Val event in a country where I would be legally killed for existing and dozens of teams are jumping at the opportunity.
I feel sick.
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well that sucks
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tell that to the homeless people and your idols. the reason why they compete or do what they do is because money is involved. it just helps that what they do is also what they like. im tired of liberal people like you who want the world to be perfect. it simply isnt possible. 1 thing i learn in school is that you can never make everyone happy. what you can do, however, is ensure that the majority of people are happy
why are people mad at OP they have a right to be upset that an organization that's very LGBTQ+ friendly are completely fine with partnering with a country that kills us as soon as there's money. ALSO "don't go to the tournament" shit is so dumb, what if we wanted to but can't because we are who we are? Watching online also supports their ideology, so honestly there's no real winning, shit just sucks, and VALORANT as well as their teams are actively participating in it.
This just isn't true, are they discriminated against? Yes. Are they systematically opressed? Yes. But the Saudi police don't walk around and gun down everyone with a lgbtq flag. It is getting better, it's definetly slow and painful but there are movements being made. I wouldn't recommend visiting there if you aren't comfortable with it but I don't believe it's correct to bash riot and the orgs for this decision.
I understand where you are coming from with your argument but riot has being one of the few companies that has been promoting equality and lgbtq rights, all they have done here is sign a contract with an organization. Is the organization funded by a shady government? Yes. But riot has made it clear that they do not approve of what is happening and are not promoting anti lgbtq views.
The issue isn't solely about Riot supporting this initiative, nor is it just about Saudi funding. It's the combination of both factors that raises concern. Riot, through its Game Changers program, appears to want to "support and protect marginalized people." However, by participating in an event in a country where rules exist that could endanger those marginalized individuals—especially if the police discover their true identities—there is a serious problem regardless of how you approach it.
Everyone commenting is missing the point. No one is surprised at orgs jumping for money. They're calling out riot and the orgs for posturing like they support equality and free expression then partnering with an org that's directly backed by the theocratic government that would execute people for living the way riot supposedly supports. They're disgusting hypocrites and all their messaging is null and void if they refuse to stand on principles.
Remove all messaging about trying to support gender equality and freedom of expression.
It's one or the other.
You can either support people peacefully existing or you take money from people who want to execute them for peacefully living.
If you are willing to compromise on fundamental human rights you are not a defender or a promotor of equality.
off season tournaments. And they did a pretty OK job with them last year too, but a few more would go a LONG way. Maybe also promote Ascension? And the rest of tier two while we're at it? Just some ideas so the fanbase isn't bored. You don't have to partner with Saudi Arabia for an invitational when riot literally have the money and tools themselves to get tournaments going.
as much as i agree i feel like with how much money riot is racking in from China, they didn't even need to do this in the first place which makes it all the more confusing/heartbreaking. like it didn't even need to happen they just wanted to show us that they're willing to have 1 more invitational over human rights and that's not very cool in my opinion.
Completely disagree. While no company is ever 100% clear of doing anything wrong(just like people) their are bad things and worse things. The idea that it's pointless to hold people or companies accountable for horrible ideas by not consuming their products or holding them in high regards is misplaced.
you misinterpreted my post. im not saying you shouldn't care or you shouldn't hold anyone accountable. i'm saying you shouldn't be surprised, because corporations can and will go over anything for money. and this will not change inside the system we live in because they are the ones in power in the first place
riot dont care about inclusion. just how amazon turned on their lgbt employees after conservatism became the dominant trend. and facebook/meta. and quite literally every corporation. you can't trust them. don't expect decency
Okey i know we dont like to compare games but look at cs2 and valo, cs2 - 20+ top tournaments this year - over 35kk in prizepool, top teams can say they saudi fuck you, we wont come, that all and now imagine if riot make at least 5-6 international, put some money, less offseason (60days/year more than enough), noone ever come to this oil money cups over some proper riot tier1 internationl tournament with okey prizepool and some prestige. RIOTS FAULT.
I don't think some people understand how incredibly disappointing it is when people who supposedly are fierce advocates for a personal cause turn their back on it for convenience or money. Of course we know that companies are driven by money, but its still disappointing to see Riot immediately fold on diversity when the Saudi government throws money at it. Reminds me of Jordan Henderson playing for England in Qatar and later Saudi Arabia after being a loud LGBTQ advocate. I know that I will not be watching the event to do my part and I hope the event overall does poorly. There are other options for offseason events, it's not like Riot chose between no money and millions, they were just greedy.
Tells you a lot about how much ppl actually care about small political stances that occur. I am a person that thinks forced diversity and DEI is stupid. But, if that’s all the craze at the moment, companies will try to support that. When it dies off, they forget it ever happened. The same occurs from both the right and left parties from a political POV. Have your own views, they won’t line up perfectly with one group or another. At the end of the day, this is a broken world. Despite political stances.
Isn't this the same rhetoric people used for Qatar World Cup? Yet hundreds of gay people went to Qatar and they didn't get killed?
Yes, if you were to be a person born in Saudi and gay, then there might have been problems. But you're not, so what's your point? The way you wrote this, it sounds like they are going to harm every LGBT people who arrive at EWC.
If you want to boycott and show solidarity, that's up to you. But don't say ridiculous things. Many LGBT people will happily be present at the event, you don't have to be there.
Ah yes, let's shame the players for trying to actually make a career, and earn money to survive, as well as orgs trying to make money to further give people a career.
The world doesn't revolve around you, or your beliefs, stop being entitled and acting like the world owes you something when not a single person in the world owes anyone anything.
you will sadly find that if you want to stay true to your values and beliefs in this world, it is nigh impossible without cutting everything material out in your life. boycotting saudi arabia and riot for hosting and participating in the EWC is only the tip of the iceberg. to truly avoid hypocrisy is honestly exhausting for most people, so true change will only happen once the majority are actively being harmed or negatively impacted by a certain group or entity. otherwise, good luck trying to see change through your actions or even the actions of a large minority, because it will not make a difference. humans are inherently selfish, and whether or not most of us in this thread will admit it, the truth is hardly any of us care enough about this and most other injustices in the world to take action against it. its great to talk about things like this but in the end, it is not going to have much of an impact on the actions and behaviour of countries like saudi arabia or corporations like riot. riot already panders to china despite china committing crimes against some of their own population, and imposing what is basically a police state upon chinese citizens. there is too much evil in the world for it to be truly uprooted. it can only be exposed; whether or not something is done about it is up to the ordinary people like us caring enough to do something about it.
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