By John Mack Freeman
Riot Games announced this week that fines collected from disrespectful or offensive behavior from their League of Legends Championship Series will be donated to the Trevor Project. From a statement from Riot Games:
“Suicide prevention and homophobia is something that the LoL community feels strongly about too. When we looked at in-game reports, we found that games that included the word ‘faggot’ in their chat log received 165.84% more reports than games that included the word ‘fuck’. Likewise, you were swift to punish players who encouraged others towards suicide in the heat of the moment – games that included ‘kill yourself’ in their chat logs received 225.65% more reports than games that included the word ‘fuck’. As a community, you find these words hurtful and unacceptable and so do we. We know that harassment and its consequences goes beyond just words in a game – and that’s why the work of organizations like The Trevor Project is so important. We hope that this money will be able to boost their work creating a safe and inclusive environment for all of us, regardless of sexual orientation.”
This effort has raised $31,850 for the Trevor Project and is a welcome statement from the gaming community that hate speech will not be tolerated in those spaces.
