? I don’t want to offend anyone, I just want to understand… and allow for a polite and courteous discussion.

[Astrapogiannos]

I think the usual reason given is that at some of these mods are transphobic/offensive. Imo it's a reach to call mods that just add female/male instead of body type 1/2 texts transphobic. This one seemed neutral. Others have been obviously banned cause they had edgy titles like: "de-woking x game" or similar wording in their descriptions. Nexus has been consistent in banning these types of mods for some time now, so don't be surprised if this thread also gets deleted soon. If this is a deal breaker, there are other mod hosting sites that don't delete these mods.

[Vagrant0]

People are honestly overthinking this. It has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of wokism.

This change, pure and simple, was done just to make the game easier to translate into the dozens of languages that many games support now. Mechanically type 1 and type 2 function exactly the same as male and female, but translate much more cleanly without the translation team needing to understand the nuances of a language to make sure it is referring to the intended physical classification without derogatory implication. Instead, none of this needs to happen, type 1 can be easily just translated to 유형 1, tyyppi 1, 1 النوع, and so on with the translation team being able to just look at it and go "close enough."

[Gatehacker]

5 hours ago, Vagrant0 said:

People are honestly overthinking this. It has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of wokism.

This change, pure and simple, was done just to make the game easier to translate into the dozens of languages that many games support now. Mechanically type 1 and type 2 function exactly the same as male and female, but translate much more cleanly without the translation team needing to understand the nuances of a language to make sure it is referring to the intended physical classification without derogatory implication. Instead, none of this needs to happen, type 1 can be easily just translated to 유형 1, tyyppi 1, 1 النوع, and so on with the translation team being able to just look at it and go "close enough."

To be fair, if male and female function the same, then there is no point in changing it because everybody already knows what you're referring to, body type-wise and every culture has gendered language and can tell the difference between men's and women's bodies. The translation team absolutely should be trying to understand the nuance of other languages because that's what they are paid to do and most importantly its another language and culture that should be respected which you cant do if your not even willing to learn their language. I identify as a man and I have nonbinary friends and a family member, and they think this is  just as stupid. By banning anybody who wants to change body type in a game to male and female, your are essentially banning them from identifying and expressing how they want, which is the complete opposite of inclusivity and acceptance.  This would be equally as dumb if nexus banned a mod that change it to they/them or body type 1 and 2 on older games. All games need to have the option to change it in my opinion because its just basic respect for all parties. I identifying as a male or female is not derogatory and no one gender should be seen that way. If that's the reason it was changed, then that says the translation team is reinforcing that identifying as male or female is bad which is just a gross thing to think about another human beings gender. Also sorry this comes off as me ranting at you I'm just annoyed the gender debate even happens and lead to something like gender mods being banned. Its rediculous.

[nilloc93]

12 hours ago, Vagrant0 said:

People are honestly overthinking this. It has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of wokism.

This change, pure and simple, was done just to make the game easier to translate into the dozens of languages that many games support now. Mechanically type 1 and type 2 function exactly the same as male and female, but translate much more cleanly without the translation team needing to understand the nuances of a language to make sure it is referring to the intended physical classification without derogatory implication. Instead, none of this needs to happen, type 1 can be easily just translated to 유형 1, tyyppi 1, 1 النوع, and so on with the translation team being able to just look at it and go "close enough."

If that's true why is it not permitted to mod the English version?

It's not like a mod is going to ruin localizations for the game everywhere else.

[Vagrant0]

12 minutes ago, nilloc93 said:

If that's true why is it not permitted to mod the English version?

It's not like a mod is going to ruin localizations for the game everywhere else.

In short, it creates drama, feeds trolls, causes more work for site staff to deal with disputes, and accomplishes nothing meaningful. Go look at the Steam forums understand why they probably don't want that here. This is ignoring the fact that this site has routinely stood behind the ideals of being inclusive and not intentionally offensive. Even if the mod itself is not offensive, the intentions usually are.

[BarneyEX]

How is using male and female remotely controversial though? I speak multiple different languages and if I referred to body types as type 1 or type 2, people would think I was referring to some new smartphone models.

[JaceGavon]

I'm going to stop paying for premium if this keeps up. I really don't care about the politics of it all, I have no issue with pronouns or anything like that. I thought it was cool that Starfield added in the option for people that it mattered to. But if Nexus is going to ban/block or not support mods that just want to convert to classic strictly for those who want it, then ill gladly save my money and revert back to standard membership. Nexus can host tons of NSFW mods, killable children, ect but the Male and Female is to much? Come on. That has to be a politicized action, otherwise it makes absolutely no sense.

[Vagrant0]

5 hours ago, JaceGavon said:

I'm going to stop paying for premium if this keeps up. I really don't care about the politics of it all, I have no issue with pronouns or anything like that. I thought it was cool that Starfield added in the option for people that it mattered to. But if Nexus is going to ban/block or not support mods that just want to convert to classic strictly for those who want it, then ill gladly save my money and revert back to standard membership. Nexus can host tons of NSFW mods, killable children, ect but the Male and Female is to much? Come on. That has to be a politicized action, otherwise it makes absolutely no sense.

Okay, explain completely why this is such a crucial point of concern for you, so much so that you are going to take such a firm stand. What difference does this distinction for text that is displayed only once in a 80+ hour game make? Do you need a continual reminder that you are a Male character to feel right with yourself? I mean, there is a good deal of gender affirmation in the fact that you can look down at your character in first person and not see a pair of tits, then remember that you aren't a Type 2, you're a male. I suppose this gender affirmation of how you identify is quite important, almost critical, but you have to consider the alternative point of view. If you're someone who prefers having a Type 1 body, you might feel uncomfortable thinking yourself as a female; seeing this word used just once when defining yourself in the world, and instead preferring a label that is less limited by cultural connotations. Picking female might feel weird if that is not how you identify in real life because it might make you question things about yourself once you realize that the common argument for picking a female character diminishes when you play most the game in first person, but Type 1 needs no justification. 

As someone who has been gaming for a long time and who isn't quite up to date on the current cultural war, maybe I don't quite understand the problem. Please enlighten me.

[Vagrant0]

18 hours ago, Gatehacker said:

To be fair, if male and female function the same, then there is no point in changing it because everybody already knows what you're referring to, body type-wise and every culture has gendered language and can tell the difference between men's and women's bodies. The translation team absolutely should be trying to understand the nuance of other languages because that's what they are paid to do and most importantly its another language and culture that should be respected which you cant do if your not even willing to learn their language. I identify as a man and I have nonbinary friends and a family member, and they think this is  just as stupid. By banning anybody who wants to change body type in a game to male and female, your are essentially banning them from identifying and expressing how they want, which is the complete opposite of inclusivity and acceptance.  This would be equally as dumb if nexus banned a mod that change it to they/them or body type 1 and 2 on older games. All games need to have the option to change it in my opinion because its just basic respect for all parties. I identifying as a male or female is not derogatory and no one gender should be seen that way. If that's the reason it was changed, then that says the translation team is reinforcing that identifying as male or female is bad which is just a gross thing to think about another human beings gender. Also sorry this comes off as me ranting at you I'm just annoyed the gender debate even happens and lead to something like gender mods being banned. Its rediculous.

It is a problem that is only a problem because people decide it should be a topic to troll about. It continues because it gets people upset because it is an entirely stupid thing to get so upset about and quickly leads into slippery slope analogies or claims of censorship. The problem is not the translation method, it is not how these things are described. The problem is entirely because a portion of (mostly younger) people decide to raise controversy over it for the sake of attention, and since you see these posts all over, people think it is something to care about.