The problem with bones in League (China)

Krizalid·2/21/2015, 9:39:43 PM·8 votes·5,081 views

I think that bones are really important as a part of design if we're talking about undead characters or some gothic style. There are so many opportunities to use it and it doesn't make me and many other players happy that they can't see such beautiful thing in this game. It's classic, it's Shakespeare! I honestly think that if one country doesn't approve something, the taboo doesn't have to do anything with other countries. One thing can be censured there, but not everywhere (you remember how it was with Karthus? He was a skeleton everywhere but he didn't have a face on the chinese server). Same with Graves cigar. Don't you think that removing something from those who can't stand it is much more rationally than taking it away from every server?** I am not saying that Karthus should be changed, I'm talking about next champions who might use bones. **

7 Comments

GreenLore2/21/2015, 11:06:35 PM5 votes

Old Karthus was kinda inconsistent when it came to design.He was almost always said to be a skeleton,but if you looked at his ingame model you could see that he is just an extremely skinny dude.

Just look at his model: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140521025607/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/e/ea/Karthus_Render_old.png/215px-Karthus_Render_old.png he clearly still has a throat and even has visible veins on his hand.

Anyway as far as i know only human skeletons are a taboo in china(even though some companies go so far to censor all skeletons),so this means that an inhuman looking being could still be skeletal(for example an undead dragon).

I mean riot clearly doesn't have a problem with skins like jurassic cho'gath or those tiny skulls on soul reaver vladimir,so stuff like that could still be an option.

A Superb Villain2/21/2015, 10:13:03 PM1 votes

Marketability > Aesthetics

If Riot artists can work around a design that would be enriched by a particular element, and still deliver the major theme, they will do so. I am sure if Riot artists could have their way we would see things like bones incorporated, but as it stands they must work within the parameters set by company policies.

Tesla Effect2/21/2015, 10:36:10 PM1 votes

I like the new Karthus so I wont complain, also cigars ARE bad for you.

Jungle Lux God2/22/2015, 3:51:04 AM1 votes

To be honest, changing the model from having skeletons to the current model also helps define his visuals as a "lich".

Karthus was always a lich according to the lore. If you look up "lich" in google, you would notice that it translates to "corpse" or "dead body". Obviously this has a translation in fantasy settings as an undead.

However, if you look at Karthus' appearance outside of China, between his splash arts and his in-game model, he looked more like a skeleton than a corpse. The Chinese model and splash had a different problem: while the lack of a face means that his lore better represents him as a lich, his lack of a face means that players don't have the ability to connect with the champ.

Now look at his new splash and model. Now it better represents his lore because he looks like he has a dead body instead of a skeleton for most and that he has a body instead of a black void for the players in China. This also means that players from China and the rest of the world can connect to the same champion instead of connecting to two different variants of the same champ, which is a really good clarity read, especially when players from one region spectate games from other regions, especially competitive games.

It also has the bonus side effect of Riot having to do less work when updating Karthus.