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Another take on what it's like to work there when the copy isn't curated by HR and PR. https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Riot-Games-Reviews-E247538.htm https:/

Another take on what it's like to work there when the copy isn't curated by HR and PR. https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Riot-Games-Reviews-E247538.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Riot-Games-Reviews-E247538... Written 1/24/2020 - 11 days ago, Pros - Colleagues who really really care about what they're doing - The best campus and amenities you're going to see in LA - Being surrounded by other gamers/people of similar ages and hobbies - Cool products - a ton of R&D Cons - toxic, extremely harmful culture for women/nbs, poc and those who don't play the game with the ol' boys club - lawsuits galore - sexual harassment left and right, especially from executives and skip levels - work/life balance is non-existent, and the great amenities help keep you there. (Lots of divorces happen because of this place.) - don't expect a title that reflects your actual skillset unless you're sleeping with someone, or are a man who knows how to trade on social currency. Riot likes to hire people who are overqualified and make them battle to the death for promotions

shoulderfake 7y ago
Why the hell would anyone work at a place like that
- scrumbledober 7y ago
  It seems to be a common theme in the video game industry. There are so many people that are very passionate about video games to a degree that they will take a lower salary and worse working conditions than they could get coding for any other industry. It's passion exploitation.
- myoon 7y ago
  Probably a combination of wanting to work on games, and if you make it through the gauntlet you get exercise a lot of power and reap whatever "rewards" may come with that. Maybe it's a similar mindset to enduring working at a consulting/law/finance firm hoping to make partner, etc.
- papreclip 7y ago
  the sexual harassment stuff can be pretty invisible if you aren't a target yourself regarding the identity politics stuff, some people live and breath IP and their perception of untenable conditions would be unremarkable to me (e.g. a 22 yr old saying "that's so ghetto") work-life balance is a deal-breaker for me, but in my early 20s maybe it wouldn't have been if i spent half the work day playing my favorite video game
scrumbledober 7y ago
Reading through this I thought "this sounds like everything I heard about Riot a few years ago but I wonder if things have changed more recently" then I saw the time stamp...
- 0x8BADF00D 7y ago
  Any company in the games industry is like this. It’s a sweatshop.
  - SeanBoocock 7y ago
    No, there are many, perhaps the majority, that are mature companies that respect employees’ work-life balance. I have worked in the industry for going on a decade and had mostly positive experiences. The poor experiences were either isolated to a specific team or part of a larger culture that I have seen change for the better.
  - Reedx 7y ago
    That's ridiculous. Game companies are nothing like sweatshops and the reality is much less sensational than what you hear about, which should be no surprise. Most are basically 9-5, generally with flexible hours. Often free food/snacks/games and other perks. Some take Friday afternoons off to drink and play games. Crunch toward release does happen a lot, it's a problem, but they're getting better about avoiding it. You hear about the horror stories instead because that's outside the norm. "Game company mostly works normal hours, chills on Friday afternoons" isn't going to get much attention.
    - vvanders 7y ago
      I was waiting to see if your post was satire. Worked ~6 years in that industry, every placed I worked was a meat grinder and all the places my coworkers came from were meat grinders. There's an attitude that if someone has "paid their dues" then new hires have to do the same and the cycle perpetuates. Saw 3 divorces on my last title alone, I don't care how much "passion" you have(and it will be exploited) that industry is not worth it.
Reedx 7y ago
Why cherry pick 1 review? You could've copied the more representative aggregation of reviews: Pros: "Riot is a great place for gamers" (in 79 reviews) "Cares about Rioters: Riot has fantastic perks because they want to keep the talent (that's us) happy" (in 67 reviews) "Best free food I’ve eaten, benefits are great, and there is a lot of opportunity if you are willing to work for it" (in 40 reviews) "people that play League of Legends each month" (in 38 reviews) "The company is obsessively player-focused" (in 32 reviews) Cons: "work/life balance can be an issue if you don't know how to handle it" (in 66 reviews) "Some Rioters lack a sense of appreciation" (in 59 reviews) "Growing pains: Flat organizational structure doesn't work well when you start to hit 3k people" (in 32 reviews) "Tends to over-value pedigree from ivy league and mbas" (in 28 reviews)
- teej 7y ago
  Review volume is not a useful indicator. HR departments actively lobby employees to write positive reviews. These will always outnumber the honest reviews.
  - Reedx 7y ago
    Cherry picking 1 review is a much less useful indicator. And there's no way to know if it's an honest one. Nor is there a way to know which ones were solicited or not. So the closest you're going to get to usefulness is seeing what the common pros and cons are.
    - cosmotic 7y ago
      The cherry picked review is consistent with the numerous horror stories from the industry.
      - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
        But I’m not sure that fact makes it any more credible. Wouldn’t a fake reviewer naturally draw from the known horror stories?
      - deleted 7y ago
XPKBandMaidCzun 7y ago
That term, "ol' boys club" is a pretty offensive generalization. It's sad to see this person didn't jive with management at their workplace, and maybe it wasn't a comfortable environment, but it's not like employees have their hands on the knob of who gets hired. It's incredibly hurtful to see someone draw such sweeping, negative inferences without specificity. Whenever the word toxic gets brought up, I brace, because it feels the one making the claim is either projecting, or trying to use insults to incite others (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_identification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_identification) Who is the person being abrasive and creating a negative culture here? It's a serious claim, inducing social pressure on onlookers, if they don't support the vague accusation, they feel a party to it. That post makes it sound like everyone's character at that company is subpar and being done personal favors because of characteristics of how they look? It's a stereotype I keep hearing - as if there aren't good, fair-minded onlookers absorbing the brunt of that. It hurts.
- crystaldev 7y ago
  > it's not like employees have their hands on the knob of who gets hired. What do you mean? All hiring and interviewing is done by the CEO?
- irjustin 7y ago
  Why do you feel this is hurtful? It's rather odd that you would discredit this review as if it was personal against you directly. As with all reviews, take them as a data point. Enough datapoints and you'll get a good feel/generalization for the way things are run. Clearly there are some issues. Take a glance at the one stars. I'm sure they are biased, but if you were looking for Riot games as an employer, this is definitely something to be on the watch for. You ask for specificity, but I'm rather confused by your stance without some anchoring yourself.
- jeremysalwen 7y ago
  I don't think you understand what the phrase "ol' boys club" means in this context. It is an expression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_boy_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_boy_network

shoulderfake 7y ago

Why the hell would anyone work at a place like that

scrumbledober 7y ago
It seems to be a common theme in the video game industry. There are so many people that are very passionate about video games to a degree that they will take a lower salary and worse working conditions than they could get coding for any other industry. It's passion exploitation.
myoon 7y ago
Probably a combination of wanting to work on games, and if you make it through the gauntlet you get exercise a lot of power and reap whatever "rewards" may come with that. Maybe it's a similar mindset to enduring working at a consulting/law/finance firm hoping to make partner, etc.
papreclip 7y ago
the sexual harassment stuff can be pretty invisible if you aren't a target yourself regarding the identity politics stuff, some people live and breath IP and their perception of untenable conditions would be unremarkable to me (e.g. a 22 yr old saying "that's so ghetto") work-life balance is a deal-breaker for me, but in my early 20s maybe it wouldn't have been if i spent half the work day playing my favorite video game

scrumbledober 7y ago

Reading through this I thought "this sounds like everything I heard about Riot a few years ago but I wonder if things have changed more recently" then I saw the time stamp...

0x8BADF00D 7y ago
Any company in the games industry is like this. It’s a sweatshop.
- SeanBoocock 7y ago
  No, there are many, perhaps the majority, that are mature companies that respect employees’ work-life balance. I have worked in the industry for going on a decade and had mostly positive experiences. The poor experiences were either isolated to a specific team or part of a larger culture that I have seen change for the better.
- Reedx 7y ago
  That's ridiculous. Game companies are nothing like sweatshops and the reality is much less sensational than what you hear about, which should be no surprise. Most are basically 9-5, generally with flexible hours. Often free food/snacks/games and other perks. Some take Friday afternoons off to drink and play games. Crunch toward release does happen a lot, it's a problem, but they're getting better about avoiding it. You hear about the horror stories instead because that's outside the norm. "Game company mostly works normal hours, chills on Friday afternoons" isn't going to get much attention.
  - vvanders 7y ago
    I was waiting to see if your post was satire. Worked ~6 years in that industry, every placed I worked was a meat grinder and all the places my coworkers came from were meat grinders. There's an attitude that if someone has "paid their dues" then new hires have to do the same and the cycle perpetuates. Saw 3 divorces on my last title alone, I don't care how much "passion" you have(and it will be exploited) that industry is not worth it.

Reedx 7y ago

Why cherry pick 1 review? You could've copied the more representative aggregation of reviews: Pros: "Riot is a great place for gamers" (in 79 reviews) "Cares about Rioters: Riot has fantastic perks because they want to keep the talent (that's us) happy" (in 67 reviews) "Best free food I’ve eaten, benefits are great, and there is a lot of opportunity if you are willing to work for it" (in 40 reviews) "people that play League of Legends each month" (in 38 reviews) "The company is obsessively player-focused" (in 32 reviews) Cons: "work/life balance can be an issue if you don't know how to handle it" (in 66 reviews) "Some Rioters lack a sense of appreciation" (in 59 reviews) "Growing pains: Flat organizational structure doesn't work well when you start to hit 3k people" (in 32 reviews) "Tends to over-value pedigree from ivy league and mbas" (in 28 reviews)

teej 7y ago
Review volume is not a useful indicator. HR departments actively lobby employees to write positive reviews. These will always outnumber the honest reviews.
- Reedx 7y ago
  Cherry picking 1 review is a much less useful indicator. And there's no way to know if it's an honest one. Nor is there a way to know which ones were solicited or not. So the closest you're going to get to usefulness is seeing what the common pros and cons are.
  - cosmotic 7y ago
    The cherry picked review is consistent with the numerous horror stories from the industry.
    - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
      But I’m not sure that fact makes it any more credible. Wouldn’t a fake reviewer naturally draw from the known horror stories?
    - deleted 7y ago

XPKBandMaidCzun 7y ago

That term, "ol' boys club" is a pretty offensive generalization. It's sad to see this person didn't jive with management at their workplace, and maybe it wasn't a comfortable environment, but it's not like employees have their hands on the knob of who gets hired. It's incredibly hurtful to see someone draw such sweeping, negative inferences without specificity. Whenever the word toxic gets brought up, I brace, because it feels the one making the claim is either projecting, or trying to use insults to incite others (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_identification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_identification) Who is the person being abrasive and creating a negative culture here? It's a serious claim, inducing social pressure on onlookers, if they don't support the vague accusation, they feel a party to it. That post makes it sound like everyone's character at that company is subpar and being done personal favors because of characteristics of how they look? It's a stereotype I keep hearing - as if there aren't good, fair-minded onlookers absorbing the brunt of that. It hurts.

crystaldev 7y ago
> it's not like employees have their hands on the knob of who gets hired. What do you mean? All hiring and interviewing is done by the CEO?
irjustin 7y ago
Why do you feel this is hurtful? It's rather odd that you would discredit this review as if it was personal against you directly. As with all reviews, take them as a data point. Enough datapoints and you'll get a good feel/generalization for the way things are run. Clearly there are some issues. Take a glance at the one stars. I'm sure they are biased, but if you were looking for Riot games as an employer, this is definitely something to be on the watch for. You ask for specificity, but I'm rather confused by your stance without some anchoring yourself.
jeremysalwen 7y ago
I don't think you understand what the phrase "ol' boys club" means in this context. It is an expression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_boy_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_boy_network