The Story of why i left Riot Games

[KaNesDeath]

http://barryhawkins.com/blog/posts/the-story-of-why-i-left-riot-games/


Interesting read and take on his employment there. Got that Jeff Skilling vibe from it.

 

[The Clinch]

May know some folks on the inside and well, it's a pretty big ordeal.

 

[cmw43]

I need a bit more info to go on here, whats Riot Games?

Lazy thread.

 

[usmctanker242]

So the guy got his panties in a bunch because someone said "sometimes No doesn't mean No" in regards to recruiting...with an example of how persistence paid off in hiring an employee? All this bullshit and drama over something so silly? People need to quit being a bunch of pussies.

By the way, the definition of rape doesn't have to involve sex...it can mean other things. When someone says their team raped another team it's perfectly fine and doesn't always carry the sexual battery connotations. From Merriam Webster :

2: an outrageous violation
3: an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force

 

[KaNesDeath]

So the guy got his panties in a bunch because someone said "sometimes No doesn't mean No" in regards to recruiting...with an example of how persistence paid off in hiring an employee? All this bullshit and drama over something so silly? People need to quit being a bunch of pussies.

Was an answer during Q&A and then presented on display as a talking point during their presentation for hiring practices. Which meant it was a premeditated comment.

Im a bit confused that a comments origin discrediting rape allegations being etched into a corporations hiring practices is viewed as "being a bunch of pussies".

 

[loyalyolayal]

Tencent doesn't give af.

 

[usmctanker242]

Was an answer during Q&A and then presented on display as a talking point during their presentation for hiring practices. Which meant it was a premeditated comment.

Im a bit confused that a comments origin discrediting rape allegations being etched into a corporations hiring practices is viewed as "being a bunch of pussies".

Do you not understand subtext? They meant "sometimes no doesn't mean no" in regards to persistence rather than rape. Are you really going to stick your feet in the sand on this silly comment and act like it's a huge deal? Anybody getting their panties in a twist over this is just being absurd and looking for a reason to whine. Sounds straight up like Anita Sarkeesian territory.

 

[Minnja]

Edgelords are just as bad as SJW. I grew up playing video games and using all the types of shit talking involved in gaming culture but it just feels wrong to use the word rape now. Mostly because I started noticing how awkward things got when someone would make a joke using the word 'rape' near women ("wow get raped, damn they got raped etc."). Back when my friends and I would say it more often it'd be online or when it was just us playing video games in a room, but when it started creeping into other social activities/events it just felt really wrong and stupid.

Same with the word '' . I used to use the word when I was younger, and in a way that equated to basically calling someone a 'bitch' or something similar and not because I dislike gay people. Nowadays I never say it out loud although I do use it sometimes when messaging certain friends (the ones I grew up with and used it the same way I do)

 

[Minnja]

Do you not understand subtext? They meant "sometimes no doesn't mean no" in regards to persistence rather than rape. Are you really going to stick your feet in the sand on this silly comment and act like it's a huge deal? Anybody getting their panties in a twist over this is just being absurd and looking for a reason to whine. Sounds straight up like Anita Sarkeesian territory.

Lmao really? What do you think people were laughing about?

 

[reveler]

cliff's notes:

"blah blah blah virtue signaling"

right on the front page of this forum there is a thread title referencing "master race." call the cops, its a nazi/holocaust joke.

 

[rob mafia]

yay, another virtue signaling pussy waving a cuck flag so the trigglypuffs know he's such a great and wonderful person.

tl;dr - the guy who left is a big baby.

 

[KaNesDeath]

right on the front page of this forum there is a thread title referencing "master race." call the cops, its a nazi/holocaust joke.

Thats a valid point. Recall even Terry Crews had an issue with that term when he first got into Pc Gaming.

Its acceptance though is a byproduct of being the third generation since WW2 and applying to a non-racial element of computer hardware.

Think it was around 2003 civil rights activist came out asking OS developers to stop using the terms "Master/Slave". An i cant even remember the last time i heard someone refer to such a system setup like that. Term of primary/secondary is used now.

 

[Naramie]

I need a bit more info to go on here, whats Riot Games?

Lazy thread.

Riot games made a free to play game called League of Legends that was based off a popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients aka. DOTA. LOL was immensely successful and was the most popular PC game in the late 2000's and early 2010. It was a huge cash cow est. worth of $1.5B which isn't as much now since there's so many mobile developers these days making even more money. But at the time they were the leading money maker in the F2P space. The game is still popular but other games like Fortnite have taken over.

 

[Phelly2]

I'm okay with this guy deciding to quit because he didn't like the culture. That's every individual's right.

Buuuuuuuut if you're that concerned about such things as "our team got raped because x, y, z", I'm going to suggest that game development might not be the right industry for you.

 

[Madmick]

Riot, Netflix, Hulu, Blizzard...goddamn, that's quite a résumé. Okay, I'll listen...though I may not believe, figuratively speaking.

I got to the third paragraph before I realized I was dealing with a histrionic language fascist:

So, when people would say things to the group like “the other team raped us because our mid kept jungling,” I would attempt to reflect back more appropriate language by saying back to them “so you’re saying your team lost because you weren’t working together.” I can’t say that I think it had much impact, but I figured this was the long game, and slow and steady would win the race. Cultural change requires perseverance and consistency over a prolonged period of time, right?

Fourth paragraph didn't improve things:

The sexual references by straight men directly towards other straight men were a more complicated issue. It would often be homosexual in nature, but could also be sexually aggressive toward your significant other. You might be talking to a leader about conflict with a peer, and they’d respond with “man, you’re acting like he had sex with your wife.” Or they might start a paragraph by saying “Now for instance, if I fucked your wife…” and then segue into what they were actually supposed to be saying. The homosexual variants would be things like “well if he sucked your dick, would you feel better about this?” or “it’s not like I’m asking you to suck my dick, but I’d be OK with it if you did.”

I've known this person for four paragraphs, and I already despise him.

This behavior of male-on-male aggression seemed to be a mechanism of asserting control. If you got rattled by it or responded angrily, you were seen as immature or insecure, and how could such a person be an effective Rioter, especially in a leadership role? So, the way a number of men coped with it was to not respond, and not appear provoked. Sadly, a very common coping mechanism that many men chose was to begin to exhibit the aggressive behavior themselves, often with greater intensity than they had seen it modeled. The net effect was that disagreement with the behavior was silenced, emulation of the behavior made it more prevalent, and the overall environment became fertile ground for sexism toward both men and women to run unchecked.

Yeah, we call that adaptation. That's how you stop being a victim, and start wielding power. If you cannot find a way to respond that achieves the upper hand in these situations without resorting to the same tactics then you have already conceded that "more mature" tactics are inferior: less effective at asserting control-- weaker.

If you, as a superior, find any language inappropriate, you sit an employee down, and you explain precisely what language is unacceptable in the workplace. Problem solved.

But, oh well, the fact he's a snowflake wooed by the notion of thought crime doesn't mean there might be something more serious going on, so I kept reading.

The Event

The Friday kicked off with an AMA with Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, where they shared stories about how taking Talent Acquisition seriously since the early days had been key to Riot’s success. (For those who haven’t heard the term before, AMA stands for “ask me anything”, and it refers to a loosely-structured type of interview popularized by Reddit.) The two shared some great stories about candidates they pursued who were critical to getting League of Legends shipped in those first harrowing months of launching. Then they shared an example of how one candidate did not take an offer initially, but because we persevered and followed up, they eventually did take our offer. At the end of that example, Brandon laughed and said, “I was about to say something.” He paused, and then went on to say, “No doesn’t necessarily mean no.”

The next five to eight seconds seemed like minutes. The hall we were in was about three times wider than it was deep, and I was seated just right of center toward the front. Pockets of raucous laughter broke out distributed about the room among lots of silence. I looked to my left and locked eyes with my original hiring manager, and we shared a one-second look of “Did this just happen?” The AMA continued for a bit, and then we went into a day full of workshops. I told myself that it was probably just a misstep, because there was no way Brandon would purposely use rape as an analogy for persistence in recruiting, and it would just fade into the background.

However, at the end of the day, Nancy got up to give a recap with a slide deck. And there, in the recap, she had a slide with “no doesn’t necessarily mean no” on it, and she’s reiterating it as a slogan of sorts. At this point I am concerned, and also anxious. “I think I am going to have to say something. God, I don’t want to have to do this.” We dismissed and went to a happy hour in the hotel, and the offsite ended. That weekend, I debated whether this merited bringing the issue to leadership. Was it that bad? I mean, it was bad, but was it bad enough for me to put myself at risk by saying something?

Nope, I hate him even more.

The above should be required reading in every office of Silicon Valley.

 

[Zazen]

yay, another virtue signaling pussy waving a cuck flag so the trigglypuffs know he's such a great and wonderful person.

tl;dr - the guy who left is a big baby.

You're such an idiot. Do you not realize you are that which you hate?

No, he is not a big baby. He is a real man who doesn't need to use horrible language to feel like more of a man. He knows who he is and he has enough confidence to walk away from a company because at the end of the day he values his beliefs more than a job. Clearly, the guy is an intelligent dude to be working for all these companies. Stop being a hater.

This should be a professional workplace where people can come in and share their ideas to make the game as great as possible. Nobody wants to hear this shit all day, this guy just wanted to do his job. I know exactly how he feels because if you play games online this is exactly how guys talk. I guess I can't say I'm surprised considering how many males in the gaming industry and incels.

 

[rob mafia]

You're such an idiot. Do you not realize you are that which you hate?

No, he is not a big baby. He is a real man who doesn't need to use horrible language to feel like more of a man. He knows who he is and he has enough confidence to walk away from a company because at the end of the day he values his beliefs more than a job. Clearly, the guy is an intelligent dude to be working for all these companies. Stop being a hater.

This should be a professional workplace where people can come in and share their ideas to make the game as great as possible. Nobody wants to hear this shit all day, this guy just wanted to do his job. I know exactly how he feels because if you play games online this is exactly how guys talk. I guess I can't say I'm surprised considering how many males in the gaming industry and incels.

TRIGGLYPUFF DETECTED.

 

[Zazen]

TRIGGLYPUFF DETECTED.

I don't even know what that means.

 

[LTJGE]

Spot the gamergate losers.

 

[usmctanker242]

I don't even know what that means.

You're in for a treat, but maybe not because you're rightfully being compared to this silly woman.