Garry’s Mod creator Garry Newman wants to keep a closer eye on any content made by players that may relate to “Nazi” propaganda.
When it comes to online gaming, especially within PC-based communities, things can get pretty toxic quite quickly. From slurs thrown around in voice chat lobbies to location tracing, there are a lot of dark corners that many players avoid.
Garry’s Mod, one of publisher Valve‘s most iconic games, happens to, unfortunately, play host to many of these corners. There are servers dedicated to promoting “Nazi” propaganda, offensive words thrown back and forth in chats, under-aged players screaming slurs down their microphones, and much more.
Garry Newman, the creator behind the beloved game, is opposed to this sort of content taking place inside of his otherwise positive sandbox experience. He has opened up recently on Twitter sharing his thoughts on the matter and describing how he plans to crack down on certain servers.
What has Garry Newman said about Nazis in Garry’s Mod?
Tweeting initially on April 19 with a poll regarding the status of “Nazi” related servers in Garry’s Mod, Newman questioned players about their own thoughts on the matter. He asked if the servers should be banned, or if they should be allowed to remain in-game. 73.3% said to ban them.
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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
The following day, Newman tweeted once again. This time, he had a more concrete idea of what he had in mind for Garry’s Mod and its future. While he made clear that he understands role-playing and why it can be engaging, he also stated that this does not mean that celebration of such things should be tolerated.
Lots of worry about the Garry's Mod server moderation.. here's a bit more of an explanation.RoleplayingI 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
Newman makes clear in his tweet that just because players pay for the game, this does not mean that they should have free reign to abuse others. He said the same of free expression, meaning that while players do have the right to express their feelings, moderators also have the right to punish them.
Overall, Newman is looking forward to a more positive future for Garry’s Mod – one in which educational and fun role-playing exists, even if it is based in times like World War 2, but more obviously hateful servers are not allowed.
He ended his thoughts by letting server owners know that he and his moderators will be keeping a closer eye on any in-game content to make sure that players, especially children, are not exposed to bigotry. In his own words, “This is really a notification to the server owners, we’ve had this grey area for a while and now we’re keeping more of an eye on it.”