A conglomerate of high school esports directors and stakeholders have written an open letter calling out Riot Games following the developer’s changes to rules governing community and scholastic tournaments on Monday evening.

New Rules to Play By

The letter makes clear the frustration many in the scholastic community and beyond have felt over the new rules. The new rules include limits on the number of prizes organizers can give out in a year (limited to $10,000 in value) and how many events a single sponsor can support in a year to three. The new rules also force competitions to end within 14 days of their start date.

Many see the new rules as invasive and antagonistic towards traditional community and scholastic tournament organizers. Many have wondered if events such as the Tyler1 Invitational and Upsurge Esports League can operate under the new rules. Others have called out the change in policy as a way for Riot to clamp down on non-official tournaments, especially in the scholastic sector, after their exclusive deal with PlayVS early last month. The TO’s $64 per player buy-in requirement per semester has given many schools pause over concerns that they can’t afford the fees long term. Some have also pointed to their lack of operation outside of a handful of states.

Riot Head of Collegiate Michael Sherman has noted, following the backlash, that he is, “taking notes on the concerns shared in [the Twitter thread],” though also clarified that while they were taking the feedback, it didn’t mean changes were coming to the rules as they stand.

Was This a Bad Idea?

Having previously been involved in the collegiate scene and organizing tournaments within it and the community, I can’t fathom how these rules came to be since they are restrictive. The regulations affect weekly or long-running tournaments by organizers. They limit exposure and experience for new and upcoming competitive players. It makes it more difficult for big-name teams at the pro level to scout them.

There’s almost no way these rules will last given the backlash and threat by school directors and others to just drop League altogether, which would kill the grassroots competitive community that’s long been a source of new talent. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them modified soon. Riot’s been overly cautious with rules in the past.

I get they want to keep control of their ecosystem as well as who can and can’t operate a tournament within it. Still, heavy-handed approaches like this will do more to anger organizers and fans than benefit anyone, especially the rules around sponsorship and tournament length.

Hopefully, Riot realizes these rules could kill the community scene and rework them with input from other stakeholders, but we’ll have to wait and see how they respond first.

Open Letter to Riot Games

The open letter to Riot can be read below or found at the link here.

Whether leaning against the door of a school’s esports practice space, sitting alongside a child during a coaching session, addressing an assembly of parents, or safeguarding club budgets at an administrator’s desk, the gatekeepers standing between the monetization of esports at the expense of children and the opportunities available to students in this extraordinary new ecosystem have a name: Educators. Fundamental to our very mission is the need to ensure that the experiences of childhood occurring on school campuses across our nation are never captured and converted into commodities for sale in markets that do not prioritize the incalculable value, diverse needs and uniquely distinct journey of each scholar gamer.

With this week’s news of Riot’s “North America Community Competition Guidelines,” educators are stepping forward and locking arms in defense of the new and evolving ecosystem of esports in high schools and the children who inhabit it. The attempt by Riot to monopolize an educational frontier whose citizens- scholar gamers- are best served by a variety of ambassadors will not be sanctioned by educators. The attempt by Riot to collapse pathways of student exploration by demanding contracts of exclusivity will not be sanctioned by educators. The attempt by Riot to carve away opportunities for competitive play by instituting narrow parameters for the scope of competitions will not be sanctioned by educators. The attempt by Riot to wrest event branding from the hands of students intrinsically motivated to grow the subculture of marketing within their school’s esports club will not be sanctioned by educators. In short, the attempt by Riot to make our students’ experience smaller so that a corporate bottom line can somehow become bigger will not be sanctioned by educators.

These are the waning days of Riot’s ability to take advantage of the naivete of school districts new to the esports landscape. Educators are leveling up our vigilance towards predatory practices that aim to package what amounts to a shallow rush to implementation in a box deceptively marketed as a deep dive into diverse opportunities. Consider these the ‘warning days’ of educators who will now turn to parents, legislators, media outlets, administrators, consumers and- most importantly- gamers to do what we do best: educate. Lesson plan: How Riot Games is Hurting Esports in Education.

High school esports allows educators to connect and engage with children in ways that go well beyond just playing video games. Through esports, educators are actively redefining athletic culture, diversifying opportunities for student participation in school, promoting good mental and physical health, increasing career and collegiate scholarship pathways, and most importantly – honoring the importance of play. By restricting access to its catalog of games and giving monopolistic rights to run a season to one company, Riot Games is actively undermining the amazing experiences we are creating for our children.

To correct this action, we ask of Riot Games the following:

• Revision of the North America Community Competition Guidelines (Last Updated: March 9, 2020) by removing Item 9, and working through the RSAA to create new separate Item 9 guidelines for college and high school groups.
• Representation on the Riot Scholastic Association of America (RSAA) Board of Advisors via a diverse group of high school esports leaders (there are currently zero seats allocated).
• Creation of pathways for high school esports associations to gain sanctioning to conduct events using Riot Games intellectual property, games and the terms: Varsity, Season, Championship, Post-Season, League, or Playoffs.
• A pledge to never receive equity or direct funding from another for-profit association or company arranging, operating or hosting high school esports events. Should there be any previous, or future, equity or funding received from any such companies, it should either be returned, or set aside for grants to high schools working to create, or sustain, esports programs.

Because we have positioned high school esports to be about more than the title of the games we play, Riot Games stands to lose a future core of loyal fans and gamers. The high school esports community will not stand idly by or feel bullied or pushed due to special interests. The high school esports community sets the scholar gamer experience first, shall boldly dare to dream of a great esports experience for our children, will thrive together through mutual respect and care of each other, will collaborate and execute with excellence a meaningful experience for and with our children, and we will stay hungry and humble learning and growing together with, or without, Riot Games.