No Man's Sky

Reddit is so big that it encapsulates everyone. You'll find far left. You'll find far right. You'll find a few people who somehow missed the joke, and think birds not being real is an actual conspiracy.

My point is, you can't say "reddit is _____", because they have 500 million monthly users.

Even Lemmy, which is a fraction of the size, has far right people here.

I still lurk some of the drama entertainment subs like AITA and relationship advice and there's still a strong left lean on those subs. Posts on the lines of "AITA for ending personal relationships with Trump supporters" aren't rare while I don't recall seeing any from the other side (though there have been some that avoid mentioning anything more than "political differences" and keep the specifics vague and might be from the other side, but the fact that this is the closest says enough on its own).

Comments that support Trump get downvoted, though more neutral "voice of reason" style comments can do ok.

Lots of AI posts, though. It's been going from a Jerry Springer kind of vibe to more of a Jerry Seinfeld vibe, where it's sometimes still entertaining but mostly made up.

If that's an option, agreed. It's been a while since I've been active over there so it didn't occur to me.

Locking a thread that gets heated and goes wildly off topic is normal moderating actions.
It stops any kind of inflow of rule breaking, it stops all arguments, and it gives mods time to sort out what's happened.
If an new/inexperienced mod encounters something they don't know how to handle, locking is the safest bet. It keeps the content, prevents escalation.

The behaviour afterwards is what defines if the mods support bigotry or not.

Ideally the mods wade through the bullshit, delete the bigotry comments and ban the bigots with the reason of "being a bigot". Then release a post saying that bigotry is not tolerated, and make any changes to rules that are appropriate. Consulting the community where appropriate, and being as transparent as possible.
All of this takes time. Locking a post is the first stage.

By creating a second thread with more similar content, the OP is subverting moderators trying to moderate.
There is already a thread that got out of hand, which mods are struggling to deal with.
By creating ANOTHER thread, it doubles the mods workload. The expected mod action would be to lock it instantly with a comment stating they are tidying up an existing post, clarifying rules, and will contact OP when they can safely repost. Next best thing is to just delete it.

The correct response from OP would be to ask for a public comment why the original thread was locked.
This would prompt a moderator comment - hopefully - that they are dealing with it, and will give a timeline of expected deadlines.

It's not the mods that are bigots, it's that Reddit is a cesspool. And fun communities can easily be overwhelmed if targeted.
If the mods hadn't encountered this behaviour before, then they have to figure out - amongst themselves and with the community - how to proceed.

I wasn't there, I can't be arsed reading Reddit bullshit. From the context you've given, I've come to the above conclusion.

Are they obligated to deal with hate when what they signed on for was moderating a subreddit about a video game?

Why are you deciding that someone else must take part in your desire to fight about things unrelated to the subject of the subreddit? Why do you feel entitled to their time and their mental energy like that?

They dud moderate. They shut down the thread.

Why do you think you are entitled to demand that someone confront a flood of hate for free when the subreddit isn'trelated to anything that should draw arguments on gender identity?

And mods can axe it if they so choose but as this isn’t a hatefest this likely isnt an issue.

Black Hole's will send you to the other side of the galaxy and closer to the center of the universe. The effects are cool but sometimes your ship will receive damage when you go through them, so be ready.