Mordhau currently has a big problem with a toxic community. The solution for this was already planned – but now it seems to be getting derailed. What is going on?
This is the problem: Mordhau has seen enormous success in a short time and attracted thousands of players. However, some players are apparently leaving Mordhau because they find the community too toxic. A report from PCGamer makes it quite clear what this problem looks like in concrete terms.
In the forums, the chat, reddit, and also Discord of Mordhau, toxic comments keep appearing that are not being deleted. The developers say they do not want to censor.
However, the behavior of the community is causing some players to turn away from the game. A post on reddit is titled: “There is so much rampant racism in this game that makes me not want to play Mordhau”.
What do “white men” have to do with it?
These options are planned: Mordhau was supposed to receive adjustments for the character editor, which would also allow creating builds. Currently, every mercenary is a white male. But women and other ethnicities are also planned.
This caused controversy in the community – as it would not be historically accurate and does not fit the setting. A similar problem was already faced by Battlefield 5, where fighting women were also criticized. One player wrote:
When you’re done adding women and N******, can you bring in Orcs and Hobbits too? It shouldn’t be historically accurate anyway… Do you see how this damned slippery slope has ruined everything?
Quote via PCGamer
This should be the solution: One approach from the developers was that the decision should be “put in the hands of the players”, according to the interview with PCGamer, as the team would only make the wrong decision anyway:
No matter what position we officially take, some groups will always be offended. Ideally, we put the power in the hands of the players and let them decide for themselves whether to enable or disable certain things.
This has already happened with the ability to mute players in the game for oneself. According to PCGamer, this should also extend to the option of hiding other ethnicities and women. There should be an option to only see “white men”.
The developers’ response
This is what the developers are saying now: The idea of such an option is, according to the interview, still up for discussion, but it is not “set in stone.” It depends on the community and the future.
However, in a recent tweet, it now states that this option is neither planned nor will it ever come. There are no plans “to hide characters that are not white in Mordhau, now or in the future. All reports claiming otherwise are false”.
However, the developers still seem to stand behind the plan to bring more customization options. These should be done properly and should not just be a “band-aid”. They would come with a comprehensive update.
Mordhau is currently dealing with similar problems as those that Chivalry faced. An irony, given the development of the game:
