Recently, the creators of "Stellaris" removed a mod, called the "European Phenotype and Names Only (White Humans)" mod, which transforms all characters white and provides them with European names.
Generally, Stellaris human empires without the mods are composed of diverse populations, where people of all races have an equal role in all aspects of civilization.
The controversial "Stellaris" mod can no longer be downloaded on the Steam Workshop. Paradox explained why they decided to withdraw the mod in a tweet.
Kotaku reports that according to the "Stellaris" developers, they originally shipped the game with an accurate representation of humans, which is diverse in both ethnicity and personality. They understand how players mod "Stellaris" to best represent how they want to play. They also do not intend to enable discriminatory practices on "Stellaris."
Paradox continued that they appreciate any alert they receive for inappropriate mods and will remove these as necessary. They further encourage "Stellaris" gamers to use the flagging function in Valve if they spot any violations.
According to Paradox COO Susana Meza Graham, they have rules of conduct that have been working for many years where racial slurs, among other things, are not allowed. They thought that the "Stellaris" mod would violate those rules of conduct, but it seems that the comments about the mod were the biggest problem, and not the mod itself.
"We welcome everyone to create all kind of mods for us as long as they comply with our rules of conduct and we expect our modders to help us keep the comment sections free of any racial slurs or other things that do not comply with these same codes," Graham added.
Eurogamer notes that Graham also posted a link to Paradox's rules of conduct and stated that it will be the last time that they plan to comment on the "Stellaris" mod.
Although the mod is no longer available on the Steam Workshop, there are still third party sites where it can be downloaded.
Paradox's withdrawal of the "Stellaris" mod garnered mixed reactions from users. Some stated that the mod would not have raised discriminatory concerns until the developers decided to remove it. Others believe that it was a good move to prevent "Stellaris" from encouraging racial discrimination.
Paradox is reportedly looking into another mod, named "Separate Human Phenotypes," to determine whether it should also be withdrawn. More updates and details on "Stellaris" are expected soon.