Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

More inclusion of diverse female champs?

Felaze·11/14/2016, 8:13:48 AM·8 votes·1,979 views

This is no secret, but Riot isn't very good about releasing many female champions. While looking at champions by release date, I was shocked. In 2016, there has been a single female champion released, and that was Taliyah. In 2015 there was again, one female champion released*, Illaoi. In 2014 there were two, aftually, with Kalista and Rek'Sai. In the past three years, that means that only four champions out of sixteen released were female, and that is just so, so disappointing, and doesn't make female players feel very included. In those sixteen, the variation between the male champions were phenomenal! We've had a robust, carnivorous frog, a lanky sociopath, and a bulky, muscled out mountain man. I just feel like we as players deserve a more expansive range of female champions to play. Give us an old witch lady, or a disgusting, toxic waste woman! Riot has a fantastic art team, and amazing concepts, but I really am tired of seeing male chanpion after male champion. It's tired and worn, the concept of a man at war isn't new. I'm really hoping that in 2017, something will be done about this. Maybe give us one female champion after another, or make the majority of champions released next year be women. It's time, Riot, it's time. Cater to more than just the male players, I'm begging you.

*Kindred was also released in 2015, but as confirmed by Riot themselves, Kindred goes by they.

64 Comments

ModAcademy Kayn11/14/2016, 8:26:04 AM10 votes

I'd rather have character creation based on good ideas that work together nicely, coherently creating a great champion. The trait/archetype that a character embodies shouldn't feel forced to something not so fitting for a model.

Now you can say that what said above applies to making female champs with great archetypes, which it does, but simply releasing more female champs for the sake of more female champs is as undesirable as it is to release male champions for the sake of more male champs. Character/Archtype is more important than gender.

BLU Medic11/14/2016, 10:15:56 AM6 votes

You don't want to add female champions for the sake of adding female champions, because then they end up boring and generic because they're being forced. If you want to create a cool character, you start with an idea and a theme, not a gender.

GreenLore11/14/2016, 5:01:56 PM5 votes

In general I feel like diversity is one of the most important aspects of champion design,regardless if the champions are male,female or something else entirely(looking at you Bard ) And I do feel like Riots early female champions didn't really focus enough on the diversity.

However I also think that Riots design for female champions greatly improved starting with Lissandra and Sejuanis VU(not saying that every female champ before looked bad,I like for example VI and Lulu as well,its just that it became obvious that they focused more on creating a diverse cast from that point on),the only problem is that female champs are so rarely released,that it feels like riot merely showed us the tip of the iceberg when it comes to female champion designs.

Tattersall11/14/2016, 10:01:59 PM4 votes

Okay, I'm sorry, I agree with pretty much everything that you've said, but the lore-loving part of me NEEDS to point this out:

Kindred isn't referred to as "they" because they are genderless (though they technically are), it's because there are two of them. That's actually the entire reason. Honestly, I'm still not convinced that saying "Kindred killed me" is grammatically correct. It should be "the Kindred killed me," because it's technically plural (or is it?). The grammar only gets weird because the Kindred are one being, while still being two separate beings.
Like I said before though, the Kindred are technically both genderless, as they're more of an idea or force rather than… something else. And they're definitely not physical beings.

Also, Tahm Kench is a catfish, not a frog (and he's technically genderless too).

But yeah, like the more reasonable people here, I agree that there should be more female champions, but not just to fulfill a quota or something. Sorry for the lore rant.

Ralanr11/14/2016, 2:40:55 PM4 votes

To put it bluntly: don't have an overweight character just because they are overweight.

More diverse body types are nice, but they need to actually fit with the character. Illaoi is a mountain of a woman who swings around a golden (or is it bronze?) idol of her God like a wrecking ball. For such an unrealistic fighting style she'd need a bit of an amped body (Zarya from Overwatch might be a better example of a muscle woman body type). Taliyah is effectively a teenager and as we all know about teenagers developing superpowers, it's basically an allegory for puberty. Since she's still learning her powers, it makes the most sense to visualize her as still developing (I think she's 15 or something).

So while more diverse body types would be nice, they need to make sense with the character (unless said character is more of a fantasy creature like Poppy and arguably Shyvanna. They can get away with more stuff). Just imagine if Braum was as lanky as Ekko, or Ezreal was as big as Gragas. They wouldn't make sense with their respective play styles (though Gragas is very quick on his feet for a fat guy. Acrofatic at its finest).

MXXXXXL11/14/2016, 8:22:24 AM4 votes

Leblanc is already the old witch lady, and imo i really don't care about a champion's gender, as long as they're fun i'm fine with it.

Randomonium11/14/2016, 5:18:35 PM3 votes

A character's gender doesn't matter to me and I have no idea why it should to you either. I find peoples' personalities and stories compelling, not what genitals they happen to possess.

MrNhbdy11/14/2016, 1:56:00 PM3 votes

Yes, more female champs would be nice, but they take more time to develop. Riot has already said that "old" is not enough of a trait to make a champ.

If your concerned, so much about the development of more female champs, then why don't you actually contribute by coming up with concepts that support a female? We even have a specific place for that on the boards.

Just like your helping by bring up this topic, you can help even more directly. Oh and "I'm not a good writer, bad imagonation, etc." is a poor excuse.

The smallest pebble can start a landslide!

I Might Lose11/14/2016, 2:30:42 PM3 votes

A champions gender shouldn't determine whether you play them or not

TyrekGoldenspear11/22/2016, 1:54:07 AM2 votes

We just got a female champ confirmed.

VoidStaresBack11/14/2016, 8:21:50 AM2 votes

I can understand this from a conceptual level, but I have always chosen my champion based on playstyle and kit and how they resonate with me rather than any cosmetic factors. I play Soraka because she's most in line with what I want from a champion (healer), Karma because she plays well into my playstyle (kiting-heavy battlemage), and Cho'Gath because he's hilarious fun to use (raid boss mode activate!). The champions that I like from a storytelling standpoint, like Quinn and Braum, don't feature heavily into my actual game picks because they don't flow with the way I play the game and thus I do poorly on them, same for all other non-game factors like aesthetics and theme.

Chromatic Eagle11/14/2016, 3:57:31 PM2 votes

Technically, Kindred are both male and female, and at some point there was the Fiora rework, so I personally include the reworks in, though it'd still be male dominated. Having said that, and there have been times where Riot wants something gender specific, gender isn't the main reason why they design a champion most of the time. If they want a hag woman, it's because they'd want a witchy character. If they want a toxic woman, it'd be because they want someone toxic.

bad arcade kitty11/14/2016, 8:19:56 AM2 votes

riot is already way to feminist to my taste i don't want to play an ugly/old/monster/fat/whatever female champion as all these people claim i want another cute female champion like ahri or kindred

Ultimate Deadpoo11/14/2016, 5:05:44 PM1 votes

Actually there were two female champions released in season 6, Illaio, who was released in pre season and Taliyah.