Garry’s Mod creator Garry Newman has confirmed that Facepunch Studios will be “keeping more of an eye” on player-made content related to Nazis going forward, following a debate on the studio’s moderation responsibilities.
While Garry’s Mod‘s community-oriented approach means its servers and game modes are created by players rather than Facepunch, a number of World War 2 modes and Nazi-oriented game modes have led to Garry Newman – who the game is named after – addressing the topic on Twitter today (April 20).
While Newman can see the educational and entertainment “merit” in these games, the creator has warned that some too far and actively glorify the fascist regime.
While Newman confirmed Facepunch doesn’t “want to police” the “huge majority” of entertainment-oriented servers, he acknowledged that the studio has a responsibility to prevent extreme servers from finding a home in Garry’s Mod.
Lots of worry about the Garry’s Mod server moderation.. here’s a bit more of an explanation.
Roleplaying
I can see merit in the games here where you roleplay survival/war scenarios. It’s engaging + interesting + compelling + educational.
Humanity’s lows are always gonna be a…
— garry (@garrynewman) April 20, 2023
“The problem for us is that lurking in some of these games are a bunch of guys that really seem to love the nazis,” wrote Newman. “It seems like a few of them really love the nazis outside of the game too.”
“We obviously don’t want to ban all WW2 themed games, but we do want to get rid of the celebration of nazis,” continued Newman, who described his post as a “notification” to existing server owners.
“We’ve had this grey area for a while and now we’re keeping more of an eye on it,” said Newman. “How can we work together to stop it becoming something we have to ban?”
Newman added that Facepunch has taken down servers and “blocked unsavoury activities” before, and denied this as being a “loss of freedom” or anything new for players.
In a poll published yesterday (April 19), 73.1 per cent of respondents told Newman that Facepunch Studios should be banning Nazi game modes.
So, might be an obvious question but these nazi gamemodes in Garry’s Mod.. we should be banning them right? There’s no legit reason for them to exist.. right?
— garry (@garrynewman) April 19, 2023
Though Garry’s Mod turns 17 this year, the game remains one of the most-played titles on Steam — back in 2021, the game hit 20million sales.
In other gaming news, a new trailer for Unrecord has sparked an ethics debate surrounding the shooter’s photorealistic graphics and subject matter.