A girl who once dated one of Riot’s employees accused the company of stealing her appearance for the image of Serafina, a character in League of Legends. At the same time, the studio’s designer previously said that he was inspired by his wife.Artist Stephanie Dorris shared her story in a blog on Medium.
In the post, she told her version of events in detail and explained why, in her opinion, the heroine was copied from her, and Riot illegally makes money on her image.
How did it all start?Last year, Stephanie started a relationship with one of the Riot employees (instead of his real name, she calls him “John”).
Even then, he joked several times that he would like to draw a character inspired by her.
According to Stephanie, several sketches of skins for the heroine Ari were as if copied from her. However, the girl did not attach any importance to this. They continued to communicate and play together in League of Legends.
This year Riot presented a new champion, a singer named Serafina. Then the girl thought that this heroine is too similar to her.
What do Stephanie and Serafina have in common?The artist believes that the name of the heroine of League of Legends is consonant with her name.
- The pink color of her hair, the frame of her glasses and the angles of some of the images prompted Stephanie to think about the similarity.
- Just like Stephanie, the virtual heroine has a cat with whom she often poses for pictures.
- Stephanie remembered sending “John” some of her drawings.
- In her opinion, they are very similar to the art that is published on behalf of Serafina.”I’m sick of the idea that a marketing team in Los Angeles is trying to sell a product and creates an account of a “girl” who coincidentally looks like me, talks like me, and draws like me,” Stephanie writes.
Stephanie plans to sueThe girl believes that the character having her facial features and character negatively affects her state of mind.
According to her, strangers regularly write to her about her similarity to Serafina.
At the same time, Stephanie blames not her ex-boyfriend, but Riot itself. He believes that the company is responsible for creating the character and can now enrich itself at the expense of her image.
That is why, before publishing her post, Stephanie consulted with lawyers and now intends to sue the developers.
What did Riot say?In response to a request from Stephanie’s lawyer, the company said that the girl’s claims were unfounded.
Her ex-boyfriend has not worked at Riot for more than a year and has never taken part in the creation of characters.
At the same time, the company stated that it “takes seriously all allegations of misappropriation” of other people’s images and works and invited Stephanie’s lawyer to further discuss the problem.
It also turned out that the image of Serafina was based on a completely different person. Jeevun Sidhu, an employee of Riot and the chief designer of this champion, said on Twitter at the end of October that his wife served as inspiration for the heroine.
This is what the wife of the Riot designer looks likeAlso on the topic:
- A Russian indie developer has accused several companies of registering the rights to his WorldBox gameAfter a wave of scandals, Riot Games will launch its own ethics committee
- Russian RocketBrush Studio accused GamePack Studio of appropriating other people’s works
- Is there any news?
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