Valve has denied experiences its pulled a controversial mod from Steam world wide on the request of the South Korean authorities, saying the mod was solely blocked in South Korea and solely as a result of it broke native legal guidelines. The mod’s writer is alleged to be behind its world removing.
Over the weekend, Automaton (citing a number of South Korean sources together with the Yonhap Information Company and ThisIsGame) reported Valve had agreed to a request by South Korea’s Recreation Ranking and Administration Committee (GRAC) to take away a mod for technique RPG Mount & Blade: Warband not simply regionally however abroad as effectively.
The mod, titled Gwangju Working Man, reportedly depicted the occasions of the 1980 Gwangju Rebellion – through which student-led pro-democracy protests have been violently suppressed by the South Korean army, leading to vital civilian casualties – in a means that “distorted historic info”. It is mentioned the mod (which featured army dictator Chun Doo Hwan as its cowl), depicted protesters as “armed and violent criminals”, framing the army’s response as “justified”.
As experiences of Valve’s response started circulating, some expressed concern that the corporate was now seemingly prepared to take away content material worldwide on the request of a rustic’s authorities. Valve, although, has now offered clarification on the occasions resulting in the Mount & Blade mod’s removing, saying entry was restricted in March – however solely in South Korea – after the corporate was knowledgeable it violated South Korean legal guidelines. Valve added the mod was then deleted from Steam in June by its unique uploader, inflicting its worldwide disappearance.
Valve has, after all, been closely criticised for its lack of satisfactory content material moderation previously, going through condemnation for permitting the likes of faculty taking pictures recreation Energetic Shooter, Rape Day, and, extra not too long ago, non-consensual intercourse recreation No Mercy onto its retailer.
In 2018, following the controversy brought on by Energetic Shooter, Valve introduced it had determined to “permit all the things” onto Steam, offered it wasn’t unlawful, “or straight up trolling”. Whereas Valve has additionally been identified to quietly take away titles when confronted with vital destructive public consideration, it appears Gwangju Working Man particularly fell foul of its legality guidelines.
