A new Baldur’s Gate 3 mod has been completely removed from NexusMods for attempting to reduce the diversity in the game by changing the gender of a side character, therefore turning a gay relationship into a heterosexual one. The mod in question is also part of a larger pack that “ensures that the gender and sexuality of world NPCs match medieval status quo,” despite the fact Larian’s RPG takes place in the fictional world of DnD, not medieval Europe.
I adore how the community is enhancing Larian’s excellent RPG game with Baldur’s Gate 3 mods, but I despise the idea that some would see fit to make a deeply and proudly inclusive game, well, less inclusive – especially when they attempt to hide it behind the guise of historical accuracy in a fantasy epic like Baldur’s Gate 3.
To get you up to speed, BG3 has a queer couple in side characters Dame Aylin and Isobel. Even you, the player character, can be gay, straight, or bisexual and romance whoever you like, but this is a relationship specifically written about two female characters.
This is where the now-removed NexusMods “Ser Aylin” mod comes in. When installed, the mod would change the character’s gender to male, calling them “a slightly more polite and male version of Dame Aylin” with new portraits, subtitles, and AI voice lines.
NexusMods was quick to remove the mod and ban the mod’s uploader ‘Yedlike,’ and has issued a statement (via Vice) outlining the team’s reasoning.
“We are for inclusivity, we are for diversity. If we think someone is uploading a mod on our site with the intent to deliberately be against inclusivity and /or diversity then we will take action against it. The same goes for people attempting to troll other users with mods deliberately to cause a rise,” NexusMods says.
“We aren’t the authority on what users can and cannot mod. Us removing a mod only means it cannot be found at Nexus Mods, nothing more, nothing less. As a private business, we have a right to choose what content we do and do not want to host on our platform. Respect this right the same way you want respect for your rights.”
A Reddit post (currently with over 17,500 upvotes) highlighted the mod and warned users to steer clear of it, too, adding that it’s actually part of a larger mod pack that aims to line up Baldur’s Gate 3, a fantasy game set in a land that is not real, with the “medieval status quo.” This includes erasing more queer characters and even another mod that makes Wyll, one of the game’s companions, white.
I won’t be linking to any of these mods here, but attempting to erase the game’s diversity and queer experience is disgusting. This is without even addressing how fundamentally nonsensical the historical accuracy argument is when the modded experience would still keep the magic, demons, and squid people intact.
I’m also not writing about this to show off a mod to you, which is something I so often do for games like Skyrim, BG3, Fallout, and more. I’m writing this for the same reason that Reddit post exists, to say no to the people who think making these mods and erasing diversity is normal, and to shove thinly veiled prejudice in the modding community out of the shadow.
