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Nintendo is deleting what it deems inappropriate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate stages

As row over removal of a trans rights level intensifies.

As expected, Nintendo is moving to delete what it deems inappropriate user-generated Super Smash Bros. Ultimate levels after the stage creator feature went live earlier this week.

This article includes content not safe for work.

Most of the content currently being hauled offline is as you'd expect - soon after the stage creator feature went live, many stages featuring Swastikas and other racist and offensive imagery were uploaded.

There were also many, many penis stages, some of which ended up on the front page of the official Nintendo Switch app, as Eurogamer reported.

For that story, Eurogamer social media whizz Paul Watson commandeered the Nintendo Switch belonging to Gamer Network tech supremo Thomas Marchant to create a stage inspired by the "Double Dick Dude" from reddit.

Now, Marchant has seen the level pulled from the game, and he received a strongly-worded email from Nintendo warning against the use of "obscene and/or sexual expressions".

But some of Nintendo's moderation decisions have courted a good deal of controversy. It appears stages either titled "Trans Rights" or featuring the trans flag run the risk of deletion - and in some cases their creators were issued short-term bans.

Twitter user Warm Safflina received an email from Nintendo notifying her that her trans rights stage had been pulled offline for "inappropriate and/or harmful content".

She said a Nintendo customer support rep later explained the level was removed because it was considered a "political statement", and revealed her account was suspended for nine hours.

Nintendo has come under fire for this takedown, with many pointing out the "trans rights" message should not be considered a political statement, although based on the company's stubborn protectiveness of its family-friendly brand, perhaps this takedown shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

But Nintendo's moderation policy appears to be scattershot at best. While Warm Safflina's stage was deleted, many other stages featuring the trans flag remain available to download and play. Marchant has had a look at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this morning, and reports a search for "trans" returns between 70 and 80 trans rights stages still online.

Meanwhile, Nintendo's cleanup of the created stages available to download for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may be a battle it can never win.

"I searched 'dick' and there are some but it looks like they've been removing them," Marchant added, "but I could still see the one tied to my account and was able to re-download it. Didn't find any for Nazi/Swastika type stuff. There was one of two people having sex on the main screen. I went back to the home screen and found a Ugandan Knuckles and Pepe as well. There's more appearing all the time it seems, and they're not all new or anything."

Perhaps Nintendo is struggling to keep up with the mammoth moderation task it faces with the hugely popular Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Or, perhaps Nintendo hasn't yet issued its moderators a clear policy on trans rights levels, so we're getting decisions that seem out of place.

For now, what we do know is uploading Super Smash Bros. Ultimate stages with obviously offensive content could get you in trouble with Nintendo. You have been warned.

Source: Eurogamer

 

[Chittagong]

Do they have user reporting in place, and could simply a large number or reports lead into a meritless ban not reflective of actual content guideliness?

 

[shark sandwich]

Do they have user reporting in place, and could simply a large number or reports lead into a meritless ban not reflective of actual content guideliness?

No, I think this pretty clearly shows that Nintendo hates trans folks. Fire up the outrage machine!

 

[brian0057]

Nintendo needs to learn that people are "bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling".
They'll never win this.

 

[angelic]

Good, delete all the political crap. Fucking trans activists, wasting everyone's time, for attention.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Political statements in video games are bullcrap and have 0 reason to be there, I am glad Nintendo is dealing with them.

I wish ERA, you know the guys that made Nintendo censor a Mr. Game and Watch sprite because it depicted an Indian feather (racist imagery to them) on it, see this and I wish to see their reaction.

 

[cm osi]

hope the pyra one doesn't get removed lol

 

[The Shepard]

I own this game and didn't realise you could create you own levels till I seen this.

 

[Hellblueboy]

If you give people a power to create anything they want, they will make porn, and dongs, a lot of dongs.

Nintendo should have known this by now.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

They should ban people making this shitty stuff on a family-friendly platform. it's pretty disgusting, actually. On the other hand, it's depressing how many idiots are in the world.


I hope Dreams is not widely hampered by this kind of stuff.

 

[Deleted member 738976]

I expected these stages to be made, but how about letting us edit or delete our own stages whenever possible?

 

[Sp3eD]

Unpopular opinion to some, but political statements of any kind have no room in create-a-thing modes in games. I have zero issue with trans, gay, black, disabled, religious, etc. rights of any sort, but using these modes that are easily shared with the public as a platform to speak out misses the entire point of why these modes exist.

 

[shark sandwich]

Unpopular opinion to some, but political statements of any kind have no room in create-a-thing modes in games. I have zero issue with trans, gay, black, disabled, religious, etc. rights of any sort, but using these modes that are easily shared with the public as a platform to speak out misses the entire point of why these modes exist.

I think this is spot on.

Regardless whether you agree or disagree with the sentiments expressed, this platform is not useful for discussion. Absolutely nobody will be persuaded either way. People are just baiting and trolling each other and turning it into the next battle ground in the culture war.

 

[Weilthain]

I get why having silly levels is funny - in theory. HAHA dicks and stuff, I get why its funny.

It's not funny when you have children playing. Stop ruining everything that is good in the world, there are other places to spread negative energy.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I get why having silly levels is funny - in theory. HAHA dicks and stuff, I get why its funny.

It's not funny when you have children playing. Stop ruining everything that is good in the world, there are other places to spread negative energy.

Which leads us to the conclusion that it's those who demand respect from everybody else the first ones to not respect others, which is everything but surprising.

 

[BlackTron]

Good on Nintendo. Pisses me off that they say it shouldn't be considered a political statement. All this "rules apply to you but not us" horseshit is getting tiring.

Politics has no place in games, even less place in a kid-friendly network like Nintendo.

IMO anyone posting shit like dick drawings on such a venue should face consequences. This is why Miiverse is gone. People think its funny to post content inappropriate for kids and then see features gutted to stem the problem. These losers need to get a life.

 

[Von Hugh]

SELECT Name FROM CustomStages where Name LIKE '%trans%'

 

[kraspkibble]

lmao good. no need for this crap.

it definitely is a political statement. why do they feel the need to put this shit in games? nintendo was right to remove it. hopefully they don't back down.

I own this game and didn't realise you could create you own levels till I seen this.

it's only a new feature that came out this week.

 

[Mista]

Nintendo will never win. Even if someone created a stage that doesn’t violate their rules and gets lots of reports, they’ll remove it...

 

[Vawn]

What's wrong with banning these? Its propaganda BS. This is not the place for that crap.

And guess what? I'm choosing to NOT raise my children in a manner to tell them at some point they need to decide what gender they are. I would rather them not be bombarded with "trans-rights" stuff in the video games they play.

So, yes, I do have a personal issue with this nonsense in my kids' games. That does not mean I would condone stages saying to hate gays or trans people either.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Moreso than the levels themselves, I think it's the titles that are definitely political statements.

I don't understand this need to project your identity and activism everywhere, including games, anyway. It happened with Splatoon 2 as well, with people just spamming messages about these subject. Just play the damn game.

 

[Fake]

To be fair, happens with every Nintendo game. Pokemon Moon/Sun, if you put pkmn names with 'adult' or 'sexual' jokes.
They have no place in Nintendo games.

 

[Radical Dreamer]

Tt reminded me of this when it comes to muricans just throwing politics and social commentary everywhere:

I assume it's cherry-picked and overblown but still leave a sour taste in mouth.

PS. PickleRick is right.

 

[Revolutionary]

I think the bigger question here is 'why are Smash players putting Trans propaganda in a videogame for children?'

 

[Fake]

I think the bigger question here is 'why
are Smash players putting Trans propoganda in a videogame for children?'

Easy one: Eurogamer/Kotaku/Polygon/Era.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Private platform. If ideologues want to advocate for these things, you can always find a different kid-friendly handheld with online connectivity.

In all seriousness though, this is the least Nintendo could do. Navigating through the Super Mario Maker levels on the Wii U was a complete joke and sullied my enthusiasm for what was an otherwise-amazing game. I hope navigation (and moderation) of SMM2 is much better this time around.

 

[Chairman Tickles]

As long as they delete ALL political content, then so be it. It's a gaming platform not an activist grandstand.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

I think the bigger question here is 'why
are Smash players putting Trans propaganda in a videogame for children?'

Because they are propagandists, that is what they do and their telos on said propaganda is to influence the mind of young indivinduals to not only accept who they are, but actively celebrate it!

 

[Punished Miku]

Nintendo needs to learn that people are "bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling".
They'll never win this.

They did okay with MiiVerse.

 

[cormack12]

 

[cireza]

Give people creative power, what are they going to do with it ? Draw dicks and talk about political shit.

 

[Shifty]

Letting the loonies that give trans folks a bad name control the narrative by filling every possible avenue with propaganda? No ta.

 

[Revolutionary]

Give people creative power, what are they going to do with it ? Draw dicks and talk about political shit.

Out of curiosity, I logged onto lbp.me (the creator hub for all five LittleBigPlanet games, for those who don't know) for the first time in what feels like a decade to see how "political" creators were.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a single result for "trans".

 

[Macapala]

You've go to admit, that' pretty impressive.

 

[McCheese]

They only removed Double Dick Dude because it's a 3DS exclusive.

 

[Sp3eD]

Out of curiosity, I logged onto lbp.me (the creator hub for LittleBigPlanet, for those who don't know) for the first time in what feels like a decade to see how "political" creators were.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a single result for "trans".

I was pretty big into the custom maps during the doom and quake 1 and 2 era and I don’t remember seeing much of anything crass or even remotely political \ preachy. Maybe one off stuff but it was quickly forgotten in place of the really good levels. We can never go back to that mindset can we?

 

[brian0057]

They did okay with MiiVerse.

Mostly because no one used Miiverse.
And if you say you did, you're a liar.
/s.

 

[Kdad]

It is Nintendo's platform....deem away.

 

[Spukc]

Good, delete all the political crap. Fucking trans activists, wasting everyone's time, for attention.

Pretty sure it is just trolls baiting ninty to delete.
Then post nintendo hates trans on trans clickbait sites to get more attention.

No idea why but this sounds pretty logical.
Like the sign

 

[#Phonepunk#]

Sick of this trans bullshit. It’s a game about Pac Man punching Solid Snake it doesnt need your political cause’s fucking flag

 

[PerfectWarrior]

Mario's Pissing is a masterpiece.

 

[Petrae]

Delete it all. This game doesn’t need to be turned into another equal rights platform or political platform.

I know it’s crazy to think that a video game should just be about fun instead of carrying some sort of message about some sort of real-world battle, but that’s what it is.

I have no problem with Nintendo deleting the tons of dick stages, too. As we saw with Miiverse, though... there’s always going to be a number of users who are going to be fucking morons who think they’re funny.

 

[JimmyJones]

I think the bigger question here is 'why are Smash players putting Trans propaganda in a videogame for children?'

Because they are degenerates trying to recruit children.

 

[Mochilador]

People sure love dicks. I believe Brawl had the same problem.

 

[juliotendo]

Nintendo is doing the right thing.

Daily life is full of work, paying bills, and political bullshit from an increasingly decaying western culture, and the population of imbeciles that are fanning the flames.

When I get home from a long day of work and I sit on the couch to play some Nintendo to relax, the last thing I want to see is ANY political bullshit on my television in a video game that takes me away from real life for a few hours a week.

Keep bullshit out of video games.

Nobody wants to see your (insert stupid cause / stupid rights here) stupid flag on a virtual stage where pixels beat each other up.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

I was pretty big into the custom maps during the doom and quake 1 and 2 era and I don’t remember seeing much of anything crass or even remotely political \ preachy. Maybe one off stuff but it was quickly forgotten in place of the really good levels. We can never go back to that mindset can we?

Im just here waiting for killing Barney to make a big comeback.

 

[DonF]

Well..... obviously.

Meanwhile, I can't find a definitive smashketball map!

 

[Tesseract]

what if a giant cock is the ultimate final destination?

 

[Breakage]

“Trans activists” often think they can say and do what they want and everyone has to sit back and go along with it or else.
Their intimidation tactics aren't surprising.

 

[Doom85]

I'm curious though where Nintendo draws the line. I mean, a poster mentioned Splatoon 2, but even further back with Splatoon 1 I swear like 70-80% of players in the lobby had the phrase "the only thing better than Splatoon is Communism" above them. " Sure, it's a meme/joke, but if Nntendo's got a zero tolerance policy towards politics why was that seemingly ignored? I mean, maybe there were responding to it but it didn't seem to be doing much good from what I saw.