Gaben’s Deuce was one of the first mod parodies created to protest the Steam pay-for-mods cash grab (along with Extra Apple, Literally Nothing, Rubbish, Exploitation, Kill Jerlov, and Bane of Gaben). The protest was first ignited on April 23rd, 2015 when VALVe announced that it would begin allowing modders to charge for their mods on Steam on the premise that Steam and Bethesda were trying to help workshop creators. This prompted outrage from the modding community when it was revealed that VALVe and Bethesda would be taking a 75% cut on all revenue generated through the modders content (VALVe claimed 10% and Bethesda claimed 65%). Furthermore, modders were also displeased by VALVe’s lack of quality control. These issues provoked several members of the modding community to create parody mods showcasing their opinion that this was an absurd move by VALVe and Bethesda. One of these mods, Gaben’s Deuce, produced wide appeal as a representative of the modding communities disgust in Valve and Bethesda. It featured a renamed ore piece from the PC game Skyrim that closely resembled a piece of fecal matter whose weight was increased to 500, reflecting that fact that Gaben’s Deuce was, “one heavy load” on the community. It has since then become a meme icon reflecting the exploitation of the gaming community by large corporations.
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