David ‘Phreak’ Turley, former League Of Legends commentator and current lead gameplay designer, has decided to quit social media following several death threats and an increase in toxicity.
Phreak announced the news in a video posted on Tuesday, November 14, while he was previewing League Of Legends Patch 13.23.
Phreak stated that he is “more or less going to quit social media for the immediate future”, attributing his reasoning to a rise in toxicity and explaining that it’s “not worth me seeing the occasional useful comment amidst all the death threats.”
“It is what it is,” he added.
Phreak quitting social media comes after an announcement that the bait ping will be removed following “unacceptable” usage that wasn’t planned by the developers.
Outside of Riot Games, the industry has reckoned with toxicity and the way developers are treated by their game’s community. Last year, Destiny 2 streamer Bungie sued a streamer for cheating and harassing its employees, while Ubisoft recently teamed up with Northumbria Police to tackle “extreme” toxicity.
Elsewhere, Riot recently announced a new virtual boyband for League Of Legends called Heartsteel, which is made up of six members including EXO’s Baekhyun. Their first single was released last month, and is titled ‘Paranoia’.
They’re the fourth virtual group that Riot Games has created in League of Legends, with heavy metal band Pentakill, K-pop girl group K/DA, and hip hop collective True Damage also added to the game. All four of these bands are made up of existing League of Legends characters.
Heartsteel, along with NewJeans, have both released tracks for League Of Legends‘ ongoing Worlds tournament, which will conclude on November 19.
In other gaming news, the next game from Baldur’s Gate 3 studio Larian will push “many boundaries.”