Riot expands terms of service to cover ‘off-platform conduct and behavior’

Riot Games has warned its content creator community that off-platform conduct and behavior connected to its franchises is now subject to its terms of service.

In short, that means the studio could punish offensive behavior that occurs during livestreams featuring titles such as League of Legends and Valorant with in-game penalties.

“If you say or do things that break our Terms of Service while broadcasting or creating content about our games, we can restrict access to your Riot accounts (and suspend your Partner privileges if you are part of our Partner Program),” reads a post on the Riot Games website.

“Though we aren’t going to proactively monitor everything that happens across social media, it is now within our rights to issue penalties in-game when that content is brought to our attention. As an example, if a creator uses hateful slurs about an opposing player or teammate on their stream, but not in game over chat or voice comms, we can still issue a penalty as if that behavior occurred in-game.”

Riot said its updated terms of service will only apply to content where its titles are featured, but noted it will also cover actions that compromise the competitive integrity of Riot products such as stream sniping and questionable promotions.

“If a creator is sponsored by a boosting website, promotes ways for players to buy and sell accounts, or otherwise does anything that encourages players to break our rules, we may suspend access to your Riot accounts,” continues the post. “This can happen formally, through sponsored posts on social media accounts, videos, or streams, or just in casual conversation that occurs during the course of content.”

Riot added that bad actors who violate its terms of service in particularly egregious ways could be subject to Riot-wide bans. “Problematic behavior in one game may result in penalties across all of our games,” said the company.

You can learn more about Riot’s updated terms of service by clicking here.

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Game Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, and PocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.