Culture at Riot Games: Toxic or Terrific?

Katty Polyak
Sep 5, 2018 · 7 min read

I wanted to share my thoughts on something that has come out in the last month: the allegations of sexual harassment and “bro culture” at Riot Games. Riot Games is a company that I follow regularly for several key reasons. One, I have been playing their flagship game, League of Legends, since 2011 and have put thousands of hours into playing during that time. Two, many of my friends are Rioters (for the uninitiated: what Riot Games calls its employees). And finally, as someone heavily interested in improving workplace culture, I have often looked at Riot as a place with a model culture. As recently as 2016, Riot Games was rated #39 on Fortune’s Best Companies To Work For. That opinion was challenged when Kotaku writer Cecelia D’Anastasio published her article, “Inside the Culture of Sexism at Riot Games”.

The reaction to the article was immediate and fierce; Since it was published on August 7, 2018, things have been coming out of the woodwork the same way they did when #MeToo blew the film industry’s dark secrets out of the closet. The article was shared on Reddit countless times, including on the /r/leagueoflegends subreddit. In contrast to the usual fare of complaints about balance changes and posts about what’s happening in League of Legends e-sports, users were now struggling with a much heavier issue.

Is it real?

The first question I asked myself after reading the Kotaku article that started it all, was “Did this really happen, and how did I not know?” Of course, I’d seen the firestorm that was GamerGate and of course, I knew exactly why I rarely revealed that I was female when playing League of Legends. I just thought that since so many of my friends were Rioters or were dating Rioters, I would have heard something about the sexism and inappropriate behavior in the article.

The truth is, I think we were all a little bit blind. Because Riot Games is currently around 80% male and 20% female, if you were male, odds were pretty low that you would be working with someone female on your team. And in fact, this was true for several of my friends. When I would join my friends for dinner on Riot’s campus, I often would be one of a few women at the table. Typically, this wouldn’t bother me because growing up with two brothers and no sisters has made it easy for me to connect with and talk to men. However, there have been times when being the only woman at the table made me feel out of place. But was this real or imagined?

Where do we go from here?

Part of what makes this solution so complex is that Riot Games is known for having a great culture. People enjoying working there, they give people a lot of flexibility, there are great benefits, and it’s a place where gamers feel like they fit in. But are there times when you can fit in and feel left out all at once?

As Riot has grown, what we’ve learned is that there are some people who don’t feel comfortable even though they fit in as Rioters. Because women have historically been the minority in games like League of Legends, gaming culture has evolved around the assumption that all gamers are men. Since Riot recruits from this pool of gamers, these attitudes and behaviors can occasionally carry over into the workplace. In addition, while it feels great to work with your friends, sometimes it can be hard to draw the line between how you should behave around friends at work and friends at home. Do we filter ourselves when we are among different groups of people? Yes, of course. But it can be hard to remember that the joke you usually make to your friend while just hanging out together might not be appropriate while you’re at work. At some companies, it’s not okay to make any type of joke. I don’t think any Rioter wants to see Riot turn into that kind of office.

Recruiting: Casting a wider net (& shifting the game)

Part of the problem with having a culture where minorities feel excluded is that you’re limiting your talent pool. Those who feel like they don’t belong at Riot because of their gender or other characteristics won’t even bother to apply. In addition, our own biases often lead us to hire those most similar to ourselves because we feel that the person best suited to the job thinks and works similar to the way we do. As a result, a predominantly male company will often recruit an equally high proportion of men into new roles as the company grows. Recruiting “more of the same” can result in group-think and a large blind spot in how to solve problems and challenges. On the other hand, recruiting for diversity in thought and experience in addition to skills can result in some very interesting ideas and solutions. The “perfect person” for the role you’re trying to fill may look nothing like what you imagined.

The process of changing Riot’s culture is exactly that: a process. The first part of this process is for Rioters to discuss what the main issues are and their impact.

  • What defines sexism at Riot?
  • What creates the “bro culture” described in the article?
  • What kind of jokes are okay?
  • What causes fewer women to apply for jobs at Riot?
  • What can Riot do to become a leader in diversity?
  • Are there programs that Riot can look at to increase that participation?

I believe one key focus for Riot should be to create a brand that widens the recruiting pipeline and allows Riot to actually attract women into the videogame industry, rather than just capturing women who would end up in tech or gaming regardless. For example, Blizzard is a partner with Girls Who Code for their Summer Immersion program. Through this program, Blizzard hosts female high schoolers at their corporate campus who learn through project-based computer programming and meet female engineers. Blizzard also recently partnered with Girls Inc. to bring 10 Orange County high school girls to their QA and IT departments for a chance to explore career paths in technology. These high schoolers shadowed employees, assembled a computer, and even got to playtest some Blizzard games. These types of programs are important because they introduce girls before they choose their college major or career path. Just meeting a role model who looks like you can be very encouraging when entering an industry where you will be a minority.

Changing the perception of a profession can work wonders as well. Traditionally, women have strong communication and collaboration skills. Conversely, in general, men are very good at focusing heavily on a specific problem and thrive in a competitive environment. We think of engineering as a male dominated field and indeed it is. However, software engineering started out predominantly female. The shift was entirely due to a change in perception of the type of work engineering entailed. Shifting towards highlighting the parts of engineering that women typically have strengths in can go a long way. There are already areas where software engineers work collaboratively. Some examples of this are pair programming and code reviews — places where strong communication skills would be a true asset. If Riot Games can highlight those practices as commonplace at Riot, more women will be driven to apply to engineering positions at Riot and hiring managers will have a larger talent pool to choose from.

Many people like to say “There are just not that many women out there who can fill the roles we want to fill.” However, there are women in STEM, there are women in engineering, and other companies are recruiting them. Cornell University recently announced that the incoming Class of 2022 to their College of Engineering will contain an equal number of male and female undergraduates. After all the effort that goes into recruiting, Riot would certainly be remiss to lose a female new hire because of a crude joke or team mate that talks over women and not men.

The issue of diversity and inclusion is certainly not unique to Riot Games. At Amazon, leaders have recently adopted the “Rooney Rule” which originated in the NFL and makes interviewing minorities for positions on coaching teams the standard. For Amazon, the Rooney Rule means that women and people of color will be included in the candidate pool for board openings. Adopting a similar policy for all openings at Riot would help eliminate some hiring biases and obstacles which result in a less diverse group of new hires.

Moving Forward

Riot Games is currently going through a very difficult time. Since the Kotaku article, they’ve communicated their first steps in acting upon the issues which have recently come to light. This includes increased focus on diversity & inclusion, increased training, and a closer look at branding and recruiting. I feel confident that Riot can take huge steps forward to clean up their culture while retaining what makes Riot such a unique place to work. It won’t be easy, it won’t be quick, but it will definitely be worth it. The employees at Riot Games owe it to themselves to keep pushing until Riot can be a great place to work for all.

What do you think about the issues that Riot Games is facing? Do you think that they have handled the situation well so far? Leave me a comment below with your thoughts.

Further Reading

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