Riot Games has responded after a League of Legends player recently revealed that they were forced to change their summoner name from “Say Trans Rights” by the game’s support staff, prompting outrage from the general player base.
Popular content creator TBSkyen tweeted at Riot after a member of his community posted a screengrab of the interaction in his Discord. In the image, the player originally messaged Riot Support about the issue, saying that they had been “repeatedly harassed and abused by bigots” in-game.
This was posted in my discord, and, uh, @RiotSupport you guys understand why this is ABSOLUTE TURBO-GARBAGE, right? Would you forcibly change someone's name if it was "say human rights"?
"We are supportive of those who are trans" clearly you're fucking NOT. pic.twitter.com/mo6BeozNdv
— TBSkyen (@TBSkyen) May 26, 2022In response, the Rioter—whose name was redacted—said the company is completely supportive of those who are a part of the LGBTQ community but suggested it usually tries to move away from names that are politically charged or would incite disagreements among the community.
“You are perfectly fine to have a name that states you being or supporting trans rights, but what we’re doing with this is pushing that narrative on other people who may not necessarily feel the same way,” the Rioter said to the player. “I do not want you to feel as though you are being singled out, but Riot wants to try and move away from names like that… As I stated before, you are more than welcome to have a name that says that you are Trans or Support it, but we have to ensure that it’s on us and not pushing on others, or making fun of it.”
Hundreds of people have responded to the tweet, supporting the player. TBSkyen also followed up by saying that “the absolute bare minimum” and “the lowest possible bar for supporting LGBTQ+ people” is to treat their human rights as unquestionable.
Riot eventually responded to the original tweet, saying that the policy was misunderstood and that the name would be changed back immediately. Additionally, the support Twitter account said that 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 key for change.
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