Riot Games has received some backlash after a Twitter user suggested one Riot employee based Seraphine’s champion design off of her. The user, known as Stephanie, gave some insight on her past relationship with said Rioter, and why she sees her problem with Seraphine to be personal. Her overall experience and similarities with the champion’s release have pushed her to consider legal action against the League of Legends developer.
https://twitter.com/step_nie/status/1326939261900259329?s=20
Stephanie began telling her story on Thursday, November 12, to her Twitter followers. “I’m uncomfortable with the similarities and I believe she might have been based on me,” she said. She posted a thread claiming that her past relationship with a Riot employee, named “John,” inspired the creation of Seraphine. While some readers are skeptical of the story, she brings in plenty of hard-to-miss points and specific details.
Seraphine and Stephanie similarities
Her explanation states that the employee who she believes to have created Seraphine used part of her looks and personality to design the champion. This employee also used her birthday, talent for art, love for her cat, and appearence as inspiration for Seraphine’s personality. The similarities have made Stephanie feel uncomfortable enough that she decided to move forward with legal action against the company.
https://twitter.com/step_nie/status/1326939280350932992?s=20
Additionally, Stephanie claimed that the Riot employee suggested she take part in a secret champion project. She stated that she repeatedly denied any advances to be a part of it and eventually ended the short-lived relationship. “He also suggested I should fly out and voice act for some kind of top secret project, which he didn’t ever reveal, but that he insisted I’d be perfect for,” she said. Soon after, she noticed little similarities in the champion that very quickly made her feel “sick.”
As she shared her story, she stated that she didn’t want to be taken advantage of, especially with how much money Riot makes off of one champion. On her Twitter post, unsurprised readers replied that Riot has a bad reputation for taking advantage of female employees. Others have pointed out that Seraphine was apparently based on the designer’s wife. Either way, the striking similarities between Stephanie and Seraphine are too notable to ignore.
https://twitter.com/step_nie/status/1327015189879742464?s=20
Riot gave a short statement regarding Stephanie’s claim, suggesting that they are still waiting to hear back from her lawyers. They stated that her accusation lacks merit, and they are currently investigating the situation.
"We investigated ourselves and found no evidence of wrongdoing" rings a bit hollow after that whole employee walkout about how poorly Riot handled those sexual harassment allegations.
Looking forward to how the lawyer fight pans out.
— Tybbie (@TybaultWindsor) November 12, 2020
While this statement isn’t what many people want to hear, it seems like it’s the most that they’ll receive for now due to the legal process and privacy of the claim.
