The tensions between the US government and Iran continue to grow. Now the video game League of Legends has been drawn into the conflict. In certain parts of the world, playing is no longer allowed.
This is how the ban became known: Players from the LoL community shared screenshots on Friday, June 21, with a notice from the LoL client.
It reads: “Due to US laws and regulations, players in your country currently cannot access League of Legends. These restrictions may be changed by the US government. If that happens, we look forward to welcoming you back to the Rift.”
It is said that this message appears on every service that is somehow related to League of Legends. Affected are players in Iran and Syria.
It seems that Riot Games itself has nothing to do with the decision. This is presumably a matter for the US government, where the LoL makers have little say.
How did this measure come about? The ban was enacted after a drone from the US military was apparently shot down by the Iranian army in recent days. This incident intensified the tensions between Iran and the US.
As a side effect, it seems that there are now these problems in League of Legends for players from Iran and Syria.
The sanctions imposed on Iran state that no company in that country can trade with the US and that any company trading with Iran is also in trouble.
League of Legends finances itself through microtransactions, which are considered a form of trade. Therefore, LoL is apparently affected by the sanctions in these locations.
Why is this particular? This is an extraordinary event that has rarely been seen before. Blocking civilians’ access to video games due to active disputes between countries does not happen very often.
During the Crimea crisis in February 2015 no LoL or WoW could be played on the peninsula.
As Dotesports reports, many Syrian and Iranian players are now expressing their despair. They say that this ban harms neither politicians nor others with power. But rather the civilians living in a war-torn country who already have difficulty accessing video games.
This is how players circumvent the ban: It didn’t take long to find a solution. Many players from the countries affected by the ban asked on Reddit how they could continue playing their favorite game. The solution is a VPN.
They log into League of Legends with it, turn the VPN off again, and can continue playing.
A VPN does not help this streamer, however, as he has bizarrely incurred a ban:
