@Riot, Why Does RIot Bioluminescence Talk To Us About Lore More Than The Lore Team?

Impetual··20 votes·6,097 views

Although I really like Bioluminescence, she usually doesn't have any definitive answers when it comes to lore.

This is understandable considering she isn't part of the lore team.

However, she comments more about lore more than the lore team does.

This begs the question, is Riot Bioluminescence a way for Rioter's "who are apparently are not part of the lore team" to contribute to lore discussions?

To be fair, I don't think I'd be asking these kinds of questions if whoever is currently in charge of lore at Riot was open and honest about things.

If we knew what was going on, we wouldn't have to speculate.

@Riot, is it your way of responding to lore threads without providing any actual answers, and being justified by the fact that you are responding with a Rioter who is not on the lore team?

Or, Is your lore team so bad at community interaction that other teams are better at talking about lore developments than the actual lore team?

@Riot, why isn't the lore team talking to players?! Why do we have to hear things from secondary sources like Riot Bioluminesence, who isn't even on the lore team?

I miss the days when RIoters would talk to us directly without any bullshitting and tell us exactly what was going on with the game. I miss Season 1.

EDIT: It would be nice if you could answer the question in the thread title BIoluminescence, although I don't expect you to.

42 Comments

EvilMerodach10 votes

I think she mostly does it in her spare time because she enjoys it, not actually part of her job. The actual narrative team has too much they are not allowed to talk about till it's out. So for her, it's fun to speculate and talk with community about "what if's" and the like. For the lore people, it's hard work to reply with useful information, but without giving away information too soon. Lot of editing, proof-reading, and thought into their posts. Bio can just drop in and say (more or less) what's on her mind.

If you got to go to NASA and play around in the training pool and pilot one of the mock-space shuttles, it'd be fun as hell. For the people actually working at NASA, it's all hard work and grinding and number crunching and getting things just right. Not fun as hell. Sure, they probably still enjoy their job (and I think most Rioters/narrative people do too), but it's much easier from the outsider's point of view. Everything is.

So, yes, Bio will probably end up posting more.

RiotBioluminescence15 votes

{quoted}

I think she mostly does it in her spare time because she enjoys it, not actually part of her job. The actual narrative team has too much they are not allowed to talk about till it's out. So for her, it's fun to speculate and talk with community about "what if's" and the like. For the lore people, it's hard work to reply with useful information, but without giving away information too soon. Lot of editing, proof-reading, and thought into their posts. Bio can just drop in and say (more or less) what's on her mind.

I think Impetual is operating under the assumption that the 'Great and Powerful Riot' issues an order for me, Bioluminescence, to go to the Boards and communicate with people. That this order is obeyed and in some way, Riot will tick some 'talked to players' check-box and consider it job done.

That is absolutely not the case.

No-one has ever asked me to go to the Boards and talk here - as you say, EvilMerodach, I'm here on my time off because I love chatting about lore and story and Runeterra. To a pretty big extent, having a red name is a disadvantage for getting to have the sorts of conversations I'd like to have.

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.
  • I want to talk about solving 'The Serpentine Problem' in the map threads.
  • I am UTTERLY FASCINATED by the idea of what the Shadow Isles residents were/are wearing (and the cultural ramifications thereof).

KING OF MASKS and I had a chat in client, afterwards, about the map thread. I wanted to apologize for not being able to answer the question at hand - especially as it seemed like any more posts on my behalf would just piss people off more. It kills me not to be able to participate in threads like that, but if doing so feels like a slap in the face to you guys, then I just can't. My intention was never to troll. I'm sorry.

So I open it up to you guys - do you, as a whole, want me to try to back off a bit? Would you rather I didn't interfere? I can't control the actions of other Rioters, of course - all I can do is modify my own behavior. What's everyone's take on it?

Malicious Metal9 votes

I personally see every Lore fan as equal; be it a red, a pro player, a casual, a lorehound or anything in between. In the end we all love the stories of Runeterra and should be able to discuss the world and its inhabitants on a common ground.

Cetri15 votes

Tbh, I love how often you post here. I'd definitely miss you if you stopped.

Drunk Tsundere8 votes

We love it when you talk to us. I hope you didn't get the wrong idea. I know that you are not allowed to spoil big stuff, and that you REALLY want to (I've been there too). I think OP just wants more lore and more story, and that he was complaining that the official lore team, who is allowed to spoil big stuff, hasn't really said anything. Not to fault them, I assume that everyone at Riot is waiting for certain things to fall into place before making the big reveal. But as players, we're pretty starved and just want more.

Sharjo7 votes

I personally really dig it when you come around to talk with us. You bring a lot of cool discussion and it's always a pleasure seeing your comments! At the same time I can't speak for everyone, so while I'd prefer to see more of you, and really any other rioters (not just Narrative) joining in, I feel like this is best left to your own discretion. You choose your own destiny Bio and folks will respect that no matter what.

333lom4 votes

Don't worry Bio, I think you have the right to come join discussions here on Story and Art just like anyone else. If you have fun speculating alongside all of us here, then by all means continue! It's always more interesting the more people give their ideas and interpretations.

Now that I think of your last point, something tells me the residents of the now called Shadow Isles wore clothes more glistening and white than the Demacians now. Because that would be an even bigger contrast to what they look like now.

Drunk Tsundere2 votes

I get that you can't spoil anything, but as a Rioter, do you know what's coming next? I just am curious about how closely linked different departments are.

RiotBioluminescence3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Support GG,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=beVXAwip,comment-id=000400000005,timestamp=2015-10-04T20:54:08.859+0000)

I get that you can't spoil anything, but as a Rioter, do you know what's coming next? I just am curious about how closely linked different departments are.

I hear about stuff a little bit before players, yes - but most often it's in the timescale of a week or two - while they've been working on them for months. My future sense is a bit short sighted :)

TerraRising4 votes

{quoted}

I think Impetual is operating under the assumption that the 'Great and Powerful Riot' issues an order for me, Bioluminescence, to go to the Boards and communicate with people. That this order is obeyed and in some way, Riot will tick some 'talked to players' check-box and consider it job done.

Question: Is the "Great and Powerful Riot" something similar to the "Great and Powerful Oz?" If so, who is the man behind the curtain?

So I open it up to you guys - do you, as a whole, want me to try to back off a bit? Would you rather I didn't interfere? I can't control the actions of other Rioters, of course - all I can do is modify my own behavior. What's everyone's take on it?

The solution isn't going to be pulling back on your participation. The solution is getting Narrative to be more active on the boards, not just the occasional "we're reading your threads" line that no one actually believes anymore.

Frankly, it should be up to them to get involved in the discussion. Maybe not Shadow Isles (or whatever else they have planned for the Harrowing), but the following project(s). And, to be completely blunt, someone higher up the food chain should light a bonfire under Narrative's collective asses and get them to step up their production schedule, since they'll never get their bios done at their current pace (4 champs per annual story arc).

Wind Whistler1 votes

{quoted}

I think Impetual is operating under the assumption that the 'Great and Powerful Riot' issues an order for me, Bioluminescence, to go to the Boards and communicate with people. That this order is obeyed and in some way, Riot will tick some 'talked to players' check-box and consider it job done.

That is absolutely not the case.

No-one has ever asked me to go to the Boards and talk here - as you say, EvilMerodach, I'm here on my time off because I love chatting about lore and story and Runeterra. To a pretty big extent, having a red name is a disadvantage for getting to have the sorts of conversations I'd like to have.

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.
  • I want to talk about solving 'The Serpentine Problem' in the map threads.
  • I am UTTERLY FASCINATED by the idea of what the Shadow Isles residents were/are wearing (and the cultural ramifications thereof).

KING OF MASKS and I had a chat in client, afterwards, about the map thread. I wanted to apologize for not being able to answer the question at hand - especially as it seemed like any more posts on my behalf would just piss people off more. It kills me not to be able to participate in threads like that, but if doing so feels like a slap in the face to you guys, then I just can't. My intention was never to troll. I'm sorry.

So I open it up to you guys - do you, as a whole, want me to try to back off a bit? Would you rather I didn't interfere? I can't control the actions of other Rioters, of course - all I can do is modify my own behavior. What's everyone's take on it?

Best Rioter NA. Scratch that, best Rioter in the WORLD.

Photos of Ghosts2 votes

Impetual precisely said: either you're sent on purpose to have someone calm us down since we are intended get no reply from narrative, or narrative is garbage for actually not even noticing our questions.

Vey rude in the way I said it, but that's the only conclusion we can come to.

Decrit1 votes

In the most brutal and direct way to say things, i would hate to see you denied of your posts with your account for some kind of funky aftermath some dude can craft on its head ( and that not because you are a red, but because you are a PERSON ).

Also OP is a shortsighted dick.

TurquoiseYoshi1 votes

{quoted}

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.

Even Rioters fall prey to the obnoxious stars making bolded and italicized text.

Hyrum Graff1 votes

{quoted}

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.

Protip: backslash makes *'s appear as text rather than formatting. So if you wanted to write this:

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.

You'd write this:

> * I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f\*\*\*\*\* Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.

And if you want to know how to write that you can quote my post ;)

Impetual1 votes

{quoted}

I think Impetual is operating under the assumption that the 'Great and Powerful Riot' issues an order for me, Bioluminescence, to go to the Boards and communicate with people. That this order is obeyed and in some way, Riot will tick some 'talked to players' check-box and consider it job done.

That is absolutely not the case.

No-one has ever asked me to go to the Boards and talk here - as you say, EvilMerodach, I'm here on my time off because I love chatting about lore and story and Runeterra. To a pretty big extent, having a red name is a disadvantage for getting to have the sorts of conversations I'd like to have.

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.
  • I want to talk about solving 'The Serpentine Problem' in the map threads.
  • I am UTTERLY FASCINATED by the idea of what the Shadow Isles residents were/are wearing (and the cultural ramifications thereof).

KING OF MASKS and I had a chat in client, afterwards, about the map thread. I wanted to apologize for not being able to answer the question at hand - especially as it seemed like any more posts on my behalf would just piss people off more. It kills me not to be able to participate in threads like that, but if doing so feels like a slap in the face to you guys, then I just can't. My intention was never to troll. I'm sorry.

So I open it up to you guys - do you, as a whole, want me to try to back off a bit? Would you rather I didn't interfere? I can't control the actions of other Rioters, of course - all I can do is modify my own behavior. What's everyone's take on it?

@Riot BIoluminescence. You misunderstand me.

I DON'T WANT YOU TO BACK OFF RIOT BIOLUMINESCENCE! NOT AT ALL!

I THINK YOU ARE AWESOME!

I just wish the lore/narrative/foundations team did their job better than you are doing it for them, especially when it comes to community interaction.

Lore developments and restructuring information should come from them, and not you. Aside from Jaerdan, who posts extremely rarely, the narrative community for LoL doesn't really have anyone keeping us filled in on Lore developments on the forums.

Although I do appreciate your efforts to cover for the shortcomings of your colleagues, it would be nice to have someone from the lore/narrative/foundations department talk to us consistently.

While I consider you really awesome for filling in for RIoters on the lore/narrative/foundations or whatever the team is called now, they simply aren't communicating to players effectively, which I would think would be part of their job. I'm kinda tired of hearing the Riot mantra "I'm not on the right team" instead of getting actual definitive answers from Riot.

If you read this Bioluminescence, could you comment on why the lore/narrative/foundations departments don't interact with us on the Story & Art forums more than a single Rioter from a totally different department? Are they shy or incompetent or something?

Impetual1 votes

{quoted}

I think Impetual is operating under the assumption that the 'Great and Powerful Riot' issues an order for me, Bioluminescence, to go to the Boards and communicate with people. That this order is obeyed and in some way, Riot will tick some 'talked to players' check-box and consider it job done.

That is absolutely not the case.

No-one has ever asked me to go to the Boards and talk here - as you say, EvilMerodach, I'm here on my time off because I love chatting about lore and story and Runeterra. To a pretty big extent, having a red name is a disadvantage for getting to have the sorts of conversations I'd like to have.

  • I want to speculate wildly about how utterly f***** Bilgewater is due to the bloody power vacuum pre-Harrowing.
  • I want to talk about solving 'The Serpentine Problem' in the map threads.
  • I am UTTERLY FASCINATED by the idea of what the Shadow Isles residents were/are wearing (and the cultural ramifications thereof).

KING OF MASKS and I had a chat in client, afterwards, about the map thread. I wanted to apologize for not being able to answer the question at hand - especially as it seemed like any more posts on my behalf would just piss people off more. It kills me not to be able to participate in threads like that, but if doing so feels like a slap in the face to you guys, then I just can't. My intention was never to troll. I'm sorry.

So I open it up to you guys - do you, as a whole, want me to try to back off a bit? Would you rather I didn't interfere? I can't control the actions of other Rioters, of course - all I can do is modify my own behavior. What's everyone's take on it?

Once again, I really like you Bioluminescence.

But This thread isn't about you. You're awesome!

It's about how a Rioter who isn't even involved with the Narrative/Lore/Foundations team is communicating with us more than the people actually on those teams.

Sorry for calling you out on that ;)

While you are going above and beyond at your job, those people on the lore/story/narrative/foundations team have been really dropping the ball in the last 2 years when it comes to community interaction on these fancy newish forums, despite the promises for greater community interaction.

EvilMerodach2 votes

{quoted}

So I open it up to you guys - do you, as a whole, want me to try to back off a bit? Would you rather I didn't interfere? I can't control the actions of other Rioters, of course - all I can do is modify my own behavior. What's everyone's take on it?

#NO

Keep posting whenever you want, as much as you want. I see you as almost the Narrative cheerleader. (Hope you don't take that title as an insult. item 3151)

You keep all us story fans hyped in the in-between when not a lot is (visibly) going on.

Plus you're generally well informed. (Not with inside information, but you have your stuff together and know what's going on in Runeterra, piecing stuff together for us, pointing out clues we might have missed, etc.)

I feel like any downside of you being a Red is more Boards fault than anything you're doing. Setup is a little weird, red tracker can be a mess when mixed discussions are going on, and you guys should probably have titles (or...ranks?..teams? colors other than red? yellow tracker for narrative, blue for balance, pink for skin team being outrageous, black for MODS, etc) along with your name/red flag. And discussion type threads [where a Rioter posts multiple replies to the same thread, (EG: AMA's)] should probably be condensed to 1 mark on the red tracker, with it only showing newest post on that thread (if you want to see others, use the forward/backward buttons in the thread).

TL;DR- keep postin' I like your posts, and have a feeling anyone that likes League lore in general likes your posts too. Only people I can see not liking you are jerks people who don't care for lore and just want balance updates Vayne and Irelia (and Veigar again now...) nerfed to the ground.

RiotBioluminescence6 votes

{quoted}

...And discussion type threads [where a Rioter posts multiple replies to the same thread, (EG: AMA's)] should probably be condensed to 1 mark on the red tracker, with it only showing newest post on that thread (if you want to see others, use the forward/backward buttons in the thread)...

I just wanted to address this point and say how dearly I wished there was a system for this!

A few weeks ago I ran a fan-fic compo (just a little one, and not particularly official) and I gummed up the red tracker something terrible for a weekend giving feedback to the entries. There was even a post complaining about how useless red tracker was because of it :( Never my intention, and it's a 'feature' of the boards I want to see if there's a way to mitigate if I'm ever crazy enough to run another compo again.

It's not fair to the people who have absolutely no interest in one topic, to have the red tracker completely nuked about it.

Thanks for your words otherwise, EvilMerodach!

EvilMerodach1 votes

{quoted}

I just wanted to address this point and say how dearly I wished there was a system for this!

A few weeks ago I ran a fan-fic compo (just a little one, and not particularly official) and I gummed up the red tracker something terrible for a weekend giving feedback to the entries. There was even a post complaining about how useless red tracker was because of it :( Never my intention, and it's a 'feature' of the boards I want to see if there's a way to mitigate if I'm ever crazy enough to run another compo again.

It's not fair to the people who have absolutely no interest in one topic, to have the red tracker completely nuked about it.

Thanks for your words otherwise, EvilMerodach!

Yeh, I remember having trouble following red tracker that wasn't PROJECT related for a couple days. summoner 31

Fanfic..at least writing it..is not really my thing. But I like that you ran the event. (and the Bilgewater one before that) I think it's a good idea.

Boards isn't really well equipped for it. But, I still wouldn't be opposed to you running more events like that, even if Boards doesn't change at all. It's still fun and very LoL related, and I think more people enjoyed it than didn't.


Also, figured you'd be the best person to speculate about dis: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/miscellaneous/2t3hchp5-forsaken-zed-moved-cause-it-was-probably-in-wrong-section

Was just gonna post it here..but don't want to derail the tread.

Merxamers1 votes

Please keep posting stuff. To make an analogy here, your "gluten-free" brownies are better than the Riot narrative team's "let you starve to death while constantly promising food is coming and then apologizing every 6 months for the food not arriving"

Dextix LT5 votes

Look. Dude. First of all, its not "lore" team its "narrative" team, i know that it doesnt matter how you call them but people care too much about it.

Now secondly. Why narrative doesnt talk to us? Because they suck. Plain and simple. All of these "profesionals" work worse than any non profesional fanfic wroter. It took 1 year to get 1 addition to the destroyed lore, burning tides. While it was a good lore thing, it isnt enough.

Fame got to their head. You see, actual lore doesnt earn as much money as something like new skins, splashes or stories for the skins. Before they depended on us players to survive, now? Now they got so popular that they dont care about minorities of their community.

I know what some of you will say. "Narrative doesnt communicate because people attack them", whose fault is that? Did the players retcon LOL lore without having any kind of replacement for it? Do the players fail to communicate on RIOT boards where we are forced to write (coz forums got retconed). The answer is no.

Bioluminescence cares more about the lore than its writters, which is sad actually.

Edit: Instead of downvoting me tell me where i am wrong in my assesment?

Edit: And the dowvotes keep on coming but everyone refuses to counter my claims or point out where i am wrong......

Photos of Ghosts2 votes

They just dislike your tone, but I challenge them to prove you wrong.

BetaDude402 votes
  1. Nitpick much? We could just call it "the team that does the wordy stuff" if you prefer.

  2. I can't say what happens inside of The Team that Does the Wordy Stuff's HQ. I don't know what issues they have. Or, for that matter, if they willingly embrace this reputation they have for their lack of activity.

I can say they're not stupid; the talent is there. My guess is, though, that there are probably heavily conflicting ideas or management issues for the future of the lore. Perhaps they require work done by other departments to do things. Or, hell, maybe they have absolutely no idea what the hell to do.

The truth is, we have no idea, and they don't want to talk. Whatever plans they have are shrouded in more mystery than Kalista's entire existence. When they do release things, it seems they're more based on a short novel rather than a massive worldbuilding experience like we've had in the past.

Truth be told, other than the nitpickiness and insulting their intelligence, I don't really have much of a counter-argument.

All we can do is wait...

Dextix LT2 votes

I didnt nitpick at their name, i did say that i dont care how we call them, but narrative apologists usually bring this up for some reason when defending the narrative for the "job" they do.

I dont know exactly what is happening in Rito HQ, but i can deduct things. Look at how the other departments are working. While the balance team is fcking up again in many cases, they are still working. Art team are just monsters right now, they never have been better. Even Lyte is getting softer andtalking about punishments and is also coming up with a new system for punishments.

Now, which team isnt doing their job, narrative.

I cant see talent here, im sorry, but i cant, i can however judge their inteligenece. Look at the facts.

  1. The lore was destroyed 1 year ago. No replacement was ready or is ready yet.

  2. There is still no runettera map.

  3. Burning tides took 8 months to make.

  4. Some champ lores still dont make sense.

  5. 90% of the world is still missing.

Narrative is an entire team. Fanfic writters write better stories more often when they are solo than this "Team" of "Talented" writers. They have no communication with the playerbase, ignoring it outright only rarely going out (At events). They have no planning, i mean really, they retconed the old lore without knowing how to replace it! How fcked up is that!

I know that i sound like a salty asshole, yes, i am one. But its because i care about this goddamn fcking lore when the team that works on it doesnt give a single fck!

Impetual1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dextix LT,realm=EUNE,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=beVXAwip,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-10-04T12:03:49.407+0000)

Look. Dude. First of all, its not "lore" team its "narrative" team, i know that it doesnt matter how you call them but people care too much about it.

Now secondly. Why narrative doesnt talk to us? Because they suck. Plain and simple. All of these "profesionals" work worse than any non profesional fanfic wroter. It took 1 year to get 1 addition to the destroyed lore, burning tides. While it was a good lore thing, it isnt enough.

Fame got to their head. You see, actual lore doesnt earn as much money as something like new skins, splashes or stories for the skins. Before they depended on us players to survive, now? Now they got so popular that they dont care about minorities of their community.

I know what some of you will say. "Narrative doesnt communicate because people attack them", whose fault is that? Did the players retcon LOL lore without having any kind of replacement for it? Do the players fail to communicate on RIOT boards where we are forced to write (coz forums got retconed). The answer is no.

Bioluminescence cares more about the lore than its writters, which is sad actually.

Edit: Instead of downvoting me tell me where i am wrong in my assesment?

Edit: And the dowvotes keep on coming but everyone refuses to counter my claims or point out where i am wrong......

To be accurate, it may not even be the "lore team" or the "narrative team". It might be called the "foundations team".

RIot keeps changing things without keeping us in the loop. Who know's what their story/lore related team is called at the moment?

Caytheles5 votes

All hail Bioluminescence!!! She will led us to the Land promised!!!

A Superb Villain5 votes

Because there is no possibility of her accidentally revealing confidential information regarding current or future lore developments, and since she is not part of the narrative team or anyone associated with current lore construction, nothing she says can be claimed as evidence for the theories of forum residents.

In short, she can safely comment on this board without causing the end of days.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Also us nitpicking what she says and using it to flame her.

GenoXx1 votes

When it came to that map.....to be totally honest.....Her commenting on that thread was really kinda pointless ....or trolling on her part.

TurquoiseYoshi7 votes

I mean, it was an interesting story.

GenoXx1 votes

.....knowing full well that seing a red post on the thread gives hope of an answer

TurquoiseYoshi1 votes

It definitely was trolly, but at least it was something semi-interesting.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

So would you rather have her not post at all, or only post if she has something to contribute, which considering her position in the company, won't mean much at all?

GenoXx1 votes

not saying that.....either.......im sure u were disappointed too

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

I barely read the threads or long posts, and I know Bio doesn't work in lore outside of maps, so I probably wouldn't have been disappointed. Either way, feels pointless "taking it out on her" because she's a not a writer. It's like giving Meddler crap for talking about skins.

GenoXx2 votes

whose "taking it out on her?"

Chromatic Eagle2 votes

You considered her comments on that other thread to either be pointless or trolling. With her asking whether or not she should keep posting, gives off the vibe that if we can't get the writers to talk about the lore, then no Rioter should.

GenoXx1 votes

This is referring to Bio know what would happened if she commented on that specific thread.... Sometime u gotta think like the other person... "A fan is asking about a map. Let me check it out. Oh, and ezreal joke hmm, i think I'll put the origins of that quote. But I think they will feel disapointed to see my name instead of a actual Rioters...But here goes."

You're telling me Bio ddnt expect disappointment? I would be If i wasn't exactly a person who works with riot directly...

Chromatic Eagle2 votes

How you feel only represents how you feel.

Solideus1 votes

To be fair, I assume the "lore team" are really busy with whatever the Harrowing has in store one week from now. They might be more active once the final dash has been settled.

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