League of Legends Lead Designer on Politics and Diversity in Games
In light of having recently discussed the eventual inclusion of LGBT characters in League's roster, League of Legends design director Greg Street once again speaks out on the representation of politics and diversity in games. In response to a gamer's concerns that "Liberal politics is forcing its way into games", Street shares his personal thoughts on the matter in a recent blog post.
Writing into Street's blog, these were the concerns that the gamer in question had expressed...
“The gaming industry in general is far, far more Liberal than the average gamer. It worries me a bit that Liberal politics is forcing it’s way into games; I just want to enjoy a fun experience, or take part of someone’s artistic vision. Do you think that’s a legitimate worry for me to have?”
Street got down to the heart of the matter, and discerned that it wasn't taxes or healthcare that this denizen was worried about, but specifically the representation of diversity within games.
Approaching the issue from a player's perspective, gaming is for most users a form of entertainment and escape, and Street understands that "maybe not everything we engage with needs to challenge our values or make us uncomfortable". However, he does think that it is "really weird" when a game makes no effort to reflect the diversity of the real world.
It seems really weird when a game doesn’t acknowledge that the real world of other gamers or the fictional world of game characters are diverse places with different religions, genders, skin colors, and economic statuses. Having an openly gay character or punishing a player for calling another player a racial slur doesn’t feel political to me. It’s just a reflection of Earth circa 2017.
In addressing the gamer's concerns more directly, Street does concede that "focusing too much on social messages at the expense of gameplay" is detracting, but notes that there are many games "that make a great social commentary while also being fun".
He also acknowledges that other people around the world may have "different expectations about what is comfortable [or] appropriate", and "may not have the same values as a bunch of game developers living and working in California USA".
However, Street ultimately believes that it is "not fair" or realistic for the user in question to "wall yourself off (in a game or anywhere) from the diversity that the world offers".
With over 100m active monthly users as of 2016, League's massive playerbase spans across a myriad of countries and populations. Despite League of Legends being a North American game with its current headquarters in California, its biggest playerbase can be found in South Korea (26.2%) followed by Western Europe (23.56%) according to data pulled from the Riot API. Even then, this data does not include statistics from China's servers, which alone is estimated to have a possible 81m players.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
While many countries may butt heads over issues such as who is to blame for global warming or whether or not they should start another nuclear war, despite their differences League players from around the world can stand united on one thing... please don't be that guy and go jungle with Soraka.
