On reddit, a discussion erupted regarding the gender of champions in League of Legends. This happens from time to time. Ryan Mireles, Lead Gameplay Producer of LoL, got involved in the discussion and revealed an interesting detail: Almost all female players exclusively use female champions.
What does the developer say? In the reddit thread, there was a discussion about why more female champions are currently being introduced into the game. Out of the last 10 champions, 8 were female. Recently, on June 9, a new heroine named Bel’Veth was introduced.
Mireles explained that Riot Games aims to have about 50% male and 50% female champions in the game. However, since the proportion of male heroes is currently higher, female champions are simply appearing more often:
A few years ago, we looked at the diversity of our champion roster, and it turned out that we had about 60% male champions and 40% female champs. We believe that in the long run it is better to have a ratio of 50/50 between male and female champions. We will likely continue releases until we achieve a 50/50 ratio.
via reddit
This statement was met with some confusion from users. They wondered why the ratio needed to be balanced. But then Mireles explained how much impact the gender of the champions actually has and why having more female champions would be important.
By the way – LoL is coming to the Xbox Game Pass soon:
Male players use both genders about equally
What does the distribution look like among players?
- Male players are said to use both genders about equally. So it does not matter much whether a new champion is male or female.
- 97% of all female players, on the other hand, are said to exclusively use female champions.
According to the developer, many players are completely left behind when a male champion is introduced:
We do not leave half of our player base behind by developing more female champions. Our data even shows that female players primarily play female champions. In fact, about 97% of female players only play female champions. Male players are evenly distributed between male and female champions, so they choose 50/50 between male and female champions.
When we introduce a male champion, we leave most of our female players behind, as most of our female players do not use male champions at all.
via reddit
In line with this, the developer also shows a World Cloud from a survey conducted in 2017. It displays the most popular champions among male players (left) and female players (right).
What will the next champion be? In April, Riot Games introduced three new champions. One of them was Bel’Veth as the new jungler. Next in line are an AD carry and a top laner.
Further details can be found here:
The gender and appearance of champions in League of Legends have already led to some discussions. For instance, in the summer of 2021, it was about how most male champions follow the same model with six-pack abs.
However, many also wish for heroes beyond the beauty ideal, like Gragas:
LoL teases a new champion – Players are disappointed with the same “sexy male model”
