Stellar Blade is out on PC, and you know what that means—Mods, Mods as far as the eye can see. Sometimes (41% of the time, to be exact) salacious mods, if history, and indeed our present day is any indication.
The game's director, Hyung-tae Kim, has no intent on stopping the oncoming tide. Per a recent interview with thisisgame (thanks, Automaton) Kim states: "I generally view it positively." With a couple of sensible exceptions when it comes to malware. He has, however, thrown down the gauntlet—issuing a challenge to modders to channel their tremendous power into fiddling with the gameplay instead of, well, you know. Their Stellar Blade(s).
"The firepower of the modders is still weak. It's a bit lacking. Up until now, I think the official content is still better … mods like new costumes or monster visuals are cool, but I think it would be really welcome if there were mods that expand the user’s play experience itself."
Kim does, in fairness, accept that Stellar Blade doesn't have an official modding toolset—meaning that proper gameplay tweaks are a little harder to create. And while this interview is being done through the veil of translation, I'd wager Kim's being tongue-in-cheek when he all but tells modders to git gud.
Outside of wanting modders to up their game, Kim's all for freedom of expression, and is happy to co-exist peacefully with the crowds of thirsty gamers putting the game's protagonist in smutty outfits—given Stellar Blade's an adult-rated game anyway, and Shift Up got to the idea first:
"[It's] rated as unsuitable for minors, so I don't think there's any justification for regulating such mods. And realistically, there's no proper way to regulate them." Hear hear. I've grown up in the trenches of the internet, and I can very much confirm that there's no way you can physically or logistically stop people from being horndogs. As long as it's all legal? To quote fellow PCG writer Joshua Wolens: Goon on, gooners.
That's more-or-less the line Kim draws in the sand: "However, since you are all mature members of society, I believe you will act within the bounds of common sense and be careful of anti-social or sensitive matters." He's also not a particular fan of paid mods, hoping for a "creative culture like a party where they all enjoy it together."
So there you have it—mods are a communal, beautiful thing, no matter how smutty they get, and I broadly agree with Kim that we should all join hands and share the wealth. Just make sure you're not doing anything illegal and, uh, maybe wash those hands first.
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