Terminal GOTIS ahead abandon hope all ye who enter here.
A woman named Stephanie has alleged that a new League of Legends character with a similar appearance and name, Seraphine, is based on her. At the crux of her allegation is a brief relationship she had with a Riot employee in 2019, an employee who she believes borrowed details from her likeness and life for the fictional KD/A pop star.
Riot denies the allegation. "Seraphine was independently created by Riot Games and was not based on any individual," wrote the company in a statement emailed to PC Gamer. "Additionally, the former employee [Stephanie] is referring to left Riot more than a year ago and was in a department and role that has no input whatsoever into the creative design process."
(Note: We have agreed to omit Stephanie's full name at the request of both her and Riot.)
In a Medium post published today, Stephanie shares a screenshot of text messages and recounts moments from a brief relationship with "John," a name she uses to obscure the identity of the former Riot employee. Stephanie says that she and John met in person twice, and otherwise chatted and played League of Legends over the course of three months in 2019. During that brief relationship, John allegedly brought up ideas for skins for her favorite League of Legends character, Ahri, that were based on her. When she visited him for a tour of Riot's headquarters in Los Angeles, he also gave her artwork by Riot illustrators depicting her as Ahri, which she thought was "strange" given how briefly they'd known each other. Additionally, she says that John implied that he could influence the KD/A project.
Shortly after Stephanie's visit to Riot HQ, she cancelled future plans to see John and expressed to him that he was moving too fast. At that point, "he ended things and blocked me," she writes.
When September of this year came around, Stephanie was reminded of something John had said in 2019: That a K/DA surprise would be revealed on her birthday. On that day, an illustration of Seraphine was posted to the character's Twitter account to announce that she was "working" with KD/A (Riot posts on behalf of some of its characters as if they're real people). It all seemed to Stephanie like more than a coincidence.
The pink-haired character looks similar to Stephanie, and poses with a cat in illustrations that are somewhat like Stephanie's photos with her cat, which she says she sent John in 2019. Stephanie also notes that the character's drawings look similar to her own artwork, and that the character comes from Piltover and Zaun, regions in League of Legends lore that she wrote an essay about—an essay she shared with John, and that she says he printed out and framed in Riot's office.
A woman named Stephanie has alleged that a new League of Legends character with a similar appearance and name, Seraphine, is based on her. At the crux of her allegation is a brief relationship she had with a Riot employee in 2019, an employee who she believes borrowed details from her likeness and life for the fictional KD/A pop star.
Riot denies the allegation. "Seraphine was independently created by Riot Games and was not based on any individual," wrote the company in a statement emailed to PC Gamer. "Additionally, the former employee [Stephanie] is referring to left Riot more than a year ago and was in a department and role that has no input whatsoever into the creative design process."
(Note: We have agreed to omit Stephanie's full name at the request of both her and Riot.)
In a Medium post published today, Stephanie shares a screenshot of text messages and recounts moments from a brief relationship with "John," a name she uses to obscure the identity of the former Riot employee. Stephanie says that she and John met in person twice, and otherwise chatted and played League of Legends over the course of three months in 2019. During that brief relationship, John allegedly brought up ideas for skins for her favorite League of Legends character, Ahri, that were based on her. When she visited him for a tour of Riot's headquarters in Los Angeles, he also gave her artwork by Riot illustrators depicting her as Ahri, which she thought was "strange" given how briefly they'd known each other. Additionally, she says that John implied that he could influence the KD/A project.
Shortly after Stephanie's visit to Riot HQ, she cancelled future plans to see John and expressed to him that he was moving too fast. At that point, "he ended things and blocked me," she writes.
When September of this year came around, Stephanie was reminded of something John had said in 2019: That a K/DA surprise would be revealed on her birthday. On that day, an illustration of Seraphine was posted to the character's Twitter account to announce that she was "working" with KD/A (Riot posts on behalf of some of its characters as if they're real people). It all seemed to Stephanie like more than a coincidence.
The pink-haired character looks similar to Stephanie, and poses with a cat in illustrations that are somewhat like Stephanie's photos with her cat, which she says she sent John in 2019. Stephanie also notes that the character's drawings look similar to her own artwork, and that the character comes from Piltover and Zaun, regions in League of Legends lore that she wrote an essay about—an essay she shared with John, and that she says he printed out and framed in Riot's office.
