Just Read on Riot Games employee's protest, discrimination, and sexual harassment, from dualshockers and kotaku:
After employees at Riot Games threatened a walkout of the company’s offices last week in protest of forced arbitration, it seems like those threats of a walkout will today become a reality.
Employees at Riot will be walking out of the offices today in an action that is meant to show that changes are being demanded at the company. The walkout is said to last from 2:00pm PST until 4:00pm PST and a representative from Riot has stated that the company is supporting the actions of those participating. “We respect Rioters who choose to walkout today and will not tolerate retaliation of any kind as a result of participating (or not),” said an email received by Kotaku from a Riot representative.
Over the past year, multiple reports have stemmed from Riot Games stating that the internal culture at the studio has been overwhelmingly negative with the root cause of many of these issues coming from discrimination. This problem has only been amplified even further when Riot moved to block lawsuits related to said discrimination within the past month due to forced arbitration. Many who work at the company feel these policies preventing these lawsuits need to be rectified immediately, hence today’s planned walkout.
“I’m walking out as a symbolic action to signal to leadership that I care about this issue,” said one current employee. “I hope leadership takes the time to seriously listen to the issues.”
100 employees will be participating in today’s walkout, which appears to be the first in game dev history.
Women currently and formerly employed by Riot say they have been passed up for promotions that men received, repeatedly questioned about their gamer credibility, hit on often, regularly insulted or talked over in meetings and, in general, systematically disadvantaged by cultural ideas of what an ideal Riot employee looks and acts like. Employees’ career ascension at Riot is, in theory, guided by an ideal of meritocracy that, employees say, looks more like nepotism and cultural curation. (Riot’s two co-founders, three top bosses and 21 out of its 23-person senior leadership team are men.)
Four former Riot employees have alleged that one male employee in a position of leadership has a recognized history of making sexual comments about or in the presence of colleagues. One former Riot employee alleges he sexually molested her outside of work hours.
According to four Riot employees, the worst-case scenario for today’s walking isn’t getting fired, a common fear for protesting workers. That’s because Riot has said it will not retaliate against employees who participate. Their least-desired outcome is not feeling heard. “The worst-case scenario is that leadership does not budge from their current position and continues to maintain that there will be a ‘future commitment’ about current Rioters,” said one walkout organizer.
After employees at Riot Games threatened a walkout of the company’s offices last week in protest of forced arbitration, it seems like those threats of a walkout will today become a reality.
Employees at Riot will be walking out of the offices today in an action that is meant to show that changes are being demanded at the company. The walkout is said to last from 2:00pm PST until 4:00pm PST and a representative from Riot has stated that the company is supporting the actions of those participating. “We respect Rioters who choose to walkout today and will not tolerate retaliation of any kind as a result of participating (or not),” said an email received by Kotaku from a Riot representative.
Over the past year, multiple reports have stemmed from Riot Games stating that the internal culture at the studio has been overwhelmingly negative with the root cause of many of these issues coming from discrimination. This problem has only been amplified even further when Riot moved to block lawsuits related to said discrimination within the past month due to forced arbitration. Many who work at the company feel these policies preventing these lawsuits need to be rectified immediately, hence today’s planned walkout.
“I’m walking out as a symbolic action to signal to leadership that I care about this issue,” said one current employee. “I hope leadership takes the time to seriously listen to the issues.”
100 employees will be participating in today’s walkout, which appears to be the first in game dev history.
Women currently and formerly employed by Riot say they have been passed up for promotions that men received, repeatedly questioned about their gamer credibility, hit on often, regularly insulted or talked over in meetings and, in general, systematically disadvantaged by cultural ideas of what an ideal Riot employee looks and acts like. Employees’ career ascension at Riot is, in theory, guided by an ideal of meritocracy that, employees say, looks more like nepotism and cultural curation. (Riot’s two co-founders, three top bosses and 21 out of its 23-person senior leadership team are men.)
Four former Riot employees have alleged that one male employee in a position of leadership has a recognized history of making sexual comments about or in the presence of colleagues. One former Riot employee alleges he sexually molested her outside of work hours.
According to four Riot employees, the worst-case scenario for today’s walking isn’t getting fired, a common fear for protesting workers. That’s because Riot has said it will not retaliate against employees who participate. Their least-desired outcome is not feeling heard. “The worst-case scenario is that leadership does not budge from their current position and continues to maintain that there will be a ‘future commitment’ about current Rioters,” said one walkout organizer.