Ain’t no party like a Chinese party cause the Chinese Party they don’t stop.
You can make some noise, then the Commie Boys, will show up and make you stop.
They will make you, STOP STOP! (x4)
Ah, yes. There is nothing more exciting than knowing that, at any moment and for any reason, the Chinese boot will come stomping down on you when you play one of their games. In this case, the red square with the five yellow stars in the upper right corner-branded boot has come for League of Legends and Valorant players as an update to the Terms of Service for Chinese-owned Riot Games now allows players to be punished for “off-platform conduct” by the devs.
Which comes as no surprise.
The ToS update was announced on the official website with the post explaining that the updates are to “…ensure we’re evolving with games and the content ecosystem to make the best possible experience for our players and creators.” The post went on to focus on four of these changes which “apply to the creator community” and are as follows,
“1) ‘Off-Platform conduct’ and behavior connected to our IP is now subject to our Terms of Service.
2) Content that promotes breaking our Terms of Service, specifically sponsorships for and content around boosting services and buying/selling accounts, is now subject to penalty.
3) Stream sniping is explicitly against our rules and players who do so may be penalized.
4) We’re starting to restrict access to all of a player’s Riot accounts for particularly serious violations of our Terms of Service.”
On the surface, some of the issues being focused on makes sense. Specifically, stream-sniping which is a bannable offense for a lot of games, mostly competitive online games and even Grand Theft Auto Roleplaying servers, and also streaming platforms such as Twitch. Other issues such as utilizing boosting services and the buying or selling of accounts makes sense as well. And, for these issues, a permanent ban from the game in which the violation takes place is justified.
But banning someone from all Riot Games which means League of Legends and Valorant? That sounds too harsh. Especially if the ban occurs over something that might not be bad or truly offensive.
The obvious question to ask is, what is covered under Riot’s Terms of Service? There are the standard things such as impersonating a Riot Games employee, cheating, boosting, harassing, , threatening, doxxing, etc. But we should focus on some of the points that could provide gray areas for the devs to abuse with especially the following four points,
“1) Violating any law, rule or regulation by or while using the Riot Services;
4) Harassing, stalking or threatening other players or Riot Games employees;
6) Engaging in any behavior which is objectionable or offensive to other players, including communications or conduct that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, misogynistic, prejudicial or racially, ethically, or otherwise objectionable;
10) Participating in any action which we reasonably believe does or may defraud any other player, including by scamming or social engineering;”
All four of these conditions provide gray areas for the devs to abuse, especially when staying inline when it comes to the Chinese Communist Party. The same CCP which has a stranglehold on the Chinese video game industry in what games are allowed to be sold under conditions such as adhering to strict guidelines of what is permissible in the game, the game can not show China in a bad light, and must be sold through a Chinese-owned business/based in China among other things.
One can look at the CCP banning Plague Inc back in 2020 as a great example. The simulation game was banned, presumably, because players could name a virus “Coronavirus” or “COVID” and have it originate in China which would be considered “illegal content” and a violation of its guidelines forbidding content that casts China in a bad frame. Despite the fact that China, as one of the most populated countries with very densely populated areas, would be an ideal place for a virus to quickly spread.
Granted, Plague Inc.’s unjustified banning was in China. However, in an editorial published July 2020 discussing the disclosure of Chinese involvement and ownership in video games, we pointed to a number of systems Riot Games implemented that could lead to further issues in Western gaming. Riot Games, which has been owned by Chinese mega conglomerate Tencent since 2011.
Back in 2018, Riot Games implemented its Anti-Addiction System (AAS) which allows the CCP to track players and give it the ability to kick them from a game. Not to mention that AAS also requires real-ID verification systems and disclosure of a person’s age. Then, in 2020, Riot Games releases an invasive anti-cheat system which has the same rights and privileges as an administration program on your PC. This anti-cheat system gives Riot games, Tencent, and the CCP unfettered access whenever they decide to do so as well as track every move you make, every word you type, and every sound you make.
They could be watching you.
Partial joking aside, one of the arguments, when it comes to Riot Games implementing these invasive tools, is that censorship would only happen in China and not in the United States. Yet, this has already happened and will most definitely occur even more with the update to Riot Games’ Terms of Service.
A great example of Americans being censored on the behalf of China revolved around the #FreeHongKong movement. Blizzard censored American citizens who showed support for Hong Kong and punished them even though Tencent, at the time, only had a 5% share in Activision Blizzard. In fact, #BoycottBlizzard gained prominence because of how the World of Warcraft developer handled the Free Hong Kong situation and support for the movement.
So it was only a matter of time before a Chinese-owned developer such as Riot Games would start taking more steps that would infringe on the rights, privacy, and free speech of Americans and everyone outside of China. To reiterate, Riot Games already has the software and tools in place for it to happen and to quickly ban and censor anyone they like for any reason they have.
If you think that your off-platform comments and actions won’t result in you getting banned from all of their games, then you haven’t been paying attention for the last 10 years. Riot Games’ updated ToS now gives them the ability to ban you for anything they deem “objectionable or offensive.” That will involve criticism not only of China, but criticism of what is labelled as the woke or progressive agenda and even politics because what you say will fall under their ToS guidelines.
With all of the examples of video game community managers and devs censoring their customers who have a difference of opinion, how is this not to be expected of Riot Games?
The question is, are you still going to keep playing the games Riot Games own and will you keep giving them your money? If your answer is yes, then you will have no right to complain when the banhammer comes for you if you make the wrong kind of comment or have the wrong kind of opinion and voice it on YouTube, X, Facebook, Rumble, Twitch, Bluesky, etc.
There are reasons why Western gamers should be boycotting Chinese games such as Black Myth Wukong (which had a list of banned talking points), Marvel Rivals, and Ananta. Because you are funding the CCP which is slowly tightening its grip on the gaming industry.
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