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Six Months at Riot Games

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Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#21

Post by Kurtz79 »

amarant wrote: post #8

wow, I would expect such behavior from teenage gamers, but I'm surprised to see it reported among (presumably adult) game-devs. what is perhaps even more surprising is that they seem to somehow be able to cooperate enough to deliver a undeniably popular game. don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a second that what Meagan says is true. I am simply surprised they manage to produce anything at all in such a culture, le…

It's not exactly a new thing, even outside of gaming:

https://www.businessinsider.com/bro-culture-harassment-discr...

If you have been exposed to the same culture through school, higher education and then finally the workplace, it is not suprising some people find it acceptable or even normal...

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#22

Post by [deleted] »

unstableph wrote: post #2

>At Riot, employees are encouraged to play League before/after work, or during lunch. My very first week at the Dublin office, I heard shouting from individuals playing together, calling each other “f ggots” repeatedly. I was unnerved, but it was my first week and I didn’t know if this was a common occurrence. I didn’t say anything at that time. Eventually, the language would escalate to “n gger”. No one flinched, an…

[deleted]

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#23

Post by shard972 »

irb wrote: post #5
unstableph wrote: post #2

>At Riot, employees are encouraged to play League before/after work, or during lunch. My very first week at the Dublin office, I heard shouting from individuals playing together, calling each other “f ggots” repeatedly. I was unnerved, but it was my first week and I didn’t know if this was a common occurrence. I didn’t say anything at that time. Eventually, the language would escalate to “n gger”. No one flinched, an…

If use of racist and homophobic slurs is 'gaming culture' then there is problem with gaming culture. I don't really see how that kind of language is something that needs protecting.

I think there is something wrong with a culture that feels the need to supress what is effectively amateur comedy going on within small groups.

Targeted harassment sure, that's not something to just blindly protect but as a homosexual, i see more harm in trying to police jimmy calling his friends faggots playing CoD than I see in allowing people to speak their minds.

Until someone can posit a great explanation for why its funny for me to call my friends faggots when they have kids and I don't and why that is in the end bad for society as a whole, I don't buy the argument we need to be policing speech along these lines.

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#24

Post by xsace »

amarant wrote: post #8

wow, I would expect such behavior from teenage gamers, but I'm surprised to see it reported among (presumably adult) game-devs. what is perhaps even more surprising is that they seem to somehow be able to cooperate enough to deliver a undeniably popular game. don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a second that what Meagan says is true. I am simply surprised they manage to produce anything at all in such a culture, le…

> I am simply surprised they manage to produce anything at all in such a culture, let alone a hit game.

The same culture you can find in Holywood, where hundreds of successful movies with unrivaled popular impact were produced.

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#25

Post by shawn »

ohashi wrote: post #19

LoL has to be one of the most toxic communities for any game I've played. It's not shocking that it permeates the culture of the company that created it.

It is shocking. It was completely unheard of behavior at S2 Games. I was shocked to even be in the same market segment.

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#26

Post by pjc50 »

amarant wrote: post #8

wow, I would expect such behavior from teenage gamers, but I'm surprised to see it reported among (presumably adult) game-devs. what is perhaps even more surprising is that they seem to somehow be able to cooperate enough to deliver a undeniably popular game. don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a second that what Meagan says is true. I am simply surprised they manage to produce anything at all in such a culture, le…

They're only directing their hostility at the ""other"". All this shittiness doesn't affect their straight white male devs (the majority), so they can function just fine.

Game devs tend to be gamers who've reached adulthood but would like to stay within the gaming culture. That means they're either acclimatized to or actively enjoy the shittiness.

All this stuff used to be "standard business culture" in the West, and the campaign against it has been a long road since women got the vote.

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#27

Post by throwaway-hn123 »

shard972 wrote: post #23
irb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If use of racist and homophobic slurs is 'gaming culture' then there is problem with gaming culture. I don't really see how that kind of language is something that needs protecting.

I think there is something wrong with a culture that feels the need to supress what is effectively amateur comedy going on within small groups. Targeted harassment sure, that's not something to just blindly protect but as a homosexual, i see more harm in trying to police jimmy calling his friends faggots playing CoD than I see in allowing people to speak their minds. Until someone can posit a great explanation for wh…

> i see more harm in trying to police jimmy calling his friends faggots playing CoD than I see in allowing people to speak their minds.

Who exactly is trying to stop Jimmy? This is about behaviour AT WORK.

Jesus wept, how are some people so utterly dumb?

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#28

Post by EliRivers »

xsace wrote: post #24
amarant wrote: post #8

wow, I would expect such behavior from teenage gamers, but I'm surprised to see it reported among (presumably adult) game-devs. what is perhaps even more surprising is that they seem to somehow be able to cooperate enough to deliver a undeniably popular game. don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a second that what Meagan says is true. I am simply surprised they manage to produce anything at all in such a culture, le…

> I am simply surprised they manage to produce anything at all in such a culture, let alone a hit game. The same culture you can find in Holywood, where hundreds of successful movies with unrivaled popular impact were produced.

You seem to be suggesting that such a culture is not an impediment to success, based on the existence of some success.

I could blindfold myself and throw darts at a board. The fact that I hit the board sometimes doesn't mean that the blindfold isn't an impediment.

Many more movies fail before even reaching the screen. Just because we see some success doesn't mean that the culture isn't an impediment to success. Perhaps a different culture would produce many more successes.

We would need a lot more data before we could draw any such conclusions.

Edit: I see that's exactly what you're saying from your reply; "...such culture is not an impediment to success." I disagree; we cannot draw that conclusion from the data.

Extra edit: Oh, your answer has vanished.

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#29

Post by pjc50 »

shawn wrote: post #20
time0ut wrote: post #17

I have never played league of legends, but one of the things I've heard repeatedly is that there is an extremely toxic culture around the game. If true, it isn't surprising to see that the company has a toxic culture as well. I feel for the author. It is sad that her dream job turned into a nightmare. I just hope some positive change comes from this at Riot and other companies.

Uhh, that logic doesn’t folllow. Heh. I’m a former S2 dev (heroes of newerth, a pretty similar game). The player base is uncontrollable. It’s a bunch of testosterone fueled teens. Granted, we didn’t have any women in leadership positions either, but I’d like to think that was more because we were relatively small and it was Kalamazoo.

> uncontrollable

It's not uncontrollable, you'd just rather have their money than ban them.

Re: Six Months at Riot Games

#30

Post by eeZah7Ux »

unstableph wrote: post #6
vaeix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your gaming culture is not my gaming culture. You can say nasty things to each other without being racist or homophobic, especially at a place of work.

Of course, I agree. As I said there's this new "egalitarian and respectful and social justice and all of that" culture that is being created by the games I mentioned and many others, but traditional online games will probably always follow the "classic" gaming culture. "A place of work", that's another matter; I agree it's unprofessional. I'm talking purely about videogames and those who play them at home.

> I agree it's unprofessional

No, professionalism is something else. Not harassing people is basic human decency.

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