On Reddit, a player from the MOBAs League of Legends posted a grotesque story: he became asked by Riot to change his player name "Corona", because this would violate the naming rules in the context of the current pandemic. The problem: Corona is his real last name.
Riot Games are the developers and publishers of the online game League of Legends and also host the e-sports world championships of the MOBA. Joao Corona posted the news story with Riot trying to explain the situation. The story received thousands of comments through Reddit that stood up for the LoL player and put pressure on Riot.
Does the name really violate the rules?
Joao’s argument against Riot is that he’s been using the name for a year and previously played as “Squid Corona” League of Legends. Since it is is his real family name, which he chose as a player name in a completely different context, should not count as a violation of the naming rules. He also mentions that the situation is grotesque enough for him in real life because he has to put up with a lot of comments for his last name.
Joao Corona also argues that there would be many players with the word "Corona" in their name, clearly referring to the virus. So far, these would not have been removed by Riot. In fact, there is a whole list of players who use the term in a word game.
In the published news flow between Joao Corona and Riot's support team, a staff member wrote that he would try to help him. But you couldn't promise anything, because the Situation very sensitive
An employee subsequently relied on the following naming rules, which would justify a change in the title »Corona«:
- If a name is offensive, inappropriate, racist, sexist or homophobic, the system does not allow this title under any circumstances.
- If a name is considered negative and is reported by other players, the player has to change it.
But what was not mentioned in the news flow: Indeed even the use of one's own name violates the established rules. Accordingly, a change of name by Riot would be justified. The League of Legends support page says:
- Your name should not contain any personal information (such as your real name or address). If a name contains that information, Riot can change it.
Reddit is pushing
The post got a lot of attention on Reddit, and apparently many Riot users who were on Joao’s side spoke up. The user Alex_Valkyrie wrote: »There are many more insensitive and inappropriate names among the players. I'm sorry it happened to you. ”
Finally, a Riot employee in the forum commented that in this case no name change was necessary:
Meanwhile, Joao Corona has updated his post and announced it that Riot returned his LoL name to him.
"Thanks for printing, Reddit. Riot returned my account!"
At the moment, the developers of Riot Games are also criticized for a sharp anti-cheat program for their new shooter Valorant, which runs even on your computer if you are not playing.
