Riot’s Snowdown Showdown website lists out the various icons summoners can unlock during this holiday event, and one of their news releases further clarified which of the listed tasks unlocks which icon. Two of the icons were not given specific requirements for unlocking, however, but rather deliberately vague guidelines to earn the limited-edition icons.
You can find a full transcript of Riot’s responses here, courtesy of Lyte from Riot and Reign of Gaming for the compilation of Lyte’s posts. For those of you still here, many people (including yours truly) have already received the Santa Baron summoner icon for what Riot has determined as being generally good behavior over the course of the previous year, while many others have not. Lyte clarified that the icon is being released to eligible champions in waves, with many who already have it earned able to use it now and many not yet able to.
So I was bad this year, how do I get the icon?
According to Lyte, be a player who makes the experience of League of Legends positive for your fellow players. He noted specifically that the icon is “not just about avoiding bans and is not directly tied to honor” but would not go into exact detail to avoid the possibility of people trying to either cheat the system or behave in specific ways just for the icon rather than being generally good people.
For those of you who’ve been banned this year or otherwise don’t have the icon unlocked over the next few days, keep your chin up. Lyte also made it clear that…
Players that ‘reform’ and become better can definitely still unlock the icon. That’s why some players that have been banned a long time ago have gotten the icon already.
We really value players that make an effort to change, and we of course value players who are already positive to begin with and want to keep doing surprises for them in League.
He also confirmed that there are several possible ways of unlocking the Shopkeeper icon, and that being one of this Snowdown Showdown’s ‘most spirited participants’ , saying in the best traditions of cryptic hints, “There’s actually multiple ways to be one of the top participants in the Snowdown. One way is tied to behavior, others are not.”
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In summary? Be excellent to each other, Summoners. Riot’s watching.
