With the coronavirus crisis as a backdrop, the North American company tries to get this user to choose a new identity.
Until a few months ago, Corona in Spanish has always made reference to the jewel that kings are placed on the head, or in a metaphorical sense, to the very institution of the monarchy. But times have changed and the coronavirus has spread throughout the world at breakneck speed. COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on all tissues of society, especially the disadvantaged. Previously, calling himself Joao Corona was not a problem, but in the current era, the similarity of both words has seemed too much to Riot Games, which has asked this League of Legends player to change his username.
On April 1, this person entered the client and logged in with their username and password. At the moment, he got a message sent by Riot asking him to change his identity: "At first I thought it was funny," he reveals in a post published on the video game's subreddit. However, he then shrugged and emailed the company hoping they would accept that this was a curious situation.
Capture: Joao Corona
Chronology and resolution of the case
Corona explained in the email that he has been playing Squid Corona since 2014, but that a year ago he changed it to Corona so that his identity was easier and could facilitate other people to send him friend requests. This line of argument did not convince the company: “I kindly ask you to change your name for something you like. In the meantime, I'm going to try if you can stay with him. ” Later, Riot again denied that possibility.
The truth is that taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis, some players have taken advantage of using nicks such as CoronaComing4U or China VRS. Kotaku has contacted Riot Games to inquire about the situation of Joao Corona and has obtained the following response. "We do not believe that forcing the name change in this case is in line with our policies, so we are investigating the situation," explains Ryan Rigney, head of communications for League of Legends. Throughout this investigation, Riot has allowed Corona to continue using his nickname.
