MapleStory, the wonderful little online game that many gamers may fondly recall from their childhoods (or teenage years, if you’re as old as I am) featured a non-player character inspired by Donald Trump.
In the iconic game, Donald delivered items and currency from Nexon to players. He replaced a previous character named Duey, who had—at the time—been used by cheaters for a variety of exploits. Duey was “retired” by the company and replaced by the blonde-haired mogul. He was the subject of many memes within the game’s still-vibrant community.
“To avoid any misunderstanding, we have decided to replace Donald with a new NPC with the same functionality,” wrote Nexon in the game’s latest update. “The new character will appear on March 1 during our game update. Moving forward, we will strive to keep Maple World a politically neutral environment for all of our players.”
Sad!
It’s unclear whether the game company was afraid of offending Trump haters, who may see the character’s inclusion as an official endorsement of the President. To be clear, there’s nothing political about the character.
Could Pokemon’s Gumshoos be next? After all, he bears a striking resemblance to Donald Trump.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.