The riot games say that he wants to clean up his mess, but the people who made it are still there

In mid-August, in front of an audience made up of his own employees, Marc Merrill, co-founder of Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, acknowledged the fault. According to two sources watching, he apologized, his voice choked and he began to cry. Twelve years after the founding of Riot, it had become clear to its employees, League of LegendsCommunity and the general public that Riot was not the utopian game society he intended to be. After Merrill left the scene, the company's top executives answered questions from staff members. One of them was Scott Gelb, director of Riot Operations, the subject of an open secret from the video game company: For years, Gelb was known for fart and sometimes to deceive his colleagues. .

After the meeting, an employee sent an email to the three main business owners, including Gelb, appointing each employee of the Riot offices in Los Angeles, with a concise and confident topic: "That does not matter. was not enough. this immediately followed. Of particular note was the growing concern of employees about Riot's accountability process: "If we do not want to be tolerant of these past leaders or aggression, we must have this fact and admit we are not tolerant.

August 7th Kotaku published the results of an eight-month survey on the culture of Riot Games, described as sexist by more than twenty sources. As a result of this publication, several other employees, past and present, have published or published their own stories of gender discrimination in the 2,500-person gaming company, which is 80% male. Women currently and formerly employed by Riot say they have been ousted for promotions received by men, repeatedly questioned about their player credibility, often solicited, regularly insulted or discussed at meetings and generally Ideal Employee Riot looks and acts like. The professional rise of employees at Riot is, in theory, guided by an ideal of meritocracy which, according to the employees, is more like nepotism and cultural curation. (The two co-founders of Riot, the three main bosses and 21 of the 23 members of his management team are men.) Men interviewed by Kotaku disclosed that, behind closed doors, Riot's so-called "brother culture" allowed caning incidents (hitting or slapping testicles), hitting subordinate employees at corporate parties. sources, exclude women from the highest ranks of the company. In the month since KotakuThe Riot Games report has strived to prove to the public and to its own employees that it can and will hold itself accountable.

Riot recruited a number of organizations and experts in corporate culture, including Frances Frei, a professor at Harvard Business School, who corrected the so-called sexist culture at Uber. (Riot announced this five hours after we asked about it in our request for comment for this article.) Riot also says that she will investigate employee claims and take a series of steps to tackle her culture sexist.

According to sources currently and formerly employed by Riot, who are anonymous because of their fear of retaliation, employees, including those at the highest level of the company, have been the subject of official complaints or have been involved in allegations of harassment or misconduct. Whether or not these men are held responsible should, for some current Riot employees, determine whether Riot is serious about cultural change.

Riot for comment, explained that although they can not go into the details of some investigations for confidentiality reasons, "this cultural evolution remains Riot's top priority and we agree that change must be held responsible. We will ensure that we have the right leaders in place to lead the change we know about rioting needs. If Riot employees reported behaviors Kotaku The references in this article, said the representative, have been, are or will be studied. The representative also highlighted his new Executive Committee, consisting of two male directors from Tencent and Professor Youngme Moon from Harvard Business School – including co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, who also serve on the board, will not be members committee … that would make allegations against co-founders or senior managers.

Six employees, past and present, stated that work in the company had slowed down and that in some cases, such as during recruitment, they had been briefly arrested after the public revelation of Riot's culture. While current employees surveyed say that, in most cases, rioters largely recognize the tax that their culture demanded from employees, a small contingent argues that employees who stand up are too sensitive. In Slack chains and meeting rooms, employees try to understand what a diverse and inclusive riot looks like, and to educate each other about behaviors that are harmful to women. Male employees treat their past actions and self-assess, according to sources. "In a slack chain turned to the public, there was a rash of" I'm here, I have a penis, I decided to pay attention to that for the first time in my life. I am convinced that we love each other so that we can overcome that, "said one current employee. "There were about 100. The common answer we started to joke was a guy setting up a face-to-face with a woman to say," But I'm not hurt right? " Three sources have independently described Riot as a "powder keg".

Three days later Kotaku published his investigation, Riot released his first public correspondence to fans – a tweet which reads as follows: "To listen, we must remain silent. You have not heard from us because we focus on listening and internal support. In the coming weeks and months, we will share the immediate and long-term actions we are taking to make a difference for women at Riot. Three weeks later, Riot succeeded. The blog included Riot's first public apology: "We're sorry." Riot promised sweeping changes to address allegations of widespread sexism, including expanding his diversity and inclusion initiative and "doubling" training. Riot evaluates the values ​​of his company and puts the emphasis on hiring "basic players".

In his post, Riot wrote: "We are ready to make big changes and have started to take action against specific cases, including the rioters' revocation, although we probably do not have access to these details at all. case by case. for legal reasons and respect for privacy. The next message was "Nobody and nothing is sacred". Twenty-three Riot employees interviewed for this story are still not convinced, many men involved in allegations of misconduct towards their colleagues. ranging from angered fraternity-house humor to sexual assault, are apparently still at work. Although Riot and his consultants are still investigating the allegations against the management of the company and the continued employment status of these men is under surveillance, some current employees believe that their dismissal is forthcoming.

To collect information for investigations, victims of sexism in Riot meet with HR and, in some cases, with Seyfarth-Shaw, the law firm that helps with crisis management. Some of these allegations are led by an anonymous team. Seyfarth-Shaw is known for his boiling unions and is considered an expert in class actions. The firm also represented the company during at least one previous incident involving a complaint of sexual misconduct. Riot said, "We are working with Seyfarth Shaw, a very reputable employment law firm, which has always worked with various clients and files on both sides of many issues. They will support us and hold us accountable for the promises we have made and the processes with which we have worked with them. The firm favors D & I [diversity and inclusion] initiatives, and we believe that their values ​​are strongly aligned with ours.

"The seizure of ball and things like that – it was absolutely known at all levels."

"The question we asked around the office is," Is there another level of responsibility in this regard? Are we going to punish people for transgressions until we reach a certain level of seniority? "Said a current employee. A representative from Riot, questioned about some employees' skepticism about Riot's investigation process, said: "We have systems in place that ensure the same level of rigor in all investigations, regardless of their age. .

Two sources report that about 30 employees left the company in the past month, but Riot did not confirm a specific number. Although some outings were planned or unrelated to allegations of misconduct, several employees "resigned", according to e-mails obtained by Kotaku, the most important of which is a vice president named Lance Stites, who was in Riot for seven years. Reached by Facebook Messenger, Stites said Kotaku he had given notice in April and was "ready for a break", but when asked if the revelations about the sexist culture of society had played a role, he replied, "Partially. I think society appreciates diversity and fairness … but I was not perfect and I recognize that my humor or my behavior was not up to par. And when I think of how it might have given the example to others, I think that all leaders behave extremely [sic] high bar. (Three sources alleged that Stites boasted of having visited striptease clubs while traveling abroad and in California, although Stites stated that he "rarely attended clubs". striptease. ")

According to sources, at least three other men in management positions – who still seem to be employed by Riot – to HR or Riot consultants. A former employee recently sent a list containing about ten names of alleged harassers or problem employees to relevant parties at Riot.

Chief Operating Officer Scott Gelb, whose three sources have seen male genitals and five others have seen farting near or on male employees, still seems to be in the business. Sources claim that he was also known for joking with colleagues at the office and often making dirty jokes to staff members. "It's become quite normal," said one employee who witnessed Gelb's comedy style, which several sources have described as "homoerotic." Another person said: Everyone knew who had done it. Some people have found it funny. Some of us looked at it and thought, "Uh, is that really how you want to do that?" But he was promoted. He was well known that he had done it and nobody stopped him. Other former employees who have witnessed this behavior say they believe it has spread to the lower ranks of society, where the brotherhood mentality had alienated or hurt women. When a former employee read KotakuThe statement that a senior person in the company was known to fool people, she said, "I asked everyone I knew who was the tweeting bandit of the article. The worst was that everyone had a different answer!

Gelb has not responded to a request for comment.

Four former employees of Riot claimed Kotaku A male employee in a leadership position has a recognized history of sexual comments about co-workers or colleagues. A former employee of Riot alleges that he sexually assaulted her outside of work hours.

Four former Riot employees allege that a leader verbally harassed employees, sometimes crushing women's careers while gaining minimal momentum in the company. According to a source, he "systematically destroyed the careers of women under his responsibility" by proposing with great ideas or by challenging his strategies, which several female sources who claimed to have lived with that confirmed.

Contact the Special Projects Office

This post was produced by the Special Projects Office of Gizmodo Media. Contact our team by phone, SMS, Signal or WhatsApp at (917) 999-6143, email us at [email protected] or contact us securely using SecureDrop.

Reached for a comment, a representative of Riot said Kotaku that investigations take time. "We have worked with experts to develop an investigation process that we believe will lead to the right conclusions. In order for our investigations to produce fair and equitable results, we must be consistent and comprehensive with each case, including a thorough and unbiased assessment of all available evidence. It takes time and has to follow a process. In this way, we can talk to all witnesses as they arise and protect complainants from potential interference or retaliation. We will not accelerate this process, take shortcuts or draw premature conclusions with only part of the facts, regardless of internal or external pressures.

Late last week, two Riot employees who spoke openly about women's issues in the company left the company after a controversial session at the PAX West convention in Seattle. The session was designed to help women and non-binary people get into the gaming industry and exclude men, which caused an uproar among League of LegendsThe Reddit community, many of whom described the session as "sexist". After Riot asked employees not to engage with these angry fans, Riot employee Daniel Klein called the fans on Twitter. He tried to explain why the group was not sexist and aimed to empower women and non-binary players. At one point, angry fans were "manbabies" and the subject of Reddit a "toxic landfill site". Former employee Mattias Lehman, who had already spoken openly about sexism at Riot, defended him on Twitter. Lehman subsequently left the company in fuzzy circumstances and, the same day, Klein said The edgehe was fired for "violating social media policy".

At the time, Riot said Kotaku"These departures are independent of our efforts to evolve our culture. Our culture remains our highest priority and we remain committed to taking the necessary steps to become a leader in diversity and inclusion. We will always encourage rioters to share their views and we fully support rioters' efforts to promote our diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The abuses provoked outrage among some Riot employees who believe it sends a negative message to employees desperate for cultural change. One of them said: "Riot Games has sent Mattias and Daniel back, apparently, to oppose the exact perpetrators of the culture that makes discrimination so prevalent.

Riot's executives, including its president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer, have pledged to resign by the end of 2019 if the company's cultural problems are not significantly improved. More than half a dozen sources interviewed think that these executives are too generous to themselves. "People at the top are way too isolated," said a former employee. "Most people receive a three-month PIP [performance improvement plan] before they are sent back. "

Several sources pointed out that Riot's leaders were not content to learn about the cultural problems of society. Three years ago, co-founder Marc Merrill sent an e-mail to launch a roundtable on diversity, where it said, "There has been a lot of discussion around various diversity topics recently (in particular about gender). be a clear signal that a more open dialogue is needed on this subject "(Update: An earlier version of this article stated that this email was sent in 2016 and not in 2015. We have updated accordingly). The fact that Riot has been aware of this for the past three years has infuriated some former employees who feel that the company's executives are not really taking their responsibilities or have not done their job properly. "We gave them so much time to solve this problem," it was said. Kotaku"And they still have not defined tangible and measurable goals. They did not have three weeks to think about it. "

"I was not going to be able to effectively influence the culture in Riot, and my first significant attempt to raise concerns had put my job at risk."

Some current and former employees interviewed are adamant that Riot co-founders Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck should resign, but most are skeptical that this ever happens. Merrill and Beck are responsible for the culture of Riot's "core players" and his deep respect for the idea of ​​meritocracy, which sources say favors employees who integrate with them. 27 blog post written by Barry Hawkins, former director of product management at Riot. She implicated Beck and Merrill in the proliferation of an apparently involuntary rape joke: "No, that does not necessarily mean no. After expressing his concerns, he was summoned to a meeting with Merrill, Beck and two other Riot employees to discuss "Riot Voice and Sense of Humor" (Hawkins' colleague confirmed this report in an article separate). Here is an excerpt from his description of this meeting:

"At one point, I think I called the slogan a joke for rape. Brandon took a picture of a t-shirt on which an iceberg floated in the water with the words "just the tip", and said he had this t-shirt and that I was thinking about it. I said that I did not think it was appropriate. This resulted in a little back and forth between Marc, Brandon and me, followed by Brandon for several minutes. I think Brandon felt misunderstood and misinterpreted and that my mail implied that I thought he was tolerating the rape. After talking for several minutes, Marc said, "So, what do you think of what he said?" I replied, "I think he thinks that sort of thing is fine and that I do not do it.

"This led Brandon to talk about not supporting rape, but also about our culture and sense of humor. After a long talk, Marc again asked what I thought Brandon had said. I answered that as a white man, I thought that they had all the insight they could get from me, and if they wanted more , they should ask the women present. I remember that it did not go well.

Hawkins felt that his relationships with his male colleagues changed because he denounced the remark "No does not necessarily mean no" and therefore, reported that it was not "in form of culture ". will be able to effectively influence the culture at Riot, and my first significant attempt to raise concerns has put my job at risk, "he wrote in his post.

Reached by phone, Hawkins reiterated that he thought that the behavior of the riot bosses had an impact on the culture of the society, which allowed and even tolerated incidents of sexism. "Emulation has made it more widespread," he said. "It has created fertile ground for sexism not to be mastered."

While some current rioters believe that Beck and Merrill should be punished for their role in creating Riot's culture and allowed them to feed themselves, others believe their resignation would be more of a gesture and Riot would do better. prioritize other surveys and diversity initiatives. An employee of Riot, sympathizing with the gigantic task of the leaders, said: Kotaku"I understand people who ask them to withdraw because they think they are not equipped to handle that. I think if they eventually quit, we had to spend a lot of time looking for the right choice to replace them. I think the D3 [COO, CEO and president] and [co-founders] Marc and Brandon are in their shoes to make a commitment to change Riot's culture so that they are more inclusive and diverse, even if they are not the best informed. I think that commitment means something.

A current employee, questioning the claim that no one was really safe from Riot's investigations, had a simple question for Gelb: