by jtchang on 6/10/16, 7:05 PM
For those not familiar League of Legends is played fairly competitively and usually 5v5 (10 players per game). The only thing that matters in ranked play is whether your team wins or loses.
League has one of the most toxic communities I have ever been a part of. The problem is if even one person decides to troll in a game then the rest of the players really have no choice.
Also I would like to think if you work for Riot you actively try to improve the community. Otherwise I'd fire you too. There is a reason Blizzard GMs are almost routinely respectful.
by doktrin on 6/10/16, 6:47 PM
My first instinct is that this is creepy overreach, and that I'm glad I don't work for Riot. On the other hand, they have the right to big brother their staff - and said staff should probably know better. It's definitely one of the costs of turning a hobby into a job.
That said, still glad I don't work there. To my mind, this sort of company behavior sets an unpleasant precedent, and I kind of like knowing I have the freedom to play a game without worrying about being fired for "snarky passive aggression" or something similar. Maybe I'd feel differently if gaming wasn't just something I did in my spare time.
by sp332 on 6/10/16, 6:38 PM
by Mendenhall on 6/10/16, 7:05 PM
Pretty crazy to me that they would act "toxic" on their own companies game, personal account or not. In my opinion thats just asking for trouble.
by joshmn on 6/10/16, 8:06 PM
I'm interested to see how Blizzard is going to handle its Overwatch community. It's very likely Overwatch will become incredibly competitive, and I don't think Blizzard has ever been a part of that scene (competitive WoW, anyone?)
Time will tell.
by frankmcsherry on 6/10/16, 6:50 PM
"... a quarter of all fired employees had been unpleasant players. Toxic players tended to be toxic employees, even if the reverse wasn't always true."
Isn't this saying the opposite?
by developer2 on 6/12/16, 4:59 AM
The submission site doesn't allow comments from "non-gaming employees", so I will post a response comment here, aimed at Feliz whose comment you can read in the submission site's comments.
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@Feliz, that is exactly the type of indoctrinated response one would expect from a brainwashed, ass-kissing employee. An employer should never be looking into personal lives. Look up what Henry Ford did to his employees for a perfect example of how completely insane it is. Your last paragraph comes across as an egotistical sociopath who is dictating how everyone else should behave.
The stat quoted is that it was discovered that 25% of toxic players were determined to be underperforming employees. That's actually a fairly low percentage; I bet that 25% of employees who fell into the non-toxic player pool would also fall under the umbrella of "toxic employees". Correlation does not equal causation.
Honestly, you sound like someone posting with your real name in hopes that your managers will see your comment and promote you, or at least look upon you favorably compared to your silent coworkers. Taking an activity that employees partake in during their free time to determine employment status is a disgusting practice that should not be permitted under the law.
by zZorgz on 6/10/16, 9:04 PM
Employees aside, toxic nature is inevitable for competitive online games that allow for open communication. To "fix" this may mean to make chat communication closed, or opt-in with friends, or only have a select few chat rooms with heavy moderation, or only allow a select number of phrases, etc. It would require re-thinking how chat communication in games should work, something that say Nintendo and Disney put effort into.
by smadge on 6/10/16, 9:20 PM
What terrible working conditions. Management monitors your off duty leisure activity and uses that to evaluate your on duty performance.
by Pinatubo on 6/10/16, 7:49 PM
Are Riot employees required to play LoL? Are they identified as Riot employees in-game and expected to be ambassadors for the company?
by Pfhreak on 6/10/16, 6:59 PM
Saying nothing about the practice or the article, but is this title accurate? From what I read, the employees were brought into discussions about their behavior, and were not fired.
(Though the article does present that some fired employees were toxic, it was not insinuated that they were fired based on this analysis.)
Edit: Yes, later in the article, it does suggest some employees were let go.
by stormbrew on 6/10/16, 6:18 PM
Couldn't this have a high risk of overfitting (not sure if that's exactly the right word, but I think it conveys the idea) when using it as a predictive or proactive measure? Just because you observe a correlation in the past doesn't mean it will continue into the future, and there's a lot resting on this prediction.
by rhinoceraptor on 6/10/16, 6:35 PM
It seems just a little creepy that you are required to give up your in-game username as a condition of employment.
by onetwotree on 6/10/16, 11:18 PM
MOBAs like LoL and Dota2 do bring out the worst in many people, but in a few they bring out the best - the people who go harder when faced with adversity, who offer gentle, constructive advice and assistance to teammates who are doing badly, and keep their spirits up throughout the worst of defeats.
These are exactly the traits I want in coworkers.
The opposite - blaming everyone but yourself when your team is losing, raging at people who make honest mistakes, playing selfishly, and so on, are the traits I don't want.
Edit: this is all very problematic of course, but if I noticed that someone my company was thinking about hiring was one of my Dota2 friends, I'd put in a good word based on their in game behavior.
by sprkyco on 6/11/16, 1:29 PM
by protomyth on 6/10/16, 8:47 PM
So, what prevents Riot from selling this information to other companies?
by mbesto on 6/10/16, 9:04 PM
Uhh, isn't this illegal?
by outworlder on 6/10/16, 9:01 PM
I hope CCP doesn't do anything like that with their employees. Otherwise, they would all be fired. Or all promoted.
In some games(taking Eve Online as an example), being a dick is just part of the game. As long as you are not doing it in any professional capacity, or insulting people (as opposed to their in-game persona).
by alexandercrohde on 6/11/16, 12:22 AM
This is ridiculous. Now that people know they're being monitored they will make say nice shit on their work accounts and make non-work accounts where they can "be themselves." The system is now useless.
by wnevets on 6/10/16, 6:56 PM
Riot has a history of doing sleazy business dealings. I wouldn't be surprised if trolling wasn't just an excuse to get rid of these employees.
by ffn on 6/10/16, 9:38 PM
Honestly I don't have an opinion on the creepiness / necessity of riot doing this... but anyone else notice how common the dichotomy between "forced politeness" and "free toxicity" occurs in naturally occurring human interactions?
In MOBA games, we have DotA versus LoL
In internet forums, we have 4chan versus Reddit
In nations, we have USA versus China
And even in traditional families, we have dad versus mom
For some reason, even though freedom and structure are polar opposites, as humans we apparently demand access to both.
by davesque on 6/10/16, 9:15 PM
Seems like a slippery slope. For example, what if these "troll" employees were grumpy because of some on-the-job stress factor? Then, by dismissing those employees, Riot would be hurting its chances of diagnosing and solving that problem i.e. they would be treating the symptom but not the cause. I dunno. Just food for thought.
by SFJulie on 6/10/16, 7:24 PM
The world of companies looks like ranked LoL.
Managers really look likes most are trolls
by Pica_soO on 6/10/16, 6:51 PM
Surely, managements accounts where checked too?
by multinglets on 6/11/16, 12:33 AM
If I worked at Riot, I would go quit right now.
by fapjacks on 6/10/16, 7:30 PM
> "Pretty much everyone we spoke with was appalled at their own behaviour. We actually received some essays from employees vowing to change their ways and become not just more considerate gamers but better people,"
Yeah, right. Because that's how you fix toxic behavior. You can just show them they're being assholes. This definitely has nothing to do with threatening their jobs, or anything like that. /s