My Opinion On Riot And "Diversity"

To put it out there plainly, I'm all for it. I think everybody deserves to feel represented in a game they love. However, there are bad ways and good ways about doing this.

Things such as race, sexuality, are generally unimportant traits in a character, and shouldn't become the sole focus of a character. These are just small parts of what makes the greater whole of a person, and when you draw all the attention to just one small thing, it ruins the endless possibilties of what characters could have been had you expanded them as people, rather than making them just some representation for a group.

Let's take a look at Varus, League's very first LGBT champion. I am a gay man, and as one, I don't really have any issues with him, he isn't to sterotypical or pandering personality wise, and out of all the male champions they had to choose from, was probably the safest pick. There is one issue though, that does crossed the line into pandering, and that was his story. With their comics and video, there was so much focus shifted onto the fact that Kai and Valmar are both men, and in a relationship, and then it feels you don't add in Varus, the actual Darkin and major part of their story, till like the last 2 minutes. If the focus had been put more into Varus, which again is their whole story/reasoning/major plot point, and had simply stated they were in a relationship at the very beginning instead of dragging it out, it could have been way more interesting of a read.

If you want to create a gay/lesbian/input whatever other sexuality, you don't have to put their sexuality out there as like the lightbulb for a charcter, but you don't have to keep it hidden either. Let me make another example. Lets say there's a new male champion, and when he taunts another male champion, he might on occasion say "Hi handsome." That's literally all Riot has to do. It's not too in the player's face, and it gets the point across that this character is gay without making it the sole focus of said character.

As a gay man, I'm happy that Riot is trying to make people feel more included, I just hope they don't go all Dragon Age: Inquistion and ruin their great stories and lore for the sake of "diversity."