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

@gamensch2629

7 ай бұрын

definitely many in this generation :/

@YoungSweezy

7 ай бұрын

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

@Iago.Carvalho

7 ай бұрын

Yeah

@Sh0nX

7 ай бұрын

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

@5AMACE

7 ай бұрын

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

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

7 ай бұрын

Yeah.

@sonnenblume4

7 ай бұрын

@@tonypeppermint5329 hello sir shark

@agentarmonus8433

7 ай бұрын

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

@clamkin

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

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

@gowen7889

7 ай бұрын

agree

@laughaway7955

7 ай бұрын

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

6 ай бұрын

Vox’s fanbase is terrifying

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

7 ай бұрын

😂😂😂

@howepellin

7 ай бұрын

Indeed bwahahahaha😂

@Azh_Tiel

7 ай бұрын

Never thought about that combination, lol

@nailinthefashion

7 ай бұрын

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

@Archeronus

7 ай бұрын

You obtain the purest form of stupidium

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

@smasu2929

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

@@smasu2929I 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

7 ай бұрын

@@smasu2929 I suggest you try reading about parasocial relationships, or you will stay missing the entire point about what happened.

@Frostile

7 ай бұрын

@@smasu2929 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

7 ай бұрын

@@smasu2929 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)

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

6 ай бұрын

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@joannelg06

7 ай бұрын

100% agree

@Asurakos

7 ай бұрын

Hello Hipyo!

@Imafish-sy4im

7 ай бұрын

This

@AzureRoxe

7 ай бұрын

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@raegamer01

7 ай бұрын

@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

7 ай бұрын

@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

7 ай бұрын

Yeah.

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

7 ай бұрын

That's horrible!

@Entropy67

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

​@@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

7 ай бұрын

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

@Michael.Gunner

7 ай бұрын

Which is weird, and should not at all be normalized

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

6 ай бұрын

like phel and Sett?

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

@Art51151

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

Nafiri malp... reksai

@PlanetDiablo16967

7 ай бұрын

​@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

7 ай бұрын

@@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

7 ай бұрын

and reksai onlyfans

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

What the guy above me said

@rehmanrohanyone2147

7 ай бұрын

@@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

7 ай бұрын

What the guy above the guy said.

@sokwubz567

7 ай бұрын

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@battlebots1

7 ай бұрын

​@@jadedplover1851🤨🤨🤨

@Skerathh

7 ай бұрын

@@jadedplover1851 bro

@Gloomistic

7 ай бұрын

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?

@Diego.a.ribeiro9

7 ай бұрын

stop using ellipsis so much💀💀💀💀

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

7 ай бұрын

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

6 ай бұрын

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.

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@SarahMK1990

7 ай бұрын

@@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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

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!!!

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

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

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

3 ай бұрын

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.

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

least deranged jhin player 💀

@mcsy98

7 ай бұрын

ngl i get it

@tkraid2575

7 ай бұрын

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

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

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@burdenking

7 ай бұрын

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@kitnal4143

7 ай бұрын

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

@greyangel9875

7 ай бұрын

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

@gazelle_diamond9768

7 ай бұрын

@@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?!

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

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

@AzureRoxe

7 ай бұрын

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

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

@worldlinezero4783

7 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's really fun

@louisrobitaille5810

7 ай бұрын

*Sounds of Sion mains laughing in the distance*

@jneal1347

7 ай бұрын

I build it on caitlyn 🤡🤡

@mr.peterpenguinp.2449

7 ай бұрын

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

@loop1789

7 ай бұрын

I mean, how Drakhtaar is not

Don't let the Seraphine main subreddit see this video

@ETJoePhone

7 ай бұрын

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

@clovercry

7 ай бұрын

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

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.

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 :)

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

This might be a bit unpopular but- Idiots will always be there, idk, i think this whole video is creating an issue where there isnt any, if someone is stupid enough to act like that they are a kid or need help. I dont see any issue with seraphine either, i just dont get it, people now create whole diff personas for them and interact with the fanbase a lot too, sure. Take a look at vtubers. I dont see issues with that because to most ppl its just fun and thats it or a source of comfort which i find nothing wrong with too. Its a great way of making characters feel alive- and maybe thats a controversial take but i dont see any issue with making characters feel real too. I am struggling mentally since long, did before, and I realize this is all not real. Although, I would like to take a look at the positive side too- while for people who are too into it maybe it can get dangerous- i do realize that, but there is also another thing. When I was struggling mentally when/before Seraphine was coming out, I was really happy they did such a thing and created a character like that, who I could relate to, who made me feel better about myself, who was kinda my safe character because of it, inspired me and also helped me through those hard times and I always appreciated riot for creating the whole character and persona and the twitter account through which I could follow her and find reassurance and most of all hope, her story of overcoming difficulties and doing things as much as you can and helping others all while struggling and being so relatable was always really dear to me and mattered a lot. If not for her maybe I wouldnt keep pushing forward. There is always another side to everything. Now with Heartsteel its different and more for fun- I appreciate it too. And it should be regarded as such. Nowadays fictional personas and people are so common, even vocaloids, or ai. Everyone just has to remember theyre not real, and also people sometimes are really stupid and will act badly in any context. I look at everything just as fun. If someone really does something bad to themselves because of this its not rly Riots and this whole thing's fault- they were probably an unsupervised kid- which should never happen, or a person who needed help before anyway. Im glad at least in all this situation Riot didnt use AI and its a creative project. After reconsideration tho- I must add- I never was one of ppl who were delusional and thought a character was real and id be noticed by them or some shit- I simply treated it as a story and how I treat most stuff made by people in game industry- as art. I admired the writers for a brave move like that and such a creative way to build a characters personality and show a story, I liked the arts that worked as pictures representing her life and shit-I thought it was well done and creative. Im seeing people say that its a marketing tactic and a shit move from riot, and tbh it might be a shock but I never looked at it in that way. I separate the in-game content from the Twitter acc or any other kind of media like lore and animations or music- everything is a marketing tactic when u look at it like that and also, its a two sided thing, dont yall think? Riot gives you a character that is relatable and makes u happy and you like them, you give them money if u have it for a skin if u need it that badly and if it makes you happy- everyone is happy. Whats the issue? Isnt that how everything works in the world, as a transaction? And I dont consider it as preying on mentally struggling people- they should get professional help, of course. If buying an in-game skin could make them happy and satisfied tho then go on. Its not that simple of a topic. Tbh, I even kinda wish they never closed the account. Someone gets a job roleplaying as Seraphine and engaging with people- some people get happy and have an idol, it just is what it is. Its like a vtuber contract- they give you a character and role to play- you get money- people get entertainment. They didnt do a bad job with portraying an actually struggling person after all- if it feels real and isnt downplaying mental issues-which it wasnt, there shouldnt be anything wrong. People relate to characters and buy merch, create things, show their love for a character in many ways after all, even without a twitter account the character could be relatable to them and feel real- and there is nothing wrong with that.

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

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.

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

The thing is acting as the champs is fine for the band its more interactions fan stuff gets shown if they retweet it and its honestly kinda cute how in character they are especially the discord calls but the problem lies with those who can't depreciate between real and fiction like the counting down days till x member responds happens way to offten with vtubers and streamers (also is it me or is it mostly for kayn lmfao)

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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??

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.

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

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.

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

Thankyou for sharing your perspective.

13:51 brooo, that LAST one really did it for me..

you really are the top 1 enemy of fun omfg

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.

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 😅.

as a kayn im rly happy for this hope it doesnt flop i want the song to be good and more importantly i want the skin to be good

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

... 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.

@Ahru

7 ай бұрын

Agreed, you can take a look at my comment too and lmk if thats what u thought too- its kinda long tho

@greyangel9875

7 ай бұрын

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.

Ngl I love the direction they are going in with this! - I think it's a fun lil way for the people (like myself) who don't play LoL, to connect with the community :D

I am busting my ass laughing at the idea THIS is where all the budget went. We can finally stop wondering guys we did it we found it

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

7 ай бұрын

make contact with grass at your earliest convenience

@peacepham7838

7 ай бұрын

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

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

7 ай бұрын

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.

I can see why it would seem weird to people that aren't into roleplay or just into a k-pop or anime fandom haha, but what they did with Heartsteel seems like harmless fun as long as the people participating in it actually recognize this as fantasy. I myself am very happy with the Discord calls they did with the characters, they were really funny and heartwarming to see them interact with eachother, it makes them seem more... human? In a way that it makes me love their band even more and them as characters, even though I know they're not real, the same happens to me with Pentakill, I wish they did somethings similar with them!

So I may be behind on all of this, but is aphelios still mute or does he sing?

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

this isn't really a problem honestly

First undertale now WoW a man of culture i see

I love how you cover this kind of weird league "drama", your humor is top notch hahaha

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

7 ай бұрын

Yeah seraphine stuff was too unique to be compared

It's not that serious

I just cant wait to see such advertisement in the mmo

My man Skooch in my man's Necrit vid. Truly the moment of all time.

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.

Try dicussing the teasers those are really endearing. So much character in each of them.

I think in the seraphim case most of these people didn't know it was connected to league and thought an artist was expressing their feelings and such through a character they made aka seraphim

Heartsteel comes in at a close 3rd most hated item with Hullbreaker and Shiv taking Nr 1 and Nr 2 spots and Stopwatch following closely behind it

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 💙 😂

They never learn, do they

im still confused whats the problem with this, its just roleplaying. even the seraphine one, although i need to do some research about this because i wasnt playing league on that year

I'm just curious, was there anything on the profile that said it was a character from a video game? i wonder if those people had little to no connection to lol and just thought it was an artist who had a character to represent themselves through?

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

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

@skeleton_magic

7 ай бұрын

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

7 ай бұрын

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

@tommygamer2247

7 ай бұрын

@@gazelle_diamond9768 well… that’s what he said

@gazelle_diamond9768

7 ай бұрын

@@tommygamer2247 It's not.

I mean for me this roleplay of Heartsteel is funny and I love to reading that.

sadly this is very comparable to what some Vtubers do most manage to make a clear separation on where the roleplay starts and ends, but their fanbases just dont find that split and it gets complicated to manage

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

In a world of V-Tubers and idols (including Vocaloids and other digital ones), parasocial relationships are not only expected, but the norm. Hell, some Japanese news outlet is doing an interview with the MC from Attack on Titan and that one's as fictional as he can be. As we're moving into the future, the world is becoming more and more hyperreal and many fans actually desire such a state. It's way more comforting than the bleakness of their individual realities.

@gazelle_diamond9768

7 ай бұрын

Bruh, VTubers are actual real people, as opposed to random marketing people.

@Ahriela

7 ай бұрын

@@gazelle_diamond9768 Wrong, V-Tubers are 50% real people. Maybe even less, as the character's personality might not always correspond with the person's. In any case, the models, the characters the people play, aren't real. A V-Tuber is a mix of real and fictional, a hyperreal entity.

@gazelle_diamond9768

7 ай бұрын

@@Ahriela Bruh... are you serious? Maybe go watch some actual VTubers yourself before thinking you have any credibility regarding them. That "50%" is a total asspull and makes no sense. Nobody pretends to be a different person "to 50%". There's no logical reason for that. VTubers are just regular streamers with a virtual avatar. And how "real" a virtual model is compared to the video feat of their biological faces... idk, in neither case does it change anything about who they are.

@Ahriela

7 ай бұрын

@@gazelle_diamond9768 Listen, just because you want to be ignorant doesn't mean I'm wrong. And if anything I said doesn't make sense, maybe you should start reading. Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard is a very good start. Never stop learning. 👍

@gazelle_diamond9768

7 ай бұрын

@@Ahriela Correct, you're wrong because you are wrong, not because I said so. Simulacra and Simulation is completely irrelevant in this situation, since most VTubers aren't anymore fake than most non-VTuber streamers. If you have an actual argument, present it. If not, just shut up about things you don't understand.

Huh, gutsy move, i wonder how this will go. I hope things goes well.

things like Vtubers and Japanese "virtual influencers" work because the character and person behind them are fused together; while they may differ in various ways, they're also one in the same. yes you're developing a weird social relationship with a character but there's still a singular real person playing that character; even Kizuna AI was like that the thing that makes Riot's experiments land poorly is the fact that people are developing a weird social relationship with just the character, not the person (or team of people) behind them

Do you think in this universe Sett + Aphelios are together?😍

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.

it just loke reading story, novel, manga. you just to get to see they life through

So. Seraphines name has/had a Star and a Wave. were these potentially skin teasers? Star guardian seraphine? Ocean Song Seraphine?