Riot Games, the studio behind the incredibly successful League of Legends, has posted a statement in opposition to the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) and "PROTECT IP Act" (PIPA). The company notes that preventing piracy of copyrighted content is a "laudable goal," but that SOPA/PIPA go beyond addressing piracy.
The company laid out that the legislation would affect its fans in a number of ways. It's concerned about streaming services being shut down for non-malicious use of copyrighted material, and the threat such laws would have on creation and sharing sites such as YouTube, Reddit and DeviantArt, along with streaming websites, including Own3d and Twitch. In-house, Riot notes features such as in-game chat and forums could be cut back to avoid potential threats.
Riot is not a member for the ESA, the video game industry's political arm, which is in support of the legislation.
Riot also mentions that both acts "raise serious constitutional free speech issues, and could even compromise the basic security infrastructure of the internet." The statement concludes, "While we do support efforts to prevent online piracy, the current form of this legislation comes at far too high a cost for us, our players, and online communities across the internet."
(As an aside, Riot's attorney is currently answering almost anything on Reddit right now about the company's stance.)
Reader Comments (17)
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:40PM Courtney said
Good for them! We need to see more companies coming out against SOPA!
Two nights ago, I actually started building a site to gather contact information in a central location for gamers to more easily be able to contact ESA members, encouraging them to come out against SOPA. It's still a work in progress, but I've got links to their contact forms, email addresses, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages up. Tonight I will hopefully get some stuff up that will help contact multiple companies at once. If you're curious, you can find it here:
http://www.gamersfor.org/take-action/contact-esa-members/
Two nights ago, I actually started building a site to gather contact information in a central location for gamers to more easily be able to contact ESA members, encouraging them to come out against SOPA. It's still a work in progress, but I've got links to their contact forms, email addresses, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages up. Tonight I will hopefully get some stuff up that will help contact multiple companies at once. If you're curious, you can find it here:
http://www.gamersfor.org/take-action/contact-esa-members/
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 6:54PM Courtney said
@Courtney
On that link above, there is now the ability to automatically email most of the members of the ESA with a pre-filled subject line and body, so with a few seconds work you try and influence a majority of the ESA. There is also now a Contact Congress page with easy to use tools to identify and write your representatives:
http://www.gamersfor.org/take-action/contact-congress/
Reply
On that link above, there is now the ability to automatically email most of the members of the ESA with a pre-filled subject line and body, so with a few seconds work you try and influence a majority of the ESA. There is also now a Contact Congress page with easy to use tools to identify and write your representatives:
http://www.gamersfor.org/take-action/contact-congress/
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:41PM EvilCartographer said
This may be the first time that the League forums are united against a common complaint, too.
It's both inspiring and strangely unsettling all at the same time.
It's both inspiring and strangely unsettling all at the same time.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 6:39PM stubby boardman said
@EvilCartographer there was also the original Lux splash art incident.
Reply
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:47PM MasterBrief said
good this SOPA act is dumb
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:48PM ChainSmoker said
My respect for Riot has leveled up to 2.
I honestly don't like League Of Legends , I'm sorry..
But as far as I can tell , they're a pretty good company from reading this ..
Glad to see a lot of gaming companies taking a stand against SOPA.
I honestly don't like League Of Legends , I'm sorry..
But as far as I can tell , they're a pretty good company from reading this ..
Glad to see a lot of gaming companies taking a stand against SOPA.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:50PM BlazeKing said
That's because the main goal of SOPA/Protect IP isn't piracy, it's to take away more of your constitutional rights under the guise of "fighting piracy". Don't you find it weird that the way they want to fight piracy is by damn near labeling everybody as pirates and to take down parts of the internet; because everybody on are pirates (/s)?
They couldn't straight up say "We want to take the internet from you" so they went about it in a politician like manner (bullshit lies and "trust us" quotes). You know now that the NDAA has been signed, all we have is a man's word he won't use it. Remember when the government said that pirated material gives support to terrorists? Now you see what plans they had up their sleeves this whole time. Combine NDAA/SOPA/Protect IP and you have a constitutional disaster. Why did we as a country allow this to go this far?
They couldn't straight up say "We want to take the internet from you" so they went about it in a politician like manner (bullshit lies and "trust us" quotes). You know now that the NDAA has been signed, all we have is a man's word he won't use it. Remember when the government said that pirated material gives support to terrorists? Now you see what plans they had up their sleeves this whole time. Combine NDAA/SOPA/Protect IP and you have a constitutional disaster. Why did we as a country allow this to go this far?
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:54PM Cupajoe said
The thread also features a guest appearance by the awesome Rep Jared Polis (with his own snazzy avatar). It's definitely a thread worth browsing.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 4:51PM GuardianLegend2 said
It makes sense that a f2p microtransaction game company would oppose sopa. Sopa offers no benefits to riot. You can't pirate leauge of legends to begin with. Even if you could.. why would you?
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 5:01PM (Unverified) said
i cant believe how many senators are for PIPA, it's disgusting. 49/100. 5 are opposed and 46 undecided
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 5:03PM Jenks said
The more people that speak out against SOPA the better, but I don't think it's quite as courageous when it's a developer who makes virtually unpiratable games (like MOBAs and MMORPGs).
Still, thank you Riot.
Still, thank you Riot.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 6:08PM (Unverified) said
In response to this, I have purchased $15 worth of Riot points. Thank you Riot
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 7:50PM peter pham said
Mad respect riot. mad respect
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 8:22PM Electrium said
If they get even a small portion of their several million accounts to take action, this could make a bit of a scene. Pretty cool!
And yes, I'm tempted to buy some skins now...>_>
And yes, I'm tempted to buy some skins now...>_>
Posted: Jan 15th 2012 2:52AM Martin C said
Blah blah blah more SOPA.
Posted: Jan 20th 2012 3:17PM noxveneficus said
While we're speaking out against things, I'll take this opportunity to speak out against Riot, and repost something I found earlier today. FOR TEH MACS!
Below is a list of Riot e-mail addresses and descriptions of who you're writing. Let them know that they can't abandon their Mac customers!
smescon@riotgames.com, abeegle@riotgames.com, nharper@riotgames.com, cenock@riotgames.com, sgelb@riotgames.com,mmerrill@riotgames.com, bbeck@riotgames.com, aconti@riotgames.com, kcheung@riotgames.com
Steve Mescon - Director, Community Relations
Andrew Beegle - Manager, Community Relations
Nika Harper - Coordinator, Community Relations
Chris Enock - Director, Marketing
Scott Gelb - VP, Technology
Marc Merrill - President of Riot
Brandon Beck - CEO of Riot
Andrew Conti - Manager, Marketing Partnerships
Kevin Cheung - Senior Brand Manager
Please write them in a respectful, professional tone, explaining that hundreds of thousands of paying Mac customers have been without the game for 3 days now. I personally spent $15 on Riot Points last week, and I noted that in all my e-mails. They need to see the impact of their actions on the personal level, as well as the macro.
Below is a list of Riot e-mail addresses and descriptions of who you're writing. Let them know that they can't abandon their Mac customers!
smescon@riotgames.com, abeegle@riotgames.com, nharper@riotgames.com, cenock@riotgames.com, sgelb@riotgames.com,mmerrill@riotgames.com, bbeck@riotgames.com, aconti@riotgames.com, kcheung@riotgames.com
Steve Mescon - Director, Community Relations
Andrew Beegle - Manager, Community Relations
Nika Harper - Coordinator, Community Relations
Chris Enock - Director, Marketing
Scott Gelb - VP, Technology
Marc Merrill - President of Riot
Brandon Beck - CEO of Riot
Andrew Conti - Manager, Marketing Partnerships
Kevin Cheung - Senior Brand Manager
Please write them in a respectful, professional tone, explaining that hundreds of thousands of paying Mac customers have been without the game for 3 days now. I personally spent $15 on Riot Points last week, and I noted that in all my e-mails. They need to see the impact of their actions on the personal level, as well as the macro.






