There’s some interesting news out of the League of Legends world, with a slew of new emotes set to appear in the game thanks to an esports partnership between Riot Games and global tier one teams. However, one particular emote caught the attention of the unscrupulous members of the League player base due to its infamous decoy ping, which was removed from the game due to unintentional use by the community.
The emote in question is Team BDS’s Bait Da Sardines emote, which features a cute little penguin holding a fishing rod with the beloved, now-dead bait ping attached to the end. You can purchase this emote now, along with emotes from other teams in the Pro League of Legends ecosystem.
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But why was this emoticon deleted? Well, it was first introduced when Riot Games tried to expand League of Legends’ in-game ping system, hoping it would improve communication without requiring you to actually talk to the geeks and monsters on your team. One of the new symbols is a yellow fishhook, whose purpose is to convey the meaning of “bait,” the act of luring enemy players into a trap for the benefit of the team.
There are two questions. According to Riot, it was removed due to lack of use, but it’s worth noting that the hook looks a bit like a noose, something the League of Legends community noticed almost immediately. So instead of using it as Riot intended, players are sending this decoy ping to players on their team who screwed up. It’s definitely against the terms of service to hang someone on your team, but what about spamming in-game? No problem at all!
But it’s not, certainly not to Riot Games, which is why the company removed it from the game. Since then, the community has been as sad and helpless as the main storyline of Bronze 2 Thresh. Of course, until now, I have to thank the BDS team. One wonders how this emote was allowed to pass, and anyone who knows how the League community behaves can predict that spamming in the game will be the new hot way to tell junglers… well, You know.
But hey, maybe it was inevitable. Since the decoy ping was removed, League of Legends hasn’t become this lovely, friendly, hopeful place. People have been gifting each other something for over a decade, so why not package this king of messages with an adorable penguin? It’s also a great financial move by the BDS team, as 30% of the revenue from emoticon sales goes back to the team that helped design the product, allowing them to build some serious bank. Maybe this is the secret to making real money in esports.
Are you planning to buy these emoticons? Let us know why below! You don’t have to tell us, we know why.
