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- A woman who identifies as Stephanie claimed in a Medium article that she believes Seraphine, a new “League of Legends” video game character, is based on her.
- Stephanie’s claims are based on a variety of visual similarities between her and Seraphine, as well as an alleged relationship in 2019 with a former Riot Games employee.
- In a statement, Riot Games said it received a legal letter from Stephanie’s lawyer last month, and “confirmed that its claim to be the base of Seraphine was without merit.”
- A speech erupted following Stephanie’s post, with people attempting to refute Stephanie’s claims with a tweet that appeared to show Seraphine was based on another individual, though Riot Games claims no individual is. was the inspiration for Seraphine.
- Visit the Insider home page for more stories.
A woman who identified as Stephanie on Thursday said in tweets and a message on Medium that she believed the latest “League of Legends” video game character, Seraphine, may have been based on her.
In a Medium article titled “The Problem With Seraphine,” Stephanie says she thinks Seraphine is based on her, citing similar traits she shared with the character as well as a relationship she had with a former employee. of Riot Games in early 2019. The Company develops “League of Legends” and creates Seraphine.
—Step (@step_nie) November 12, 2020
Seraphine is already a controversial figure
Seraphine is already a controversial figure in the League of Legends community. A new champion of the in-game town of Piltover, she uses her song and her ability to hear souls in an attempt to heal the relationship between the towns of Piltover and Zaun. She uses technology powered by a hextech crystal, which works on the stolen souls of a race called Brackern, and can communicate with the soul inside her crystal. This tradition alone has made her a controversial figure.
Seraphine was featured as part of a social media campaign that made her feel like an influencer in something close to our world. In this universe, she quits her day job to pursue her dream as a singer and collaborate with the “League of Legends” pop group K / DA. The campaign was controversial given that Seraphine occasionally discuss their lack of self-confidence and sanity on social media, which leads some to accuse Riot Games of using these issues to foster a parasocial relationship between Seraphine and her fans.
Riot Games writer Bethany Higa, who wrote Seraphine’s tweets, told Polygon that much of Seraphine’s story came from her own struggles with self-doubt and impostor syndrome. . However, Creative Director Patrick Morales told Polygon that “we also recognize that the story we chose had an unintended impact outside of the story we were trying to tell.”
In her article on Medium, Stephanie explains her claim and the similarities that led her to believe that she may have been the basis of Seraphine.
In the post, Stephanie writes that she was in a three-month relationship with a Riot Games employee in early 2019, whom she identifies as “John”. She claims John was not a character or skin designer at Riot, but spoke frequently about his work at the company and said he suggested “skins” (in-game cometic modifiers) that appeared to be based on Stephanie. . She wrote that John claimed he was involved in early K / DA skins, and that he “definitely hinted that he could influence the project.”
Stephanie writes in the post that when she accepted John’s invitation to visit Riot’s headquarters in Los Angeles, he had publicly posted and internally distributed an article she wrote about Piltover and Zaun, two cities that make part of the Seraphine tradition. She also claimed that he gave her posters and custom artwork that showed her as a “League” champion, which she showed in the post and said “Riot illustrators drew based on what he told them / showed them about me. “
Stephanie says in the post that their relationship ended when she canceled plans to see him, after which he blocked her.
Stephanie said she and Seraphine share a variety of similarities
In the post, Stephanie described some of the similarities that led her to believe that Seraphine may have been based on her. These similarities include their names, pink hair, photos of cats, doodle style, among other details.
Stephanie also alleged that “although John never explicitly discussed anything concrete, he did mention a K / DA related ‘surprise’ of something breaking free. [her] birthday, which is September 19th. Stephanie did not say when that comment was made, but said earlier in the post that the two had stopped talking by mid-2019. She then said that one of the only images from the Twitter account of Seraphine which has a date explicitly in the image itself is linked to September 19. This image was tweeted on September 19, 2020.
—Seraphine⭐? (@seradotwav) September 19, 2020
Riot Games has denied Stephanie’s claims that Seraphine could have been based on her
In Stephanie’s post, she wrote: “While I’m not sure exactly what happened with her development, I didn’t make this up – I hired a lawyer, and I’m seriously considering action. in justice.
In a statement provided to Insider, a spokesperson for Riot Games said, “We take all allegations of hijacking seriously and are immediately investigating [Stephanie’s] allegations after receiving a legal notice from his lawyer last month. We confirmed that his claim to be Seraphine’s base was unfounded, communicated it to his lawyer and invited him to discuss the facts further with us. We are still waiting for a response. “
The statement also states that Seraphine was “created by Riot Games and was not based on any individual, including [Stephanie]”, And that the former Riot Games employee Stephanie referred to” left Riot over a year ago and was in a department and role that has no input into the creative design process. “
Insider has redacted mentions of Stephanie’s last name at the request of Riot Games and given that it is not public on any of its own social media.
“We believe Stephanie and stand behind her. I’m glad she told her story,” Mark Jaffe of TorMark Law, the lawyer representing Stephanie, told Insider. “As Riot Games has pointed out, I have been in contact with the company’s lawyer and cannot disclose the content of our conversations.”
Stephanie’s allegations sparked backlash and speeches on social media
Stephanie’s claim that Seraphine could have been based on her has sparked both skepticism and support on social media. Many focused on an Oct. 29 tweet from Riot Games senior game designer Jeevun Sidhu, whose Twitter bio says he worked on Seraphine. In the tweet he said, “Seraphine is a star who makes everyone around her shine a little bit more. It was very easy for me to capture in her gameplay, as I can shine brighter being around @ RiotWhiskies every day. Thanks to my favorite person in the world for the inspiration. “
Jeevun Sidhu (JeevunSidhu) October 29, 2020
@RiotWhiskies, whose bio lists a donut emoji next to Sidhu’s handle, recently posted Seraphine cosplay pics on Twitter.
Recent quote tweets from Sidhu’s tweet show him being exploited in comments on Stephanie’s tweets about the situation, either in arguments with other Twitter users on the validity of its claims or direct response to Stéphanie herself.
Stephanie seems to have responded to these responses on Twitter“, Referring to the Riot Games statement and writing,” it is strange that it is not ‘based on any individual’ when people who disagree post … people they are on. is based “.
Janelle Wavell-Jiminez, founder of Stellari and former “League of Legends” product manager, also posted a thread on Stephanie’s claims.
“Having been a head start on skins, but no longer at Riot: no one on the champion / skin team would take the love interest of a random Rioter and use it as the basis for a million dollar business decision . It’s annoying that a guy from Riot tried to mislead her about what he could do, ” Wavell-Jiminez wrote on Twitter.
Riot Games has been the subject of similar allegations in the past
EuroGamer reported in 2017 that Edgar Davids, a former Dutch football player, won a lawsuit against Riot Games that year over the company appearing to use his likeness as a character skin in the game. The lawsuit allegedly referred to a tweet from a Riot staff member who said the “Striker Lucian” skin was inspired by Davids.
The company was also criticized in the second half of the 2010s following a 2018 report by Kotaku in which current and former employees at the time alleged a culture of sexism within the company.
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