Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, recently announced a significant change in how it handles content creators who step out of line with their conduct, even outside of the game itself.
Starting January 3rd, the company plans to crack down on creators who violate its terms of service by using offensive language or slurs towards others while engaging with Riot’s games. This initiative is part of an update to their ‘Off-Platform Conduct’ policy.
In a statement on their website, Riot Games explained their goal with this new rule: “Our intention with this update is to help protect players from harmful behaviors they can experience across various platforms related to their gaming experience.”
The update is quite specific, focusing only on content where Riot’s games are featured in the background. While Riot isn’t going to actively monitor every corner of social media, they now reserve the right to enforce in-game penalties if inappropriate conduct is brought to their attention. For instance, if a creator uses hateful language against another player during a stream—outside the game’s chat or voice comms—Riot can still take action as if it occurred directly in the game environment.