LockerK
2038
Been wondering since this story broke: Is the awful community due to the awful corporate culture, or is the corporate culture a symptom of hiring candidates who are invested in the game and community?
I don’t think it’s an “or” question at all. One aspect interacts and informs the other, like most forces behind societal/behavioral patterns.
I don’t think so. By all accounts Riot has tried more systems to combat community hostility than anyone.
The awful community is a combination of:
-The genre’s roots as a super hardcore mod community
-That it’s a team game where one weak link often can’t be made up for by a better ally
-That game times are generally long, so players get “trapped” in long, hopeless games
-The normal online anonymity reasons
DOTA’s a cesspool too most of the time.
Agree - that’s what I mean. What these guys are doing is not representative of bad management in the tech world - these guys are “special” in the awful things they’re doing.
I didn’t see an update to this story in this thread (if I missed it my apologies) but the IGN staffer that (most likely?) plagiarized the Dead Cells review has been terminated from IGN.
Nesrie
2043
Oh I see. So basically there is bad management in the tech world, known sexism/misogyny, but this is another layer entirely… I’d agree with that. I still think the other problems are super bad so I don’t want to lower the bar in anyway, but Riot games… this is just a whole lot what are they thinking, and also… why hasn’t anyone sued. Oh, that’s right, people get blacklisted, doxxed and attacked on the internet, blamed when they try and take this stuff somewhere.
Yeah, it was posted above by Mr. Tibbs yesterday, along with some followup from Kotaku indicating that the reviewer likely did it before (not for IGN).
Seems like the best way to handle it.
JonRowe
2045
I saw some twitter stories of people digging up other reviews from the guy that were eerily similar to other published reviews as well. I mean, plagiarists typically don’t just do it one time.
Yep, exactly. For instance, I’ve recently been helping some tech firms to develop and implement diversity polices and practices (generally by hiring expert advisors in that field, which I’m certainly not), as well as helping on some related Cdn. government initiatives and there’s no shortage of issues to address and practices that could be improved even by people who have good intentions.
In other words, people shouldn’t think that their organization doesn’t have some equality and fairness issues that should be addressed just because they don’t send dick pics or slap ass like the Riot guys - simplifying the issue by characterizing it with such abhorrent behavior isn’t constructive because people may think their work is done if they just don’t act like venal adolescents, when the more systemic problems are more sophisticated and require deeper analysis and actions.
Gotta say it is super bizzare for me to read about people farting at their co-workers, no matter how “broey” the culture is.
I mean in my office, our team there is 10 guys, sure we joke in the most black/offensive way possible on regular basis, but I don’t remember anyone ever even farting loudly in 10 years I have been here even by accident :)
Yeah, definitely. I can’t imagine working in a place with that level of maturity (or lack thereof). I’ll never understand that kind of behavior, just like I can’t understand teabagging or whatever it is that kids do for shock value these days.
I have literally experienced these actions (farting on each other, ass-grabbing, etc) in both the military and in construction. Never in an office environment though. That’s a new one for me.
That’s very well put.
In my experience in academia, juvenile (or delinquent, actually) behaviour is less frequent, but too frequent already, than the kind of issue discussed a few posts above, where contributions are sidelined or dismissed merely as a result of bias motivated by gender. We have plenty of equal opportunity and diversity policies in place, but still, none of these policies seem to pin down pervasive issues like this.
How do you fix idea is bad because it’s from Jane vs idea is awesome because it’s from Joe? Get rid of management?
kerzain
2052
I’d like to see both presentations side by side. Maybe Joe’s was simply better because he dresses sexier.
Nesrie
2053
This is not just a problem in gaming. When someone figures out the answer, let me know. I’ve seen this happen many, many times.
Granath
2054
It is quite sad when you get this type of indefensible culture in any company in any industry when sympathy for such actions is eroded because others like Jessica Price try to abuse that narrative to cover for their own personal mistakes.The real issues tend to get lost in the noise and the general gaming community just rolls their eyes and thinks “here we go again”.
Nesrie
2055
Yeah if all women were perfect none of this would happen…
Yes, especially when people like yourself go out of your way to conflate, misrepresent and obfuscate both situations in a single post!
Granath
2057
No, I just prefer that the victim card is legitimate when it is played. If you feel that you have to run to the defense of any class that cries foul even when there is no cause to do so, you simply reinforce the belief for some that class is somehow weaker and lesser equipped to deal with normal situations. While your intentions may be pure the result is an actual erosion of their equality. I prefer to hold everyone to the same standard but that is just my approach. If you think that because she is a woman and she must be given a free pass, keep right on fighting that fight but it will not end the way you think.
Just in case you did not catch it lately, Jessica is ranting again and calling customers Nazis. It will be interesting to see if her inability to take any responsibility for abusing a customer will impact her future employment.
At the same time, apparently real discrimination and sexism happens in a place but the response will be more muted because of the apparent double standard given by others in prior situations.
