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In a recent League of Legends PBE update, Riot Games made a seemingly small but surprisingly controversial change: Riot Games renamed Gragas' W ability from Drunken Rage to Raucous Rage in their latest League of Legends PBE update.
Despite maintaining its functionality the renaming of Gragas’ W ability triggered widespread confusion and backlash among League of Legends players.
The Gragas' character is entirely based on his heavy drinking habits. Since his release Gragas’ voice lines, animations and lore have fully reflected the heavy drinking theme. The renaming of an ability that embodies its core concept has resulted in widespread confusion among players.
Why the name change?
The community rapidly started speculating that the change occurred because of the upcoming Middle East server launch which imposes stricter alcohol depiction regulations.
Andrei “Meddler” van Roon from Riot’s League Studio clarified that European age rating requirements triggered the update instead of Middle Eastern restrictions.
The explanation did not satisfy those who believe the character's fundamental identity suffers from this censorship.
Community reactions are mixed
Although the gameplay impact of the change is small the League of Legends community is responding strongly to it. Gamers have urged Riot to adopt a regional naming policy that keeps “Drunken Rage” where age ratings permit it but uses the new name in markets with restrictions.
A lot of fans consider this action as excessive censorship because they remember how Graves lost his cigar in 2014 but regained it in 2017.
Will Riot reverse course?
The new name “Raucous Rage” for Gragas' W is officially live in the PBE at present. It remains uncertain if Riot plans to revisit or implement regional versions of the name change.
League's global growth suggests we'll see more changes similar to this one but the community will continue to express its opinions powerfully.
The team at Riot will release updates as they complete their plans before the upcoming patch release.
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