Riot Games, developer of League of Legends, is still under fire for its workplace sexism scandal, and a female game designer at Riot has weighed in on the issue online. Senior game designer Katie Chironis shared her firsthand experience as a woman both at Riot and in the gaming industry, an industry with an unfortunate reputation for sexism against women and discrimination against marginalized employees well beyond what has been experienced at Riot.
Allegations of workplace discrimination at Riot first came to light in 2019 when current and former Riot employees spoke out about sexism and discrimination in their workplace in a scathing exposé. What followed was a circus of ongoing allegations, investigations, lawsuits, and walkouts that permanently tarnished Riot's reputation in the gaming industry.
But as any woman involved in video games in any capacity can testify, sexism in gaming has never been unique to any one company or community. That's a point that Riot Games senior game designer sex crimes in the gaming industry is not unique to Riot, but rather, unique when it isn't found at a gaming company. Significantly, she revealed that the reason she remains at Riot despite its issues is that its workforce is actively working to change the environment at Riot. The developer's management, for its part, is not threatening their employees into silence according to Chironis, which she says she's experienced elsewhere in the industry.
Riot has been criticized widely since its sexual harassment and discrimination allegations first came to light, and the studio continues to face community backlash and even losing a potentially lucrative partnership with Alienware over its forced arbitration practice and toxic workplace accusations. It's hard to argue that such backlash isn't well-deserved, especially as a warning to other companies that discriminatory practices won't be tolerated. But what makes Chironis's thread so powerful, apart from the fact that it's a female voice from within a male-dominated work culture, is that she nevertheless has faith in Riot's (and the industry's) ability to do better.
Chironis is, for her part, aware of her own particular privileges as part of the greater conversation, and it's important to know that status as a white cis woman affords her greater protection than women who are trans and/or of color. Nevertheless, she reminds readers that social progress is being measured in inches, not miles, and making that progress is the responsibility of anyone who can safely advocate for and implement it. If Riot is at least refraining from trying to silence its workforce, then the efforts Chironis and fellow employees have made in order to bring equality and safety back into Riot have not been made in vain.
Source: Katie Chironis
