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League of Legends

League writer for Seraphine’s Twitter account responds to backlash

Published: 8/Nov/2020 0:03 Updated: 16/Jan/2021 18:04

by Alan Bernal
Riot Games

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Seraphine

The Riot Games writer behind Seraphine’s Twitter account clarified the intentions of the project behind the League of Legends character after it was hit with massive backlash for posts on social media.

From updates about self-acceptance, to depression, and regaining self-confidence, Seraphine posted content that would normally be seen in someone’s regular Twitter blog.

Expect, people were bashing Riot for touching on these aspects with the ultimate goal of selling people on the story of a fictional character and her in-game cosmetics.

The person behind Seraphine’s account, Riot writer Bethany ‘ceruhi’ Higa responded to all of the hate that permeated from the project.

“I want to clarify that my intention was simply to write an interactive story about a girl who pursues her dreams,” she wrote. “There was no board of execs scheming to create a ‘relatable’ girl or capitalize on mental illness.”

Before Seraphine was even properly announced as an upcoming League of Legends character, the company decided to take a unique approach of introducing her to the wider online community.

Higa said her goal was to promote a story of “empathy, sincerity, and kindness” through Seraphine’s journey from rags to riches.

This was made apparent with the progression of updates that showed her as a hopeful artist to ultimately becoming a collaborator with League of Legends’ pop star group K/DA months later. But the execution wasn’t as pristine as the Riot team hoped for.

“Social media is a new medium for storytelling, with unpredictable real-world impact. There are things we learned about the process, and are still learning. But we always took our responsibility to her fans seriously,” Higa said.

Seraphine’s release has been a bit shaky inside of the game, her lore, and outside of League with her social media account, but the company has been trying to make amends in all facets. Higa implored people not to resort to hate in the fallout of the project.

“Please don’t harass any of the people who worked on this project or any of her fans,” she said. “I understand it can feel good to take a shot at a fictional character or a faceless corporation, but these words hurt real people.”

She did say that Seraphine’s planned story is “ending soon,” which will close the chapter on Riot’s latest champion release for League of Legends.

Overwatch

Shadowlands Mercy skin for Overwatch is the crossover we need for BlizzCon

Published: 17/Jan/2021 6:10

by Andrew Amos
Blizzard Entertainment

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Mercy

Blizzard certainly isn’t shy of a crossover or two in their games. Hell, Heroes of the Storm is the ultimate crossover between all their franchises. However, we could always do with more, and this World of Warcraft Shadowlands-inspired Mercy skin would be perfect for Overwatch.

There’s no shortage of crossovers in Overwatch. Almost every hero in the game has a skin based off one of Blizzard’s various other franchises, from World of Warcraft to StarCraft 2. There’s even a Blizzard World map.

However, that doesn’t mean another few won’t hurt. With Blizzard’s selection of IP forever expanding, the limits on these crossovers don’t really exist.

Blizzard Entertainment
Sure, Mercy has a lot of skins in Overwatch, but what’s one more if it’s a crossover this good?

Most recently, that’s been seen in World of Warcraft. With the game’s latest expansion, Shadowlands, being a massive hit with players throughout the tail-end of 2020 and into 2021, there’s definitely room to introduce a new WoW skin or two to Overwatch.

Enter Dark Val’kyr Mercy. Modelled after the Val’kyr of the Scourge, who were first introduced to the franchise back in 2007 in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, are almost the anti-thesis of Mercy’s kit as a healer. However, she does look like them.

With a few cosmetic twists to her armor, Emilie Sanda and Zach Fischer put together a skin worthy of being ported over into Overwatch. Amplified by community figure ‘OverwatchNaeri’, the design has been adored by thousands.

The timing couldn’t be any more apt. With BlizzConline just around the corner in February 2021, a few crossover skins from other Blizzard franchises into Overwatch wouldn’t go astray.

Naeri has the same thought ⁠— “BlizzCon 2021 is coming soon! It would be great if [a] Shadowlands collaboration skin was released on Overwatch this time at BlizzConline,” she said.

Given Overwatch 2 could potentially be further delayed to 2022, more new content for the base game would go a long way. One can only hope that Blizzard already has something similar cooking in the back for Mercy ⁠— or maybe another Shadowlands crossover for Overwatch.