Official report of the social impact of the creators of LoL

League of Legends is a community of over 80 million players. Online multiplayer gameplay started in 2009 and its community continues to grow. Within the program developed by Riot Games, users must work in teams to win the game. The interaction between them leads them to have to talk and form friendships during the long hours they dedicate to the game. Tolerance, respect and inclusion of all must be paramount and present in such an important product.
Riot Games is an American company that develops video games and organizes eSports tournaments. In addition to having in its catalog one of the most important games in the industry such as League of Legends (remember that it is one of the most relevant titles in the field of eSports where millions of dollars are awarded in prizes), it has Team Fight Tactis, Legends of Runeterra and one of the most anticipated releases of 2020 as Valorant. More than 2,500 people work at the firm.
The importance of a company like Riot Games is great if you look at the number of people who are part of the firm, the money they receive and the number of users who are part of the virtual community. For this relevance, any news related to social inclusion in League of Legends or cases of discrimination within the company have a lot of repercussion.
After the accusations received during 2018, Riot Games started 2019 with the decision to change and improve the image around what implies social inclusion and gender equality and minority policies. On May 12, the firm released the official information it shared with its shareholders on the subject.

Strong accusations

During 2018 the news about League of Legends was not only about updates or the inclusion of new characters. Employees of the company that develops the game denounced through the specialized site Kotaku severe attitudes of discrimination and harassment mainly motivated by gender issues.
The lawsuit described a "toxic work culture" and ranged from difference in wages to sexual harassment and lack of presence of women in top positions. At the end of 2019, Riot Games decided to compensate around 1,000 employees who were part of the collective legal complaint with $ 10 million. The applicants were workers who had been with the company since 2014.

Refounding in diversity and equality

Given the importance of promoting social inclusion in the company in charge of League of Legends and to remedy the bad image generated by demand, Riot Games said that 2019 was a “foundational” year in terms of equality.
On April 29 they distributed a text on the company's official website detailing the changes that were made within the company. Although they recognized that there is still work to do, they affirmed that working groups were held to improve the situation and focus on the transparency of what happens behind the scenes.
Among the measures adopted, it was decided to hire more women and people belonging to ethnic minorities (Riot Games considers African-Americans, Latinos, people of Hispanic origin and Alaska Natives in this group). The statement details in numbers each of the changes registered where, for example, worldwide the hiring of women increased by 31% in general lines and the presence of female representatives at the managerial level rose 1%.

Social impact report

On May 12, the company in charge of League of Legends released the 2019 social impact report to its investors on its official site. In addition to reviewing the activities in the area of ​​donations that Riot Games carries out through the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, the company described in detail all the programs it organized in 2019 to improve its inclusion policies and treatment of its employees in general.
The actions were aimed at providing opportunities, supporting education and improving the working conditions of the members of the firm.
Jeffrey Burrell is the manager of social responsibility at Riot Games and maintains at the beginning of the report that:

“Making a positive impact is, and always has been, part of our DNA. As we work hard to launch our new games in 2020, we will also make sure to update the community with the progress we are making so far through our pillars of: Education, Opportunity, and Citizenship.”

The latest news about League of Legends and the policies taken by Riot Games focus on improving something as important as social inclusion in one of the most popular games on the market.