League of Legends and Valorant have implemented brand-new parental features aimed at protecting children, though the features are reportedly producing unintended side effects. Players are reporting unexpected restrictions on everything from League of Legends‘ chat system to friend requests.
Parental controls and child protection have rapidly become major talking points in modern gaming. The advent of social media and online games has seen many governing bodies raise concerns about protecting children from interacting with strangers. Many consoles and games have begun implementing age verification requirements for players to be given full access to chat features, with some countries like France even pushing to ban minors from using social media platforms. Parental controls have also been a growing measure for many games to restrict younger children, with Riot Games now following suit with its own changes.
Riot Games Implements Parental Controls in League, Valorant, TFT
- Turn text and voice chat off or limit to friends
- Prevent sending or accepting friend requests
- Restrict or disable access to specific Riot games
Recent changes to League of Legends, Valorant, and TFT have introduced a slew of new parental controls to the games. The official update gives parents the option to limit text and voice chat to friends or restrict it entirely, prevent sending or accepting friend requests, and even disabling access to some games. However, Riot’s new parental controls have reportedly had a far broader impact on League of Legends players, with many reporting being erroneously restricted from using chat features. Users have claimed that the feature was automatically enabled upon release, causing many adult users to wrongly be blocked. One user even reported that their 16-year-old account had been blocked, with no way to disable the feature.
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The controversial parental controls saw many fans of League of Legends and Valorant unable to access their longstanding accounts. The change affected many adult users who had already provided their date of birth on their Riot account, suggesting that the parental controls were affecting all users. Riot Games later made an official statement about the change improperly affecting many League of Legends accounts, confirming that it would be rolling back the change specifically on League in order to address the issues. Some users even suggested that the parental email verification system was not functioning properly.
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Image via Riot Games -
Image by GameRant, Source: Riot Games -
The implementation of parental controls in Riot Games titles received plenty of scrutiny from fans of the games. The change was particularly criticized in Valorant, which already has a T (Teen) rating from the US-based ESRB and a 16+ rating from European ratings board PEGI. League of Legends was given a lighter PEGI 12+ rating for its in-game content, with the same T rating with the ESRB. One reply in the comments to the announcement post even pointed out that Riot’s new parental system was the only existing way to block incoming friend requests.
Riot Games’ newest controversy comes as the company’s flagship game gears up for a huge new release in July. The studio officially teased League of Legends Classic in June as a new game mode bringing back old items, Champions, and a previous map design for Summoner’s Rift. The initial iteration of the game mode is based around the gameplay from League of Legends‘ Season 3, and features older pre-rework versions of Champions like Nidalee, Sion, and Evelynn. Riot Games can only hope that its parental control fiasco doesn’t serve to dampen the hype behind its nostalgic new game mode.
