Defending a lane in League of Legends may not be the best political strategy

Meet Colorado congressional Representative Jared Polis. He loves League of Legends. The Riot Games produced video from April was meant as a harmless bit of marketing to promote the diverse community of players. Hey, look! Even Congressmen play videogames! Unfortunately, this video along with a fashion makeover landed Polis in some political trouble. Based on his promotional appearances, the Office of Congressional Ethics investigated Polis and found “substantial reason” to believe that he had violated federal laws relating to improperly using taxpayers’ time and resources to participate in the events. On Monday, The House Ethics Committee (the only body legally able to bring charges in this situation) cleared Polis of wrongdoing. Polis’ lawyers had argued that the congressman’s appearances in these events resulted in no material benefit to him, and were no different from any other community outreach or press function, and The House Ethics Committee agreed.

The takeaway for gamers? There’s someone in Congress that geeks out about League of Legends hard enough to get into trouble. In fact, Representative Jared Polis loves gaming enough to work on legislation for it. Go Colorado gamers!