League Players Are Getting Weird... Again.

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[@nomoretwitterhandles]

I'm gonna be real, I think this whole Heartsteel thing is a lot more wholesome and innocent in comparison to Seraphine's twitter fiasco. As someone else mentioned, we did not KNOW Seraphine wasn't a real person until her champion released; outsiders saw her as an anonymous persona, and with the uprising of VTuber popularity, it's not that unusual to see creators hide like that. With Heartsteel, we already know who is in it, and coming from the Riot Music account, we know it's not some random strangers trying to start an anonymous career. Basically I see the Heartsteel tweets/replies as innocent fun. Obviously it's a marketing strategy, but it's still funny and enjoyable. Seraphine having a whole personality pre-release made her super annoying, because it wasn't "extra" information on a pre-existing lore. I see her tweets and I cringe. I see the Heartsteel tweets and I cringe but I can at least smile or laugh at it because, at the end of the day, we know it's for shits and giggles. Plus the idea of Yone not knowing how to set a Discord icon is just hilarious. EDIT: As for the crazy fans, I gotta be real, they'd exist anywhere no matter what. Even if the marketing was outside of twitter, it would still make its way there via the crazy fans. Seraphine was parasocial relationship bait 100%, but Heartsteel genuinely feels like a roleplay situation. Internet addicts have been, and always will be, total nutjobs. But that shouldn't take away from the fun all of us stable people are having.

[@azizulfikri8392]

I mean I would treat Heartsteel Twitter account much like Wendy's Twitter PR person. both are fun

[@arnauzer]

Necrit being scared because of tame parasocials. Meanwhile, I've seen some Vtubers's chats and god it can be soooooooo much worse.

[@gowen7889]

agree

[@laughaway7955]

A Vtuber YT live got recommended to me once, I clicked to see what it's about, then I saw a 100$ superchat. Nah.

[@ssnekky]

Vox’s fanbase is terrifying

[@sonnenblume4]

On one hand, being in the Roleplay community, this is not unusual in the slightest. As long that playing along means you are self-aware... But, on another... we all know people are delusional. Especially league players. XD

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Yeah.

[@sonnenblume4]

@@tonypeppermint5329 hello sir shark

[@agentarmonus8433]

I'm here to watch the whale and shark meet.

[@clamkin]

Yeah, if you can pretend that naruto will be proud of you if you do something good I honestly think it's still pretty ok, like you're just doing it out of fun

[@jadedplover1851]

lowkey reminds me of the comments on hentai pages with people pretending to be the character shown

[@HipyoTech]

I really don't see the issue with riot roleplaying their own characters and fans enjoying it. It's kind of like a silly dnd campaign. Only seraphine mains would take it too far *edit* forgot kayn mains exist

[@itsgonnabeokay9341]

Yeah, I really don't understand what the problem is about XD. Ah, I forgot it's league community...

[@joannelg06]

100% agree

[@Asurakos]

Hello Hipyo!

[@Imafish-sy4im]

This

[@AzureRoxe]

Of course the people who are sick enough to form these parasocial relationships would say it's fine.

[@DrunkMonkey-gx8oy]

League players + Twitters users + K-Pop fans, what could go wrong, after all these are 3 of the most stable types of people on the internet, especially when they are put together

[@OriginalnaPL]

😂😂😂

[@howepellin]

Indeed bwahahahaha😂

[@Azh_Tiel]

Never thought about that combination, lol

[@nailinthefashion]

Omg not the venn diagram of that being basically one circle lol

[@Archeronus]

You obtain the purest form of stupidium

[@Goodheartless]

Biggest difference with seraphine was that we had no clue what she was beforehand. Heartsteel is comprised of champs from a video game that we’ve known have been a video game. Also Heartsteel didn’t try to pull “UwU I’m struggling mentally with this” bullshit

[@untitled834]

why is it so bad for seraphine to have slight anxiety about performing live? It's completely normal and all fictional characters have their struggle yall just wanna hate

[@Goodheartless]

@@untitled834I can’t tell if this is satire or not. Assuming it isn’t, the issue I have with it is that Seraphine was extremely dubious as a marketing ploy. Asking for help from fans to get them invested in her as a person, not as a product, can lead to issues with perception. To cap it off, she launched with an ultimate skin. Do you understand how awful that looks? That they’ve had this character interacting and asking for mental help from fans and then to have it culminate in the most expensive skin tier in league?

[@eduardothomazl]

@@untitled834 I suggest you try reading about parasocial relationships, or you will stay missing the entire point about what happened.

[@Frostile]

@@untitled834 As someone with anxiety how the fuck am I supposed to empathise with a cartoon character that was purely made for marketing by a brand? Its condescending, not "just wanna hate". There is alot more to the Seraphine marketing strategy than just this, the hate isn't just "she was an Instagram character".

[@alessandroseverino8222]

@@untitled834 it prey on people with allready an hard time. People with depression want to relate with people for not feeling like scum or so. Pulling said group string for promotional purpose is a low blow. Is that hard to understand why the parasocial acting of seraphine twitter account is way more toxic than this one? Sure, they kinda pull up the trope of the usual K-Pop band with their K-pop fans (wich is riddled with parasocial), but alteast aren't targeting people wich get so far to set themself off... (Sucide prevention hotlines exist for said groups, the one with mental struggles / problems)

[@gochu1202]

It's not a "League players" problem, it's pretty much the whole generation who's becoming parasocial

[@gamensch2629]

definitely many in this generation :/

[@YoungSweezy]

Facts, you can see the generation shift in Pentakill to Hearhtsteel

[@Iago.Carvalho]

Yeah

[@Sh0nX]

It's not Riot's problem, people are stupid and not know what is real and virtual

[@5AMACE]

bruh, it's a joke, people know the characters aren't real. You're like the people who comment "this is a show" to someone who analyzes a character as if they were real

[@raegamer01]

I personally think the pretending to be the champs is fine and will make alot of these champ mains happy. the only issue is u gotta deal w the freaks that r weirdly obsessed w the the champs on a diff level... edit: btw this comment is more towards the band than seraphine. wat they did w her was stupid and wrong. but how they r going about it w the band (atleast atm) is fine w them just replying and signing it

[@alphenhousplaysgames4565]

it gets bad when it gets on a personal level. i always joke that i suck sett off so i can take him in the back later, but i ain't gonna talk to the sett about my "feelings" and shit. that's just creepy, wrong, and the fact that the account is someone who isn't sett is the worst. this boyband is probably just one or two late 30 year olds. why would you want a 35 year old no hair kayn to respond.

[@AzureRoxe]

I guess it was the "freaks" that pretended Seraphine had mental health issues......oh wait no, that was Riot themselves.

[@raegamer01]

@alphenhousplaysgames4565 exactly like it's only a problem when ppl get way too deep into the role play and either act like they r real to a even more deeper level or just get flat put weird spamming for kayn to reply

[@raegamer01]

@AzureRoxe well that was w seraphine. they obviously arnt doing that w heartsteal and we just gotta hope they keep it like that. if they do the only issue is the weird simps

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Yeah.

[@NormalGayBro]

I think a big part of the issue with the Seraphine one is that the character wasn't out beforehand. Everyone in Heartsteel is already out.

[@azizulfikri8392]

like phel and Sett?

[@_fynn_1436]

in asian gacha games its common that the game tries to build a parasocial relationship with the player and one of the characters. just normal marketing at this point

[@rommdan2716]

That's horrible!

[@Entropy67]

Shows that Tencents ownership really does have an impact on what's done in Riot... I know that they have an agreement to not interfere, but the Chinese government does not care. Hope that Tencent doesn't dig their claws too deep lol I was looking forward to the MMO.

[@kitnal4143]

​@@rommdan2716it isn't like people aren't aware they aren't real. It is all fun because no one is seriously expecting the "real" Sett to hit them up

[@Iago.Carvalho]

@@Entropy67 AND YOU BELIVED that tgey wouldn't intefere? Haha

[@Michael.Gunner]

Which is weird, and should not at all be normalized

[@GalaxySheep]

Normally I agree with most things Necrit talks on but this is one of the rare occasion I am don't. I found these interactions fine and wholesome, they are like fans hyping their favs, bias up. I don't really think this is really an issue since most realize that these are literal fictional characters. Also the comments are really more like roleplaying if anything. Parasocial relationships in the anime community and kpop stans is far more worse and should be the focus honestly. They managed to cross both digital and physical boundaries somehow.

[@varimatra2088]

It seems like the old "pick this minuscle problem and make it in a 20 min videos like it is a big deal" shit

[@ShadowNeverDie]

On one hand you are actually correct. On the other hand though, if things become as delusional as it happens in the Anime or even worse, Kpop community, things become really bad for Riot Games as they pretty much Shut downed Seraphine's Account and people (including me for a actual good reason because I think these Tweets were written amazingly) were actually sad. I still remember someone tweeting about being super sad that her Account got shut down because they had a actual person to relate to and now that is gone bla bla bla... So yeah League Players can be really Parasocial and even worse: Connect with Accounts who are going to Shut down way too much.

[@soap_soap]

finally someone notices. I got jumped on Twitter for bringing up the fact that apparently it’s not a problem when it’s not seraphine lol.

[@sokwubz567]

Yeah but the Boyband were champions before, Seraphine was teased like that without being an established champion before, even then it's still cringe but maybe people are accepting of it just because they are already established

[@turtlefoood7831]

What the guy above me said

[@rehmanrohanyone2147]

@@sokwubz567 so what? Seraphine is still ok. The only thing that is bad is her lore. Which is getting fixed. Everything is good the design too. Even if some trolls say it DOSENT look like runterra

[@abubakarmohamedsoderportgy9327]

What the guy above the guy said.

[@sokwubz567]

@@turtlefoood7831 the boyband hasn't used the "mental illness card yet". MAYBE that's why people aren't criticism them?.

[@DisastrousCake]

I think the issue with Seraphine or at least my issue with the Seraphine situation was the deception. People thought they were interacting with a quirky musician who wanted to share her music while remaining anonymous through a virtual persona. There are many musicians who did this and do this, so it isn't crazy to imagine. However, they were just interacting with the marketing team of one of the biggest corporations in gaming since Seraphine never actually made any reference or had any indication that she was tied to League or its world. This was already bad and made the sympathy-baiting even worse when Seraphine would bring up her fictional mental health struggles. K-pop companies exploit parasocial relationships all the time. It's not a secret. In my opinion, if the fans are in on it and self aware then it's generally okay. However, it's a hard balance to maintain. I think the "crazy" tweets you're reading out from Twitter aren't serious. What may seem "scary" to you is just how K-pop fans talk online. I say that as someone who follows a few K-pop groups and interact with those fans online. No one is literally going "delulu" because of Heartsteel. It's just people having fun and being excited about the new boy band. So far, I think Riot has reached a good balance of having those fun interactions between the characters and the fans while not getting too weird about it. Although, I can see how it can be weird from the point of view of someone who doesn't follow K-pop.

[@ThreshtheWeebWarden]

It is a bit of a problem when you can barely distinguish the line, and if these people really are just in on it and acting out a “persona”

[@janah6473]

You're telling me there really is people who thought she wasn't going to be a champion? LOL

[@SarahMK1990]

@@janah6473 In the very beginning there were 0 hints that the Seraphine account is connected to LoL, the first hints came later. Which is a reason why several people freaked out afterwards

[@marspacebun]

Thank you! As a kpop fan to me these tweets are very clearly self aware and in on it. It's all for fun.

[@goldendoqqs7685]

few of my friends in high school were big into kpop and talked like that yeee but they were aware. a lot of these tweets just feel like im reading things they said out loud in person excitedly xD

[@seph123]

its not really that bad if they were interacting with people... its a way to connect to audience as a fictional character that should exist in real world universe of league... Seraphine might have lean too much emotionally with the players ... its actually like Hatsune miku and her songs... but this fictional characters sharing their personality through teasers is not bad... they were building hype... its all role play and people was just sailing along with them.. having fun that they could interact with league champions...

[@jadedplover1851]

lowkey reminds me of the comments on hentai pages with people pretending to be the character shown

[@battlebots1]

​@@jadedplover1851🤨🤨🤨

[@Skerathh]

@@jadedplover1851 bro

[@Gloomistic]

I honestly don't think it was too bad. I know some people took it badly but I enjoyed it. Spoke to her once and I have it bookmarked. Was chill, but ik it's not real I guess and took it for what i was, you know?

[@DefinetelyNOTtheFeds]

stop using ellipsis so much💀💀💀💀

[@popington4674]

Personally I really enjoyed following the Seraphine lore on Twitter before her release. It was cool to see a character from a game get some development outside of that game. The emotional manipulation was…. A bit much… but at the end of the day it still made sense because that’s how her in game character was supposed to act. *cough* The issue for me is that once she was released, her twitter account was entirely abandoned, and her in game character was entirely different than her Twitter personality. (Always happy and even arrogant vs Twitter’s anxious and humble) They built up this whole saga to completely trash it once she made them money with KDA….and her getting an ultimate skin on release because people were already attached to her was downright abusive lol. At the end of the day, making fictional characters feel real is totally okay and fun. If crazy people get too parasocial with it, that’s on them for ruining a fun thing. But what pisses me off is when these “real” fake characters just fall off the face of the earth once their extremely expensive skins have been sold. Either maintain these characters forever, or don’t even start them. DO NOT only maintain these characters for a month or two to sell a skin and then POOF!!!

[@naanless]

when will they finally do what we have all been asking for and put vel'koz in a kpop band

[@Art51151]

Because that just cra-cra, no matter how funny and creative that is Rito will never go for it they take the music bizz very seriously no matter the demand and its really sad and unfair.

[@keyronkathrynekathrynkeyron]

Nafiri malp... reksai

[@PlanetDiablo16967]

​@abdiellopez7148 I dunno about "unfair". Riot tries to give skins to champions that fit the theme. Non-humanoid champions just don't fit the musical skin genre aesthetics.

[@SpookSkellington]

@@PlanetDiablo16967 Speak for yourself, i can totally see an EDM band where Vel'koz uses his tentacles on a turntable/synth. Hell i would pay good money for a "void" band skinline of monster champs playing club bangers.

[@alphenhousplaysgames4565]

and reksai onlyfans

[@omega7057]

I mean, this just looks like classic roleplaying, those are the kind of questions you would see in those old blogs where people would ask a fictional character something and then the artist that owns the blog would answer with some silly comic of the character responding back

[@weirdokate8840]

nothing wrong with lovin some fictional characters. seraphine was introduced on twt, heartsteel's champs are already well known league characters. At least we KNOW this is a marketing ploy, this time we can willingly enjoy it

[@jacie7646]

i don't think this marketing campaign is the problem... i think the people who are overly obsessed with the characters are and they need help.

[@magical571]

i think this time some people like you or necrit are taking excited comments way too seriously. Seraphine was a whole other can of worms with pretending to be a musician before being announced as a champion, plus the whole mockery made out of mental health through her.

[@Kikolek]

league of legends players trying not to start a drama about some funny promotional tweets (impossible)

[@MioMillefeuille]

I like to ship myself or my OC with other characters I like/love, but geez louise, people need to be able to have a balance of reality and fiction lol

[@Evansane]

"I keep putting the Y there because it's League of Legends" Yep... I think every league player read that in our heads 😂

[@noem.7430]

here in latin american south, there was a guy that had a parasocial relationship with jhin for no reason at all. The guy would post weekly hand draw comics called: "Jhin and i", that were about his life with jhin. Riot didn't play into this so my point is: there are people that will build parasocial relationships with anything. Those people are sick and need help, so no matter what riot does, those people exist....

[@OPGardevoir]

That's exactly what I was thinking, Necrit needs to understand that no matter what riot does there will always be overly-obsessed fans and that it's not a riot problem it's our entire generation

[@spiritwildfiregaming1975]

Yea people tend to forget that some people are like this no matter what. It's not a good thing, but it's a fact.

[@tole3590]

least deranged jhin player 💀

[@mcsy98]

ngl i get it

[@tkraid2575]

Ngl, I'm a big Jhin fangirl (I've bought a handful of his skins), but even I don't cross that line 😂

[@roaktornokar4032]

EVERY fandom has their members who overreact at everything they see, so I don't see the problem with the roleplay. The thing is that we just have to ignore those who cross the line and that's it, if we pay them attention they''ll continue for as long as the attention is there

[@burdenking]

RIOT (2024): That almost got out of hand, let's avoid doing anything that might trigger some of our fans Parasocial tendencies. RIOT (2028): "We have prepared a nice surprise for all our fans, After collaborating with ChatGPT for nearly 4 years...."

[@omegaminoseer4539]

Dude, that would make them so much money, especially if it was an Ahri Chatbot. I'm surprised Riot HASN'T done so already.

[@spiritwildfiregaming1975]

@@omegaminoseer4539 True. Roleplaying bots are all the rage.

[@burdenking]

I bet people would whale on Mtx's that would allow them to gift things to their mains. Not that they aren't already doing so.

[@q38333]

Why does this issue warrant such excessive concern? You’re essentially conflating personal problems of a GROUP of people into a collective matter, when they should just be left alone and separated. Many other people derive genuine enjoyment from engaging in this type of parasocial or experimental online roleplay involving fictional characters. It serves as an intriguing and innovative approach to delve into the rich backstory and distinct personalities of these characters. This form of engagement has been prevalent since the digital age, across various mediums and platforms. Your portrayal of the creation of OCs and their dynamic manifestation through clever use of real-life platforms as something reprehensible appears disproportionate and quite silly. This phenomenon hardly appears novel or groundbreaking to me. Again let the weird people be weird and yap about on their own. Arguments like this is why we cant have nice things. there doesn’t need to be an issue here.

[@lorenhikaru]

As long as the players/fans are aware that they’re fiction AND NOT CROSS the line, it’s okay. And I won’t be surprised if Heartsteel would have their own account on their comeback like what K/DA did. I’m guilty that I interacted myself with some of Seraphine’s twitter posts when she was talking about her struggles. And honestly all I thought about the whole thing was that I’m “participating with their lore” like in her perspective, we’re all just NPC’s interacting with her in social media. What caught me off guard was there are actual people who obsess over her to the point they’re CONVINCED she is real. Riot could’ve easily avoided this when Seraphine posted more character development, optimistic, self-improvement posts instead of relatable posts.

[@Zinz778]

I honestly don't see it.. what kind of negative effects could actually come off stuff like this? It's just twitter people being.. twitter people.

[@keganrodhe8625]

I know it's kinda weird but I still think it's a cool way to give an introduction to the band. It will change how the fans look at them at release as they will already know how the creator somewhat felt they should be and act. Of course this if abused will be horrible but doing it from time to time isn't bad, just trying to always differ between real emotions by fans and fake emotions through jokes

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

The problem is: It's not the actual band behind them. It's pretty much a fake band that is being presented while the real people behind it are ignored.

[@FestiveShark]

Imo one of the biggest issues with Seraphine was that it was never entirely apparent that it was just marketing, and they later revealed that the version of Seraphine people had gotten attached to was going to be the 30€ skin, and not the base champion. In the case of Heartsteel, I feel like it's always been 100% apparent that it was just a marketing exercise meant to sell the new skins. I'm a big fan of creative marketing like this, and finding a balance between keeping the characters believable and fun, while also keeping it clear that it's all just meant to be advertisement is probably the biggest challenge/ethical question about it.

[@val3489]

... yeah, I'm sorry, but this is a non-issue. Even with Sera, I never understood the big deal. People knew she wasn't real from the start, that it was connected to a skin, that it was purely a marketing ploy... but they still played along for the fun of it. Some of her tweets were a bit too much, sure, but who fucking cares. As someone that has had to struggle all my life with the same issues Sera claimed to suffer, I never felt like my own issues were being minimized. It had nothing to do with me, and... once again: she's not real, so why even give a damn? If anything, I somewhat appreciated the fact that they were going as far as making Seraphine someone that could shed even more light to these problems. So videos like this just come across as quite gatekeepy to me. "We should be more open about mental health!... just not like that, or that, or that." I really don't know how to take these kind of opinions, because it really comes across like you're taking this kind of shit personal for some weird reason. And not just you: TBSkyen was also a complete hypocrite at the time when he'd say to leave people be, but then would go out of his way to publicly shame individual twitter accounts that were interacting with Sera's and, quite frankly, just minding their own business in a harmless fashion. And fair enough, parasocialism (is that the word?) is a fairly common problem with content creators, so I can see why it would bother people like you... but, at the same time, that's also why I can't see the issue here. It's clear these aren't real people, and we all know very well to what their identities are attached to. If anyone gets too invested in clearly fictional characters, that's entirely on them. If these were real people then, sure, this would be a conversation worth having. But even then... there's always gonna be lonely folk that will get too much into these things, no matter how much distance you may keep from them. Fictional or not. It just is what it is. I don't know, man... This is so beyond harmless, I can't understand why this is even a conversation worth having. Let people enjoy things.

[@greyangel9875]

Literally that amazes me on how people make a a video just to try and hate on something as irrelevant as this like..... I hope this video get copy righted so he don't get that cash and see something real quick.

[@JTbutnotJT]

it will be my first time to say that to Necrit but not a fan of this video. nothing Riot did with Seraphine was a big deal. It was literally a roleplay account. You are just putting blame on them for not caring stupid people. Noone has to care about other peoples' stupidity. It was awesome and was one of the best marketing I ve ever seen. I wish they did the same with HeartSteel. You are virtue signalling the whole video "oww Riot should be careful there are sensitive people out there Riot is hurting them" like are you serious.

[@SpookSkellington]

Seeing people use twitter to me feels the same as seeing drug addicts. They all know it's shit and not good for them but they can't help themselves.

[@grimoireweiss5203]

Well there are social media addicts. Many people see their social media accounts as their life. I think many kids these days would think about suicide if you took away their access to it which doesn't sound good for society. Stuff like youtube, facebook and etc are great but I can live without them if I have to. Some people can't and it's a very bad sign.

[@xlarkan]

Same would go for people who watch those TikTok shorts or instagram/youtube shorts. Seeing people just absorbed by their screens and scrolling through short videos, their brains probably not even registering the information its being fed, is such a fascinating sight to me.

[@Kagane1001]

I think posting this via Riot Music alone helps a lot to put up a clear barrier. Also, it is 100% transparent what's going on

[@gravewalker9162]

League community would implode if they learned about Vought having multiple social media accounts and fans of the show interacting with those.

[@Alacaelum]

Nah, if this goes off the rails i think is entirely on the people that get too attached. Dont get me wrong, i know how predatory this kind of thing goes in certain circles, and those are serious situations. Riot is a business, they sell stuff sure, but this is just a funny thing going, i understand that we should be aware of things like this being used to take advantage of vulnerable people, but if we stay afraid of every little problem we will never have fun with the possibilities that are around. If Riot tries to take advantage of this, ok... we jump on them as it is deserved, but if this goes out of control and Riot only made funny interactions... this is on the community for nothing having self control.

[@greyangel9875]

It never went of the rail lol. You know that's just a way for the incels to hate on seraphine right?? Seraphine twitter account marketing was unique and perfect.

[@xBlacksStarx]

I actually really like what they're doing. I think it's so cool and such a cool concept and way to bring the charcters to life and let the fans interact with the charcters.

[@pebbie510]

idk i might be wrong but ive seen tons of roleplays like that in communities and its usually light hearted and wholesome and everyone is self aware of it. people are blowing this and the syndra/nami thing out of proportions. while i think a few of the syndra/nami peeps got a little out of hand, most of the time it was ok. its really the league players that makes wholesome moments very toxic.

[@hjonkamgoose899]

here's why i think this heartsteel marketing is better(ish?) than the seraphine situation: i was new to league events and how they do marketing in 2020(?) when the whole thing went down and them setting up the seraphine account almost half a year before the release of the kda skins and regularly tweeting as if it was a real person behind the keyboard left me genuinely confused on if this was a real artist that they were collabing with to make the character seraphine or what was going on there. the heartsteel roleplay happening from the riot music account seems ok to a lot of people because it comes with the "riot music" label right over everything being said, it's clear that that is someone acting as a character where seraphine got a little too uncanny valley with trying to manufacture the mental health space and struggles of an indie artist trying to make it big. where seraphine felt more predatory because they were trying to make us feel for her like she's a real person, heartsteel feels more silly goofy nonsense, if that makes sense

[@greyangel9875]

Everything you said just show how awesome and unique seraphine marketing was. And how simple heartsteel is

[@kitnal4143]

​@greyangel9875 the issue with the Sera stuff was it was never clear it *was* marketing until very close to the actual release.

[@greyangel9875]

@@kitnal4143 I know. I was there for the whole thing. But it is not riots or Seraphine fault people assumed stuff

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@@greyangel9875 Yes it fucking is?! If someone you have known for an entire year turns out to be a CIA agent who has been observing you this entire time and pretending to be someone completely different, is that YOUR fault for assuming that that person was your actual friend?!

[@thepackingpacjack7767]

Riot: oh god! Why’d you do this again!? Marketing team: We want Ships! Riot: oh god!

[@AzureRoxe]

Riot: We want money. That's the REAL reason.

[@Webo250]

Don't let the Seraphine main subreddit see this video

[@ETJoePhone]

Don't worry, they're too busy getting their champion butchered by riot.

[@clovercry]

​@@ETJoePhonewe are also busy buying all her skins 🤗

[@bosscoolaid1015]

Riot games: We must curb stomp toxicity!! Also Riot: *once a year summons one of the most toxic communities that can rival League itself: Kpop stans

[@baronfuath5872]

at least league fans stop at gamer words and sometimes occasional swatting. K-pop stans would commit war-crimes in defense of their Kpop group of choice.

[@TheFainter94]

with seraphine riot lost the oportunity to have their own "vtuber" type character just imagine that

[@MarigoldAW]

I don't think it's a problem for Riot to roleplay their characters outside of League on places like Twitter inherently. I think it just became really really weird feeling when you realize the character isn't real and just an employee trying to write something that feels relatable. I think it would be funny if they just tweeted about like "band updates" in the form of "Another day and Aphelios still hasn't said a word" or something along those lines.

[@nyukowo]

I believe that most people are aware of the roleplay and simply find it enjoyable to interact. These simulated fan relationships are nothing new. For example, in Japan, with characters like Hatsune Miku and other vocaloids, you can see a dedicated fanbase supporting them even though they aren't real. Hatsune Miku even has her own concerts and such (And I would love to attend one myself). As long as you remember it's not real, it's perfectly fine to still enjoy it :)

[@g_slayer_4368]

we really have to put the parasocial argument to rest. Seraphines marketing wasn't predatory nor was it damaging. Her comments about her anxiety going on stage was not this mental health baiting that people make it out to be. They are quite literally roleplaying as the character , if an indie artist got pulled up to the big stage don't you think they'd be anxious ? Maybe think they can't do it? Which was exactly what the Seraphine account posted. It was also a smart way to meet the character considering she is a *pop star* , you literally got to watch her account grow in real time just like an actual musician, you got to see what their supposed day to day was like and see little teasers for the new k/da video just like an actual musician. Heartsteel is roleplaying to the same effect only now its spread over 5 bandmembers so it is way less "personal" compared to Seraphines which explains the lack of " mental health baiting" as people continue to label it . I really want to stress that they did the twitter account with good intentions and it was just warped by talking heads to the point of the rioter who ran the account left the company due to the harassment. It is not the account makers fault if someone cannot differentiate reality from fiction.

[@WolfQueenLydia]

I do have some questions on this... like is it more harmful to fangirl over real bands and real artists who are people that could be stalked, harassed etc, or to fangirl over someone who deosn't exist? Because in the latter at least no actual person is being hurt, other than the people engaging with the character on that hyper level. I feel like the discussion is abit different in todays age versus a few years ago becasue of the rise of AI and these AI dating apps where you can make your own girlfriend or boyfriend and all. And don't forget the Coven Syndra debarcle, there was defintely some parasocial fans in there.

[@keku52]

People simply care too much about unnecessary things that arent supposed to be given attention in the first place. Like how americans feel the need to be offended/annoyed on someone else's behalf.

[@CatteYokai]

Personally enjoyed the Seraphine stuff. Mostly because I'm a bit of art buff and the art mixed with real pictures was really well done, so I mostly followed it for that. Also the covers that were done at the time were really good

[@tommygamer2247]

Every single gdr or roleplay player died when necrit said that interacting with fictional characters in a relatable way is bad 🤷

[@skeleton_magic]

I think the hair being split is: True Damage / Heartsteel / KDA = Fictional Roleplayers / Vtubers = Real Except the seraphine account was operated by one person who was roleplaying as seraphine. The only thing missing with the seraphine account was a twitch account and vtuber model, with the person behind the model being the voice actress. And riot has already experimented with the vtuber aspect with the KDA interviews.

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

Ah yes, because that was definitely the point being made here.

[@tommygamer2247]

@@gazelle_diamond9768 well… that’s what he said

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@@tommygamer2247 It's not.

[@arclight117]

Having a fake character normalize talking about stress and anxiety where there are no stakes is a great idea in concept. It was sad to see people not ready for normalizing that and too hung up on shes not real she doesnt get to talk about real issues, like that isnt done all the time in media. Yes it also wasnt done the best way but it was a good atempt.

[@P_Y_R]

years after, the Seraphine stuff might still be the most blown out of proportion non issue ever when it comes to league. Everyone knew it was fake, her flipping pictures were drawings. People that engaged with it were willing to and were not "deceived" or something. It was cringe yes, but people are really trying to turn everything into an issue and it's stupid

[@g.tropicsun1029]

Makes sense

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

Except that NOT everyone knew it was fake. A lot of people assumed that she was a real person who simply didn't want to show her face, especially when there wasn't even a connection to League yet.

[@P_Y_R]

@@gazelle_diamond9768 The account had no traction before it leaked that it was a league marketting campaign on reddit. Assuming that it is someone that doesn't want to show their face, but was comfortable showing drawings of themselves - referring to them as her, with her cat and everything ? Come on. She never mentionned being able to draw, she never showed sketches, she didn't have anything to support her, and yet she'd have tons of drawings - while claiming she was a musician with again, no links to support her, nor any music under her belt. If you believed that person was real then you also believe the first guy that comes and tell you that earth is flat Also the replies always had someone linking it back to league, there was always someone asking if she was the next league champ. At this point if people didn't make the connection, it's because they didn't want to. Also a bit tired of "some people didn't know - but not me tho", everyone is held to the same standard. If someone is stupid does it have to ruin stuff for everyone else ? And even then, let's admit that it was the case, how the hell is that a problem if random idiots start getting parasocial for an account they know nothing about and didn't know it even existed 2 weeks before ? It's not like it was a twitch streamer that you had to sub to so they could UwU back to you I can't believe I'm defending the cringe fest that it was, but people are making it a bigger deal than it was, period

[@MrDoctorJudge]

I would much rather have people obsessing over the fictional k-pop boy band in crazy ways than what I see people doing with real boy bands with real people. Also Sett and Aphelios 👀

[@Alacaelum]

The thing with Seraphine, at least the twitter account... i don't blame Riot's team for that, they did a great job, it was a fun idea, the problem... they really understmated twitter. That cesspol is... something else, at a certain level you can have fun in it, as long as you tread VERY carefully and do a 180 the first sign of problem. But with Seraphine's twitter account, it somehow caught attention of the people that it shouldn't, the interactions weren't really a problem but the team did a too good of a job making her and the rest is a downward spiral of... twitter.

[@Martin-yh7vi]

Yeah, they should have backed out as soon as they noticed how many people were seriously trying to reach out to the account's posts.

[@greyangel9875]

Truth is that twitter accounts was perfect and such a unique way to promote Sera. For example love how he talked alot but never show actual prove of anything.... yeah comments on social media.... tell you what it sounded to me more like necrit just wanted to hate on a fictional character for money. After all this video is making money for him and he is talking about fictional characters. So who is making a parasocial problem here??

[@Blu_Moon_Owl]

Heartsteel is the most hated item?! But I like to build it on Sett and Zac. Big damage

[@worldlinezero4783]

Yeah, it's really fun

[@louisrobitaille5810]

*Sounds of Sion mains laughing in the distance*

[@jneal1347]

I build it on caitlyn 🤡🤡

[@mr.peterpenguinp.2449]

it’s the people playing against you that hate it man 😂😂😂

[@loop1789]

I mean, how Drakhtaar is not

[@ZeroMetal]

Its not so rare people behave like that on twitter, people who dont know about her could think she is just a girl who is good at music and drawing so she draws herself as her OC, real or not people need to understand they are just being exploited for fame and loyalty

[@saphcal]

If this ends up working out okay I hope they do it for Pentakill next! I wanna chitchat with Pentakill Sona UwU

[@IIIIIIIIIIIIIWOWIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

Somebody already pointed this but, Necrit forgot that, most people didn't actually knew it was a champion, they thought Seraphine was a musician in partnership with Riot, until videos started popping up, and the backlash started

[@averyyeen]

I spend most of my time alone, but i'm not form a parasocial relationship with a fake character alone

[@itsgonnabeokay9341]

And when you thought that this community could not get any worse... This so fking sad...

[@invernofuyu2542]

For me Seraphine's Twitter wasn't a problem, she did less than almost all vtubers do, 99% of them are intentionally parasocial. Riot is not a saint, but this time it was the community itself that went overboard. And the current case of Heartstell they are much milder than Seraphine.

[@ShinyFood]

exactly my thoughts, vtubers are pretty similar after all they might have teams of people who think of what to tweet and such

[@invernofuyu2542]

@@ShinyFoodexactly! They all have the same personality

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@@ShinyFood VTubers are actual, real people who simply use an animated model instead of a face cam for streaming. The Seraphine Twitter account was ran by the marketing team. Seraphine was never a real person.

[@ShinyFood]

@@gazelle_diamond9768 true but some vtubers have a whole company behind them too tbh

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@@ShinyFood And... that matters how exactly?

[@NeuralNotes5]

Seraphine: Still se absolutely no major issue with what they've done and thing it's absolutely amazing thing. Hearthsteel: Absolutely Love the Item To be more precise: I don't see problem with anything on Riots side with creating amazing, unique yet very relatable fictional characters. Thd problem I see is with some people's social and emotional issues in responses, they aren't aware and maybe even need help. So for people like them, go and solve your issues!: Try to socialise and connect if no-one fitting listens download A.I. friend and practise on them, they will help you along your way. Fight me if you dare take away my opinion.

[@RA-LT]

That's the thing: Riot knows exactly the issues these players have and is exploiting it to sell their stuff. The idea of this parasocial relationship is all intentional. They literally abuse mental illness as a business model.

[@SienAppelsien]

Let people get their parasocial shit. Like that one tumblr post said: 'if imagining that naruto would be proud of you for brushing your teeth will get you to brush your teeth, then imagine it'

[@joaorodrigues7993]

i think the big difference is that this parasocial thing is not being used to promote a new champion, that will be part of a big girlgroup comeback, and get released with an ultimate skin....... This time around, people are aware these are video game characters that are already well established

[@greyangel9875]

You know that none of it is as deep as necrit try to make it sound right? You know it is just his hate towards her popularity.

[@bidaboy4488]

You obsess over silly little stories, let us obsess over a silly little boyband We all just wanna have fun

[@TiltedSquare4]

Im in the roleplaying community so all of this felt pretty normal to me 😂 people do overly express their obssessed feelings for a fictional character but it isnt really hurting anyone. Parasocial relationship is huge in this generation and covid certainly didnt help😅 but if you really want to know how I feel, well... APHELIOS IS MY LOVE 💙 😂

[@DGSnowolf]

How the fuck was this a controversy? That was the coolest thing riot ever did to promote a char, everything after was what sucked, her kit, her ingame design, her lore.

[@notdante1151]

I think Riot did a great job on advertising these skins by creating controversy. When you look back at Seraphine, her whole campaign was frowned up on but her sale say otherwise. Controversy breeds publicity. One of the fastest ways for any company to generate publicity and sales is with controversial content. Controversy is a seed that can quickly breed publicity in an exponential fashion. That’s because as the controversial story gains popularity, more journalists and media companies seem to write about and replay the story. With social media, the story can stimulate viral marketing. Before you know it, millions of people-including your prospective customers-can become aware of and instill passion about the product or service that is the involved in the story. So I would say Riot did their homework when it come to marketing.

[@dark_demon2522]

First undertale now WoW a man of culture i see

[@aruvius]

a lot of the silliness stems from knowing that they’re fictional characters, so it’s good that they’re only responding to fans that are being stupid. as long as they learn from seraphine and don’t personally reach out to the fans, this could stay as a cute and quirky idea.

[@VictorHugo-od8wx]

you really are the top 1 enemy of fun omfg

[@nostdalturtz5963]

I don't get it. What's the issue here? It's not like Riot is directly, and deliberately undermining mental health, right? No different from TV shows and other forms of media. In the end, it is how the audience interact with said media. Parasocial relationships? What about this? It's not like they'll develop a long term relationship with these characters, as after the promotional phase, they'll be gone. And my initial take on this adverts for skins applies here, too. I don't think this should be an issue, at all. It's one of those things where people take things way too seriously and create non-existent issues 'cause they're either bored, or want to feel special.

[@marspacebun]

I disagree. I think it's fun and harmless. People know it's all pretend and these are characters with an established fanbase simply acting silly online. You cannot compare it with Seraphine's situation.

[@Superluam19]

Honestly, I think roleplaying as a champion is fine, it is cool in a fun way. From a roleplaying community it's genuinely sometimes fun to act like something that isn't real is real. However yes some people CAN take it to far and people DO more often then not. It's a shame cause I like the idea, genuinely. Sure Serephine was a little wack, but it was wack in a way that I found was cool. At least they tried with it, and didn't just like do nothing with them. God I wish people were able to treat it as a fun roleplay thing and not like something creepy.

[@NeuralNotes5]

I mean, still don't see any major problem with Seraphine being presented as a real person with relatable feelings and problems of other people, it just made identifying the emotions and issues people usually face more open and understood. It's true that there are potentially billions of people in need of more personal social contact and sense of closeness or belonging to a positive end, but that's not something that would by any major means negatively influenced by creation of relatable character. IMO it's rather the opposite. In modern age A.I. technologies have gone almost unimaginably far and can for example become your helpful and overall "perfect" friend that you need when no-one else fitting is there for you otherwise. Fight me if you dare and, be prepared to be reported, if you're feeling offensive. To the rest of you much love, take care and bye.😃😇❤️

[@MetalRiper1]

I don't understand why parasocial interacions are bad. Like if you see a character in the movie going thru something you feel for them but you can do nothing more than watch. Here it's just another level of interaction. Character dosen't have to be a real person to be relatable, share it's story and maybe even help you get throu something...

[@stinkyjojo]

idk I dont understand the problem with roleplaying tbh... its fun its cool its just roleplaying. if its about people being weird about them, well, people are weird and parasocial about characters WITHOUT roleplaying anyways... idk man this just looks like a small things turned into a big thing

[@WillValforent]

Sera's launch was my favorite marketing strategy, the problem comes when people goes insane, I'm sorry, talking about mental health is not a problem, what were they expecting?

[@CrimsonColbat]

Just let people have fun. None of this hurt anyone lol

[@Kaelyn91]

When the Seraphine stuff started I honestly though Riot had gone overboard and gotten a real perspn to just, monitor and use her twitter, but the parasocial relationships are really hard to avoid sometimes, especially when one considers that there are people who littlerally identify anime characters as their life's love.

[@cherryblossom8061]

Necritttt this whole time I was worried something like Seraphine popped up (mental health talk), but as a fangirl myself, these responses are just....how fangirls show hype. it's not meant to be taken seriously. speaking from experience, for example, the phrase "crying screaming [etc]" is a common exaggeration in some fandom spaces on tumblr to show that someone really wants something, but it's just that--an exaggeration, an expression it's funny to me because fangirl comments are normal in dating app fandoms, and they're mostly an emotional support for those of us to escape from the stresses of daily life. I, too, hope it doesn't escalate like it did with Seraphine, but I just wanted to provide a different perspective to this, as someone who's used to this kind of fangirl language

[@tole3590]

make contact with grass at your earliest convenience

[@peacepham7838]

@@tole3590 Quite funny cause in most fandom, fangirl likely the one that touch grass the most. :p

[@acoolnameemm]

Honestly, if Riot just got a bunch of champion accounts and just posted stuff in-character for those champs, as if they are in Runeterra and just suddenly got twitter, that would be so funny.

[@dziadufolud1597]

What's wrong with roleplay, heartsteel did nothing that weird

[@NarakuNoHana01]

I think this video is blown a little bit out of proportion. These interactions are a really fun way to promote the band and I can imagine they make alot of people very happy. Just because there are a few bad apples, you can't label the whole thing as DANGEROUS AND BETTER RETHINK EVERY SINGLE TWEET OR YOU WILL HARM SOMEBODY. People should be responsible for themselves. We can't always ruin what is a good thing for majority of people to cater to the few that are "harmed".

[@Nicolas72617]

Honestly, I don't think this way of promoting is bad. I actually really like it, and really liked the sera one last time too. It's just a really creative way to hype up for the upcoming music release and cinematic. I would be really disappointed if riot never did anything like this again because some people can't draw a line on knowing what's real and what's not. I would also like to remark that this same issue of people being too "excited" (?) is not exclusive to the sera promotion, or now with heartsteel. The internet is full, and I mean FULL, of pretty particular people (to say sth), that would react the same way with everything. I'm pretty sjre that if I look hard enojgh I'll find posts about people begging for akali or Evelynn, even in orher games like overwatch or entirely different comunities, like in animation or movie's fandoms. Other than that, I don't really think the Seraphine promotion was that bad as people say. I dont think the account ever "made fun" of mental health issues, qne the "relatable posts" were just some fun thing to see. There's always gonna be people that take it too far. I even think there was more people overeacting and being offended by Seraphine's character, lore, gameplay and kda skin, that any people who could take the posts too seriously.

[@zerohcrows]

couldn't people just be RPing with the character?? what's the difference between Seraphine and any other fictional character people get attached to?? also how does the character having issues sweep aside others mental health issues???? sure it's "weird" but I feel like it's mostly weird because people haven't seen anything like it before. I don't think it was morally wrong tho. it makes it dumber because I doubt anybody was negatively affected by seraphines twitter yet everybody is mad that somebody might be affected negatively by it.

[@Diego_Covre]

Think this is an L take, people will be weird and obsses over anything, it's the internet and it has been like this for ages, especially on Twitter! Even if Riot does no rolepay account, there will still be stans, fan accounts, rule 34 and etc i don't like it and i won't engange with it. But it's completely harmless...

[@SingingNuke]

y'all are so sensitive I swear. Interactive stories are fun and there's actual sad stuff happening in the world as we speak. fix your priorities

[@Gloomistic]

Yeah I don't know, it makes sense. I understand what you're saying completely, and I guess really just depends on who they're talking to. I was one of the people Seraphine actually replied to. She said something, to which I posted a frog gif blowing a horn and she enjoyed it or whatever and that was that. I saw it as roleplay, and thought nothing more about it. I like the idea of a Champion actually replying to me and I leave it there. I enjoyed something similar, as one of the mystery series I love called Ai; Somnium Files, had done something similar with it's idol A-Set, 1-2 years prior or so on her yt/tw, and the Sera interaction gave me nostalgia in a way. I understand people interpret these things differently though, but I do think their intent was good, and that most people just have fun with it. I'm not saying it's "correct" in all angles but yeah, some people take it too far and it runs the fun for everyone.

[@awesomepsume]

this isn't really a problem honestly

[@BurningZa]

When a support needs support you know the writers strike is over.

[@adriencloud2130]

Ill be honest, Sett and K'Sante come out of left field for me. I dont really associate muscular broad men with kpop boy bands.

[@Cynidecia]

It's *Not* for old league of legends players. It's not for people who played old yorick or played crystal scar.

[@francjirachi]

finally someone talks about it, when it started I immediately thought that it was going to be seraphine 2.0. At least is not at the same level of "oh no I am depressed cheer me up chat"

[@greyangel9875]

Yeah seraphine stuff was too unique to be compared

[@adambra100]

I love Heartsteel marketing. It's exactly what I would expect from a video game.

[@scotthuang3022]

Parasocial relationships is one of the pillars in the K-pop industry. Idols and their company actively promote this type of engagement to boost sales and create insanely dedicated fans. I don’t see what’s different between this and the actual K-pop industry other than the members not being real. I feel like this “issue” is really only a problem for those looking from the outside and ,in a way, “judging” how people should behave.

[@NeonNinjaBlast]

Homie never roleplayed and it shows LOL sera was awkward af but this is just some fun everyone is having

[@marspacebun]

exactly, if you find it cringe that's fine but it's harmless and comparing it to parasocial relationships is wild. the fans know it's all play pretend and are simply having fun.

[@marupan_desu]

Tbh i never thought the Seraphine thing was that bad. What's wrong with roleplaying as a young woman with anxiety? I always thought it was pretty cool and fleshed out the character a lot better than the canon lore did. If people get offended because "oh she is taking attention from real people with anxiety" yeah im sure the hundred seraphine pfp fan accounts will go console a random 16 yr old with 3 followers as soon as Riot terminates the Sera account.

[@louisrobitaille5810]

11:25 "It feels *otherworldly* to me." This had to have been intentional, but knowing Necrit (after watching him for so long), it might've been accidental 😅.

[@3eclipse]

bad take necrit, bad take. it's obvious that everyone is joking with those tweets but you're taking them serious, you just love making the community look bad so asmongold reacts to your videos at this point i've been following you since you had less than 100k btw, so m just sayin'

[@yabara_]

I don’t understand the “relatable” thing, when you watch movies you can relate with characters every time, that’s the point of movies and we know is not a problem, as who interacts with heartsteel know it’s roleplay, I think it’s just funny and shows off their characters. Sure, when it become like Seraphine is wrong (but again, it’s a problem of the people that don’t understand it’s fake) but I don’t think it’s this case