League of Legends

2024: Cancellation of cyber tournaments in Russia due to LGBT characters in the game

On August 8, 2024, it became known that the Russian Computer Sports Federation (CSF) refused to hold a League of Legends tournament. The reason is that in the named multiplayer project in the MOBA genre there are LGBT characters ("LGBT International Social Movement" is recognized as extremist and terrorist; prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation).

The situation around the League of Legends game, developed by Riot Games, was told by CSF President Dmitry Smith in an interview with RTVI. According to him, Riot Games is pursuing an "aggressive policy in terms of promoting LGBT destinations," which contradicts Russian laws. The same applies to another game of the specified manufacturer - Valorant (first-person shooter).

Bloomberg

In 2022, Riot Games announced the introduction of LGBT characters into games. The company explained this by the desire to become a "hospitable and inclusive place." A year later, parents of e-sportsmen from the Russian Movement of Children and Youth "Movement of the First" complained about LGBT propaganda in the League of Legends.

According to Smith, the organizers of the League of Legends tournaments themselves did not prohibit competitions in Russia. At the same time, an RTVI source familiar with the situation explains that this game has a large number of characters, and Riot Games deliberately introduces images "a little more interesting," and then, when "a large number of people begin to fan them," reports that they are non-heterosexual so that players accept their orientation.

What, you [the characters] love them, stop playing after that? No, you won't stop. Thus, we are forced to accept what contradicts Russian law, - explains the interlocutor of RTVI.

Therefore, according to him, in order to "not subject our athletes to unnecessary temptation," the game was removed from the competition.^[1]

Notes