Riot Games responded after a League of Legends The player recently revealed that he was forced to change his summoner name to “Say Trans Rights” by the game’s support team, sparking outrage from the general playerbase.
Popular content creator TBSkyen tweeted at Riot after a member of his community posted a screenshot of the interaction to his Discord. In the image, the player initially messaged Riot Support about the issue, claiming he had been “harassed and abused repeatedly by fanatics” in-game.
In response, the Rioter – whose name has been redacted – said the company fully supports those in the LGBTQ community, but suggested it generally tries to steer clear of names that are politically charged or that would incite people to disagreements within the community.
“You’re perfectly fine to have a name that indicates you’re or support trans rights, but what we’re doing with that is pushing that narrative onto other people who don’t necessarily feel the same way. “, the Rioter told the player. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re being singled out, but Riot wants to try and get away from such names… Like I said before, you are more than welcome to have a name that says you’re trans or that you support it, but we need to make sure it’s on us and not push others, or make fun of it.
Hundreds of people responded to the tweet, supporting the player. TBSkyen also went on to say that “the absolute bare minimum” and “the lowest possible bar for supporting LGBTQ+ people” is to treat their human rights as indisputable.
finally riot replied to the original tweet, saying that the policy had been misunderstood and that the name would be changed immediately. Additionally, the support Twitter account said the company would do a better job of explaining what is and isn’t appropriate to all of its support agents. Ultimately, visibility on these issues is the key to change.
