NEXUS OR SEXUS? THIS IS THE PROBLEM

[Ethreon]

Next on this thread, Tumblr opinions and voices. This should've died long ago, when a mod or, for the less happy, Dark0ne, said the mod is allowed.

[MissMorose]

I seriously doubt the majority of women on this site are ok with mods that portray women as such....but, like me, will respect the owner's decision to run his site as he sees best. Afterall, if something is intolerable enough, then there's always the door out.

I think this is a pretty fair stance. I mean, I'm female, I find a lot of these mods and characters that fall under the 'Beautiful Slave Girl' trope to be downright depressing, but you just have to remember that, if it's not against the Nexus rules, then people have a right to create and download such mods. You don't *have* to agree with everything in the world, and that's okay.

Besides, like a lot of y'all have pointed out, it's not just the mods that portray that sort of character/scenario. It's a pretty popular trend in movies and games [especially games, I feel], and I just avoid those movies/games when I see them. Jeez, even Fallout, which is one of my favorite franchises/series, had a follower who doesn't sound that far off from the Mango mod - Clover in Fallout 3 was an abused slave who constantly flirted with the PC. Should FO3 be banned from Nexus [for Beth's awful writing skills], or is it okay to just ignore that companion and play the rest of the game?

Edited February 29, 2016 by MissMorose

[Farvat]

Okay, Farvat, have you downloaded and tried this Mango follower mod? I had never heard of it until this thread so I went over and looked at it. What I see is a big eyed chick with some blood on her face and line in the description giving her a backstory.

 

1. We can make our characters scarred up, bloodies and bruised with big eyes in the vanilla versions of these games. Don't see how that could be considered controversial and banworthy. Maybe she looks a little young, but that doesn't mean much. At 25, I was often mistaken for being 16 and at 30, people often still asked me which high school I attended.

 

2. She seems to be using a vanilla voice so I don't see how there could be some long awful conversation with her about her past or worse, lines to denigrate and abuse her yourself.

 

So with that brief detective work it seems that it is up to the player to project horrible made up scenarios of abuse and whatever onto Mango in your own head, A little something called role-playing which people who want to do so are free to do with any modded or vanilla companion. I'm sure there are people out there for who Lydia is pulling a train every night. Ugh, I just made myself a little sick.

 

If players are defiling Lydia in such a way then certainly the flip side is that other players enjoy having Mango in their game as another pretty face to keep them company. These players have their own backstories for Mango where she was a lost adventurer, their adopted sister, high school sweetheart, nice chick who nursed them back to health when they got run over by a runaway carriage, whatever.

 

If a player wants to see Mango as a broken person solely there for their pleasure, for their abuse or the abuse of others, that is on the player. That is not on you, me, or Archie Bunker to tell them how they can play THEIR game they paid for on THEIR computer in THEIR home. If it's your kid or spouse doing it, then you have a say in it but you don't have the right to control what other people do in their single player game. It doesn't affect you. They don't have to answer to you. It's not illegal and Dark0ne as well as the moderators have said it's not banworthy. You don't get to decide what's banworthy, neither do I. If there are mods or images you feel are questionable or even illegal, report it and the moderators will take care of it. They're good like that. But this crusade, vendetta or whatever it is against this mod/mod author is no good for anyone. It's not helping any progress toward making a better filtering system or a better site.

 

P.S. I'm a 40 year old woman and this mod doesn't offend me, nor do most mods because I realize this is a game, these are pixels, it's not real. These games are rated M, they are for adults who know the difference between what's real and what's not. If they get into the hands of children, that is on the parents, not the Nexus or any other modding sites.

Yes I understand your observations, but you not seize the issue. The role-playing game, has nothing to do here. The rules of the role-playing state that the plan of the character and the player are rigidly separated. I have been a master of AD & D and I know whereof I speak. Here the problem is not the follower, that is, the character's level, but paradoxically the way in its nexus page is presented, then the player plan ..It is only the contrast between her alluring sexuality and rape immediately that the message it perverse manifests. This makes the scars purely a sign of a fake injury, iThere is rape, but there is no the trauma.. As a woman you should offend by the message that is that women are born to be raped and trauma of rape is only a fake as the woman herself likes to be abused. The message is implicit, it is for us males.

Also excuse is not proved that we're all adults here.

[budrick007]

Nexbeth et al. You folks are great dancers, as you have completely waltzed around the basic issue raised by Farvat's original post. Should there be censorship of NEXUS content?

 

As The Vampire Dante described earlier, Nexus has some rules regarding what can be posted on its site. Is Farvat correct in his demand that NEXUS censor its content to an extent that it forces Farvat's arbitrary moral judgments onto others?

 

Is Farvat the sole arbitrator of what is obscene? Is Farvat's judgment that a MOD is "pornographic" to be the defining reason to censor this MOD and banish it to the trash bin?

 

So I will rephrase my basic question to make it a simple yes or no answer. Does Nexus need censorship along the lines defined by Farvat?

 

 

Edited because I can't type for ... you know.

Edited March 1, 2016 by budrick007

[NexBeth]

beth to beth :) The mod presentation and description has changed since this discussion due to site owner intervention. The big-eyed/busted picture you see was first seen on the skyrim front-page "hot files". It was there for several days with a more detailed description describing the abuse, gang rape, etc. That is what gave rise to this topic.

 

Farvet, really there are not that many participants in this topic, especially at this point. Likely if the topic was publicized to the community you'd see a lot more people here arguing both sides and it would probably turn pretty ugly. Those participating have put in their 2cents, including some well-known authors who feel similar to the way I do, but ultimately we just can voice an opinion and the owner is gracious enough to allow us that opportunity. Dark0ne has the right to make decisions about his website, period.

[bben46]

So I will rephrase my basic question to make it a simple yes or no answer. Does Nexus need censorship on the lines defined by Farvat?

 

 

We have had the same dance many times in the past. Somehow, after the ranting, accusations, name calling and posturing is done, the Nexus is still here. :rolleyes:

 

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-violent083.gif

 

http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/military/eagleglobeanchor.gif Semper Fi.

 

[Dark0ne]

The mod presentation and description has changed since this discussion due to site owner intervention.

 

 

Uh...hate to burst the bubble of people who were expecting us to do something about it, but no it hasn't. None of the staff have touched that file. You can check yourself by looking at the action log on the file page.

[budrick007]

Oorah! bben46.

 

And I am opposed to any and all censorship. Keep on truckin'.

[SirSalami]

Forgive me as I'm not addressing anyone's concerns directly, as there is a lot being discussed here.

I agree with a lot of what's been said regarding simply making users more aware of our various different content filtering features. Essentially, I view this as a problem with educating our user-base and inconsistencies in terminology and user experience. These are things I'm addressing by consolidating all of the various stickies found around the forums and simplifying the Terms of Service. This will result in several "guidelines" docs that will be posted at the beginning of each submission process that will address, hopefully, a lot of the concerns brought up here such as highlighting the content blocking systems and clearly define the various criteria involved in categorizing content.

Regarding censorship and mandatory categorization, I feel that we need to move away from attempting to be moral authorities for the sake of it. That said, the more empowerment we can give to the user to self-censor, the more freedom we can offer to content creators. If it's at the cost of a few seconds of deliberation from content owners, requiring them to categorize their work at least to a minimal extent regarding adult and sexual content during the upload process, so be it. It will allow us to move past these dilemmas that historically have no recourse. A few discretionary checks to ensure that a submission cannot be made without selecting a few vital categorization guidelines is not asking too much and it's something we'll look into.

Regarding the particular mod in question, I feel like my colleagues and some of the other posters have made it clear why we have not reacted with any moderation. This inactivity however shouldn't be construed with any direct moral or ethical association with user submitted content.

If you have issue or concern, please contact me directly.

[sunshinenbrick]

 

Forgive me as I'm not addressing anyone's concerns directly, as there is a lot being discussed here.

I agree with a lot of what's been said regarding simply making users more aware of our various different content filtering features. Essentially, I view this as a problem with educating our user-base and inconsistencies in terminology and user experience. These are things I'm addressing by consolidating all of the various stickies found around the forums and simplifying the Terms of Service. This will result in several "guidelines" docs that will be posted at the beginning of each submission process that will address, hopefully, a lot of the concerns brought up here such as highlighting the content blocking systems and clearly define the various criteria involved in categorizing content.

Regarding censorship and mandatory categorization, I feel that we need to move away from attempting to be moral authorities for the sake of it. That said, the more empowerment we can give to the user to self-censor, the more freedom we can offer to content creators. If it's at the cost of a few seconds of deliberation from content owners, requiring them to categorize their work at least to a minimal extent regarding adult and sexual content during the upload process, so be it. It will allow us to move past these dilemmas that historically have no recourse. A few discretionary checks to ensure that a submission cannot be made without selecting a few vital categorization guidelines are adhered to is not asking too much and it's something we'll look into.

Regarding the particular mod in question, I feel like my colleagues and some of the other posters have made it clear why we have not reacted with any moderation. This inactivity however shouldn't be construed with any direct moral or ethical association with user submitted content.

If you have issue or concern, please contact me directly.

 

 

Thank you for a mature and thoughtful response to a often highly sensitive subject, and what are sometimes complex issues. It is also comforting and reassuring to hear that what people care passionately about, are things that the Nexus care about too.