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Real talk; This entire Viktor-thing has become a hate-mongering mess

Malicious Metal·12/8/2016, 11:36:26 PM·65 votes·3,827 views

I myself have been guilty of this for pointing fingers at the writer of Jayce's lore piece but that's just one of the many symptoms of this.

What's worse, and by worse I mean a LOT worse is how opposing opinions and theories are being down voted to hell and back and how everyone seems to be at each other's throat over these lore changes. This is a boards for lore discussion but it devolved into a battlefield ruled by emotion, over-reaction, unrational fear, hate mongering and other unpleasant stuff. Lore is not being discussed anymore, opposing viewpoints are being shut down entirely and there seems to be no civil discussion in sight. When someone tries to justify the lore he's already got himself 10 rabid Viktor fanboys at his throat to tell him how wrong he is, if someone tries to put forward their opinion and interpretation of the lore he's already a pariah.

Fact is; The Viktor changes are PASSIVE lore changes that are not 100% tied to HIM as a character. It's fickle bits and pieces from his live, not his own feelings and emotions, it's opinionated, it can be read in a variety of ways.

What we DO know is that people feel very STRONGLY about Viktor as a character and hell, Riot should be bloody proud of themselves and their palyerbase that they managed to make a character so delightfully morally ambiguous that 90% of the community defends his every action and sees him as what he should have been; A Morally gray character who was driven unto a darker path by depression and inner turmoil. Hell, his lore spurred people to craft their very own visions of him as a character and them being disappointed is what lead to this cataclysmic event.

Now, It's late, I need to attend Uni tomorrow but I really wanted to get this off my chest. Lore is a wonderful thing, it's stories, it's characters, it's their chemistry, it's a way to tell a story beyond gameplay and it's one of my favorite things about League of Legends, seeing this subform become the place of hatred and other negative emotions Viktor himself wants to rid humanity off does kinda hurt.

96 Comments

Sharjo12/9/2016, 12:04:00 AM26 votes

People are highly protective of the old lore in varying degrees, which makes sense because they liked it and have been sadenned by changes that have occured. It's understandable, but I wish folks could be more civil, even if only a bit.

With Viktor it seems like folks are so off put by the idea of Riot making Viktor out to be anything other than what they envision him as that anything else is disgusting. I'd say that's not a healthy approach considering it means folks might end up just flat out ignoring what could be something cool by the end.

Will it? Sod if I know. I'm gonna wait and see though for sure.

Viktor is a particular pain point for me not because of any way he's been written or anything about him, but because of the community. You guys are super protective of him and what he embodies to the point of insanity, and that's great in some respects, but it also means that sometimes I'll open the door to the boards and see a huge brigade of folks with pitchforks and torches at the mere prospect of Viktor being anything less than what the community expects him to be.

Is that wrong on your part? Well no, of course not. You guys are entitlted to our opinions and should voice criticism regularly. It's a good thing to do so. But god damn has it ground me down. I remember spending time having to diffuse people's concerns about Viktor when ONE FUCKING TAUNT from Ekko sent the community spiralling in to dismay about Viktor being written wrong again. A fucking teenage brat said one thing and the boards was almost about to combust it seemed. Had me right up the damn wall.

This has happened before of course; Xerath, Leona, Pantheon, Diana, they're the main ones who've been at the heart of such debates, community panics and the like, and I understand why, but the seeming lack of rational discourse and willingness to literally grab your weapons and go to war for these characters at the drop of a hat has always been a pain point and a worry for me. It's easy to see where it stems from; interesting character with underdeveloped lore gets a dedicated fan following. Change is scary. But I'd like for people to at least think for a while on it, and if they are just not able to concieve rational thoughts and are scared, just be open to discussing even if you can't figure out what you're gonna say yourself.

Personally, I can see where Viktor's going and how he might be written to not be a cartoon villain. I can see it visuallising in my head but I'm holding back on the idea. Am I right? Sod if I know. I'll discuss it if people want, but right here, right now, it's not really the place.

Here and now I just wanna preach about being patient and rational. I'd like it if we didn't do like dragon type pokemon and use outrage, because that ends up being super violent, does a lot of damage and ends in confusion that hurts us as a community too. He passionate and inspired, and be protective of what you love, just be ready to rein it in a bit, y'know?

God damn Viktor always getting us riled up. He's good at that.

Also as a personal note to Malicious, I called you out specifically when you made your earlier thread, and I am sorry for coming across as shitty or a bastard. I posted that response because I expect better of folks in general, including you, and it was extremely dissappointing to see you come out with that. I meant what I said, and I stand by it, but know that I do respect you personally and continue to do so.

So here, have a ghost hug!

https://media.giphy.com/media/g8rhUpt0ounKM/giphy.gif?noredirect

Placentas12/8/2016, 11:42:05 PM20 votes

Here here! We are all nerdy motherfuckin lore fans! Let's have some respect for one another, and remember you don't always have to reply to someone!

SaltyToplaneGoat12/9/2016, 12:04:00 AM11 votes

People be acting like they get to decide how Riot does character and story design - and they even got no clue how fucked up that is. If I'm an author, no matter how much my fans love my work or how passionate they are about it, they got ABSOLUTELY NO SAY in what and how I write.

What is this even, to even think you could tell others how to write "your" character? Just because you like it it doesn't belong to you wtf.

"But without fans writers are nothing! So they should pander to them!" -ahaha I heard that argument once, and it is bollocks. Mostly because it only applies if your work is small and unknown and requires a loyal group of readers to keep being even remotely popular. Riot having a game with several million players? They got absolutely zero need for that and can do whatever the fuck they want as long as the keep the writing high quality.

Tl, dr: let the authors do their thing. And if you don't like it, well then fuck off. No one cares what a teeny tiny vocal minority demands.

HazyCloud712/9/2016, 3:51:55 AM9 votes

Real talk: If this post was made by anyone other than malcious metal it would be downvoted heavily.

People disagreeing with the direction of Viktor related lore =/= hatred, there's nothing wrong with people expressing differing opinions as long as they do so politely.

TheBentOn312/9/2016, 3:05:58 AM8 votes

I'm still salty about Leona getting turned into the Spanish Inquisition., so I greatly sympathize with Viktor fans who aren't happy with the direction they are taking him.

Hope he comes off a little better when his own lore comes out. He deserves better than just being a straight up supervillian (apparently hes got his own cult now too, joy of joys.), he was always a lot more nuanced than that.

Smitty Manjensen12/9/2016, 12:57:50 AM6 votes

I can bet my life that you wouldn't sit idly and that you would attack Rito if they scrapped Mordes metal theme, not really the same as lore but still something you feel strongly about the character. Also your countless threads about Morde prove that you would do the same.

The Anagram King12/9/2016, 3:17:16 AM5 votes

I'm trying my best to be inclusive in my thread, and keeping the finger-pointing (sans Riot's Jayce lore :P) to a minimum, but I won't pretend to be a moderator, here: Current Viktor's rise to Augmentation is AMAZING. Not just "good" - freakin' fantastic.

To deny him the level of character development his old lore provided in order to solidify he and Jayce as "best buddies now enemies" is hardly an equal trade-off. I don't want moral ambiguity as the end result. I want Viktor to change. That, in of itself, is a huge part of why his old lore is so beguiling. In the final moments of his story, he is so utterly and unfathomably different to the idealistic and potentially philanthropic man he once was.

But JUST enough of his former ideals remain, for us to question: IS he still good? He's definitely not done anything bad...

yet.

The Jayce take paints VIktor as a static character, who will develop later - AFTER he becomes a robot and interacts with stuff. And, though in an alternate universe, this could be unprecedentedly well-written and put all other novelised fantasy tales to shame, there would be NO chance of old idealist Viktor; His dreams shattered and self worth destroyed; His drive for acceptance (and maybe vengeance) pushing him to attack his own flesh; His realisation that what drives him could drive an entire society; His eventual coming to terms and - indeed - resolve in his "destiny";

This would be gone forever. Snippets are salvaged, sure. But it wouldn't be the same.

THAT is where I stand on this. And I'm not content to sit around quietly and hope that a secret lore surprise will make everything alright (after which point it's okay to complain? :P)

500000000000000012/9/2016, 12:34:12 AM5 votes

Remember everyone, emotion is a weakness.

The Ecdysiast12/9/2016, 6:09:42 PM3 votes

I made a thread that points out a fatal flaw in the development of Viktor and Jayce's relationship. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/npr8iN6c-oriannas-existence-ruins-viktors-story

Basically, since Orianna is actually the ideal that Viktor is supposedly aiming for, that means all the technology necessary to create fully functioning mechanical humans that lack negative emotions but retain their humanity is already perfected. He has no purpose.