Bethesda takes down Doom mod that lets you kill Thatcher
Bethesda takes down Doom mod that lets you kill Thatcher
Thatcher's Techbase has been removed from the Doom mod page after someone reported it to Bethesda.
Thatcher's Techbase is a much-loved mod for Doom 2, having amassed a strong following since its launch in 2021. Now, with the latest ports of the first two Doom games, the creator was able to share the creation on the official mod page, letting a wider audience experience the simple pleasure of sending Margaret Thatcher back to the deepest pits of hell.
However, someone had to spoil the fun for everyone and reported the mod to Bethesda. In response, the moderation team removed it from the mod page, citing a breach of its rule against "real-world politics".
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You may have heard about Thatcher's teachbase a couple of years back. It made headlines after former Labour leader and current independent MP Jeremy Corbyn played the mod himself. He was said to have enjoyed his time with the game and even posed for a picture with the arcade cabinet running it. So, even if Bethesda doesn't want the game on its mod page, at least it has that seal of approval.
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Don't worry, Thatcher is still dead in real life though.
edit: from over on Hexbear:
Thatcher's Techbase documentary
Screenshots:
honk if thatchers deed
Parp parp!
I bet she's scowling up at us.
Calling the UK the tenth circle of hell is also hilarious.
Because it's really the eleventh.
I thought it was the 51st?
Folks, it's a doom mod and Bethesda removed it off their page.
People have been modding and sharing Doom mods for 30 years. There's lots of doom clients outside of the Bethesda one. There's lots of ways to Mod and finding Doom mods.
Again, this is a thirty year old game and it probably has like a handful of devs working part time to manage the Doom community. They don't want to deal with anything that gives them shit.
Yeah, I upvited the post because I think the mod sounds fun and more people seeing it seems good. I don't agree that this is an issue though. Just go download it somewhere else. I'm sure it's still very easy to access.
I mean fair enough honestly, if they're going to have a hard rule to not have poltics-driven mods on their store, there shouldn't be exceptions.
Remember when killing Hitler wasn't controversial?
You mean it is now? Asking for a friend who has just finished their time machine.
There were people offended by one of the newer Wolfenstein games.
Is it impossible to sideload mods, or have they just Streisanded it?
It's been removed from Bethesda's official mod page but it is available on GitHub with clear instructions for most operating systems.
Bethesda recently re-released doom and doom 2. It added some new levels but also an official mod browser and mod library.
It caused some major friction with doom's modding community because there was little oversight or vetting, and nothing to check that the uploader is the mod's creator. Many modders had their work pirated by other uploaders, posting their work without credit.
Bethesda removed this mod from their own mod library, showing that they are at minimum, doing some sort of moderation at least. If you wish to play the thatcher mod you can still do so on any other version of doom.
Bethesda couldn't deal with a game more functionally complete and quality-tested on one of their platforms
Boooooooooooooo!
No one tell them about the eric harris ones
One more reason to not let companies too far into the modding scene.
Yep, especially if it means they can shut out wholly independent modders who don't even use the official storefront to distribute their mods.
There’s no way Bethesda didn’t know about it prior, so all it took was for someone to complain? Three years after it was available? Such a load of shit.
The mod was made 3 years ago but Bethesda's official mod downloader is brand new. The page they took down was very recently made.
It probably got some attention via one of those shitty spam blogs like Games Radar and their PR guy got wind of it.
There is an untapped market out there for this sort of thing. I don't need to tear apart [obnoxious media personality] with an Uzi, but it would sure be cathartic to chase them around with a metal bat and bruise them up a bit as they cry for their mommy and apologize for being such a twat on social media.
There used to be a Flash game called Punchable Faces or something like that which was literally just that, in a very simplistic form: you'd upload an image of whoever you wanted, and as you clicked the box boxing glove icon, it would overlay bruises, bumps, and cuts.
If ever there was a good use for AI, it would be pasting celebrity likenesses onto video game sub-bosses.