Today League of Legends lost a legend. Riotlyte, the main driving force behind Riot’s approach to toxicity has left the game company. In a statement on Twitlonger, Riotlyte broke the news, saying that “impossible problems have an irresistible allure to me, and I think it’s time for a new challenge.”
Riotlyte has always been a staple in the community, being the figurehead behind Riot’s move to make its game just a little bit nicer. On the League forums or the subreddit, players could ask the Riot gods why they had been given a ban, if they could just see their chat logs they could prove they weren’t being toxic. Sometimes a heavenly angel would appear and share his chat log in the comments. This became a popular meme, with players asking to get “smited.”
In his Twitlonger, Riotlyte says: “I’ve always believed that making League of Legends had to be a collaboration with the community. My friend Ghostcrawler and I have always said that passionate gamers, even angry ones, are gamers that care about the game--just like us. Whether you were in Wood 1 (damn matchmaking!!) or Challenger, we all want League to be the best possible game it can be. Being able to work on a game with such a passionate community has been an honor.”
My favorite Riotlyte quote came from a re/code article he wrote about his work on Riot’s Tribunal: “In the office, I still have a copy of a letter a boy wrote me after receiving in-game feedback from his peers about his usage of racial slurs: “Dr. Lyte, this is the first time someone told me that you should not say the ‘N’ word online. I am sorry and I will never say it again.” I remember forwarding this letter to the entire team, because this was the moment we realized that we had started a journey that would end beyond games.”
We will miss you Riotlyte, League is a better place because of you.
