‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered’ Mods Restoring Gender Over “Body Type” Initially Removed From Nexus Mods, Now One Is Permitted
Nexus Mods initially removed mods for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered that alter the “Type 1” and “Type 2” for Body Type selection at character creator, restoring them to male and female genders. While in-line with prior decisions, refusing to host any mod that removes content designed to avoid offense, the website has now permitted at least one of the mods to be hosted.
Oblivion Remastered has burst onto the scene, leaks-aside having a surprise announcement and release on April 22nd. Fans have been delighted to see it return, gameplay-warts and all, but with a fresh coat of paint on the graphics. However, not everything is as it was in 2006.
The original Oblivion has you choose your character’s gender, male or female. In the remaster, players choose their “Body Type,” with the options of Type 1 and Type 2. The term has been used in games recently, as a way to avoid offense for players who don’t identify as male or female- such as inZOI and Old School Runescape.
Nonetheless, it’s usually obvious which form is masculine and feminine. Even if a game allows breasts or facial hair on either form, the feminine form typically can’t go topless.
On April 23rd, Nexus Mods’ user Ultraporing released the Classic Bodytype mod. It “Returns the classic Oblivion body-types to the game. Currently only for English language, in the future support will be extended to all languages” – in short, changing Type 1 and Type 2 to Female and Male.
At this time of writing, the mod was “Removed by staff.” Reports from X users claim the mod was removed within two hours of being uploaded, to just forty minutes. There are also claims a similar mod, OG Body Type, was banned within “minutes.” Several other mods restoring gender were also allegedly deleted.
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In reply to other X users, the official account for DEG Mods revealed “Contacted that creator, and they’ve mentioned that anyone can repost their mod with crediting. Aside from that, another mod creator made the same mod and has published it on our end (cementing its protection from direct censorship):”
In addition, similar mods have appeared on Itch.io and other mod hosting websites. Nexus Mods didn’t initially acknowledge the removal of the mods, but discussed the technical matters for creating mods for Oblivion Remastered. Previously, Nexus Mods have banned a gender-swapping mod for Dame Aylin in Baldur’s Gate III, as it would have made a lesbian female character a straight man.
At the time the website stated “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.”
Nexus Mods also previously banned mods that replaced LGBT flags with the American flags (Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered), telling unhappy players to “delete your account and move on.” A mod removing a pronoun modifier (Starfield), and uncensoring mod (Final Fantasy VII Remake) were also banned.
However, a surprise came April 24th, the day after the deleted mods were getting attention on social media. X user xHollowSouls casually asked Nexus Mods “Can you add the Male / Female body types mod? That would be sick!” In reply, the mod website replied “Sure! Here you go,” linking to the Body Type Selector mod.
Similar occurred with several other replies. So what on earth is happening? Senior Community Manager “Pickysaurus” explained in the locked comments of the Body Type Selector mod’s page.
“This mod has been, and likely will continue to be, a source of controversy within the community. After a thorough review, we’ve determined that the content of the mod itself does not violate our community guidelines. However, due to the nature of the topic, which often attracts intense and sometimes hostile discussion, the comments section will remain locked to prevent further escalation,” Pickysaurus declared.
They continued, explaining why the original upload was removed. “There has been a lot of speculation and misinformation regarding the removal of the original upload. To clarify: the mod was not taken down because of its content. As stated in the ban notice, it was removed due to the uploader’s behaviour. In the comments, the uploader expressed an intent to incite drama and endorsed an external site explicitly designed to host inflammatory content. This kind of behaviour directly violates our community standards.”
“We recognise that mods like this can bring sensitive discussions around gender and identity to the forefront. While these are important conversations, our platform exists to support creative expression in modding, not to serve as a battleground for broader cultural or political debates. What we will not tolerate is trolling, harassment, discrimination, or any other form of toxicity that these discussions may provoke,” Pickysaurus rebuffed.
“Our commitment remains the same: to keep modding accessible and welcoming for everyone.” Pickysaurus then explained reuploads of the mod- “or any derivative content intended to circumvent this policy” – would be removed, along with abusive comments or posts causing moderators to act.
Pickysaurus concluded “There is no need to report this mod page. If you’d prefer not to see this content, we encourage you to make use of the content-blocking tools by blocking the ‘Real World Issues’ tag or the author ‘7H3LaughingMan’.” This sudden “live and let live” attitude may be rippling across gaming media as a whole, as those expecting Oblivion Remastered to have further content to avoid offence may be surprised.
While some armor on female characters has been altered to be less bikini-like (or “boob plate“), and leaked screenshots of the Spriggans had a more realistic physique; it seems they and Flame Atronach have their curvaceous figures, arguably greater than the original game. It’s hard imagine a game wishing to avoid sex and gender would tolerate fiery bare buttocks.
As for the Body Type Selector mod, just over three weeks after being uploaded, and it has become the most “endorsed” mod for Oblivion Remastered on Nexus Mods (7,884). Out of all UI mods, it has the sixth most unique downloads (43,763).
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