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Censorship & Foreign Values

SkyblazeHydraX3·11/14/2014, 9:04:44 PM·13 votes·2,753 views

I don't intend this to be a rant or a long discussion. Really, I just have a question I'd like answered by my fellow players; is it wrong that I feel upset and disappointed that League of Legends has to be censored worldwide in order to meet the values of foreign countries? The Karthus and Sion updates, Graves' new splasharts, and now even Urgot and Riven's armor. It's just upsetting that we have to lose out on cool ideas or even just small details that make the community happy in order to appease the (in my very likely biased opinion) of restrictive and censor-heavy values of some far off countr(y/ies). Take the "undead" genre for example; we'll only ever have reanimated corpses, emaciated liches, and ghoulish ghosts given form; we'll never see a skeletal body walk the rift- I mean hell, they had to remove/alter the skeletons on Urgot and Riven's armor!

But again, this isn't a rant. I just have to ask if it's wrong that I feel this way on the matter? I know it probably comes off as close-minded and insensitive, but all the same...

39 Comments

EMOFRATPARTY11/14/2014, 9:24:58 PM9 votes

It's not wrong that you feel this way, every culture is different! But that's exactly the thing: every culture is different. What you perceive as potentially undue censorship is merely a compliance to the standards of other cultures.

You aren't being close-minded or insensitive, it's rather a matter of perception. Limiting necessary censorship to adhere to other cultural guidelines will take generations, assuming other countries ever become open to specific content (skeletons, tobacco usage, alcohol usage, etc.). And this isn't to absolve the United States, because we have plenty of quirks; every country really is just that different.

It can be easier to understand some of the reasoning behind censorship when you physically encounter other cultures. I'd encourage you to see why these things might be censored in other regions. We all live in a global melting pot given the wide availability of the internet -- it's hard to avoid cultural dissonance!

SecretAgentHulk11/14/2014, 11:25:41 PM4 votes

I think it's a small thing that new players won't miss and all but the most hardcore will forget (especially when they remove these elements at the same time they awesomely VU these champions, e.g. Karth and Sion).

SNSD Tiffanyx11/15/2014, 2:09:39 AM4 votes

I don't intend this to be a rant or a long discussion. Really, I just have a question I'd like answered by my fellow players; is it wrong that I feel upset and disappointed that League of Legends has to be censored worldwide in order to meet the values of foreign countries? The Karthus and Sion updates, Graves' new splasharts, and now even Urgot and Riven's armor. It's just upsetting that we have to lose out on cool ideas or even just small details that make the community happy in order to appease the (in my very likely biased opinion) of restrictive and censor-heavy values of some far off countr(y/ies). Take the "undead" genre for example; we'll only ever have reanimated corpses, emaciated liches, and ghoulish ghosts given form; we'll never see a skeletal body walk the rift- I mean hell, they had to remove/alter the skeletons on Urgot and Riven's armor!

But again, this isn't a rant. I just have to ask if it's wrong that I feel this way on the matter? I know it probably comes off as close-minded and insensitive, but all the same...

because it's wrong to respect other culture's values right?

it's like how chinese women are still shocked if you wear a bikini to the beach, whereas in brazil it's common for women to wear thongs/gstrings to the beach, different culture has different perspective on things, and if you wanna do business with them, you gotta respect it

Dreamspitter11/14/2014, 11:48:28 PM3 votes

I don't intend this to be a rant or a long discussion. Really, I just have a question I'd like answered by my fellow players; is it wrong that I feel upset and disappointed that League of Legends has to be censored worldwide in order to meet the values of foreign countries? The Karthus and Sion updates, Graves' new splasharts, and now even Urgot and Riven's armor. It's just upsetting that we have to lose out on cool ideas or even just small details that make the community happy in order to appease the (in my very likely biased opinion) of restrictive and censor-heavy values of some far off countr(y/ies). Take the "undead" genre for example; we'll only ever have reanimated corpses, emaciated liches, and ghoulish ghosts given form; we'll never see a skeletal body walk the rift- I mean hell, they had to remove/alter the skeletons on Urgot and Riven's armor!

But again, this isn't a rant. I just have to ask if it's wrong that I feel this way on the matter? I know it probably comes off as close-minded and insensitive, but all the same...

#EVERYTHING Offends someone on Earth

If you try to appeal to sensitivities of everyone, what happens?

They are talking about adding middle eastern servers, and they say the diffifculties are a network one, where best to place them.

#But what about culture?

http://kotaku.com/female-league-of-legends-characters-banned-at-an-irania-1213754332

ZerglingOne11/15/2014, 1:11:58 AM2 votes

I agree, the Chinese client can be censored, let us have our skeletons back. Seriously, why is this even controversial?

Let's also have gragas drink soda and change his W to caffeine rush. Let's give Chogath's ult a spray of butterflies and rainbows instead of blood. Change all bleeding to acid damage.

It's all in the same logic. Graves' cigar may not have been integral to his character, but removing it also makes no sense.

Let's just remove all blood, alcohol, and tobacco and give the game an e10 rating in America and an M in China.

insaiyanbacca11/14/2014, 10:13:55 PM2 votes

what happened to urgot's and riven's armor?

Athenes Lulu11/15/2014, 9:34:46 PM2 votes

Don't forget that little TINY skull marking on Singed's splash art.

Maybe Rito should make censored versions just for Tencent servers, and keep the uncensored pictures on every other servers.

Lunar Lightning11/14/2014, 10:55:06 PM1 votes

This is getting ridiculous sorry if another country cant have something that we can just remove it there dont take it away from everyone else to appease them

Flemman11/15/2014, 12:47:04 AM1 votes

at least they keep hunted maokai arm in the recent visual update :p