Dismissing employees based on in game behavior

[Independent voter]

I hate being spied on at work by my boss so I don't like this either. Riot games looks at employees in game behavior and chat and uses that in their annual employee review.







http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...oxic-employees

Because all Riot employees play League, and have the same persistent player
records as everyone else, it's a relatively easy matter to take stock of which
employees have been attracting bad feedback from team mates and opponents. That
done, Riot looked back at the dismissals it had made over the last year and
found a correlation between poor in-game reputation and problem behaviour at
work - a quarter of all fired employees had been unpleasant players. Toxic
players tended to be toxic employees, even if the reverse wasn't always true.

Following that realisation, Riot took a proactive stance, looking at the most
problematic LoL records of current employees and examining their workplace
behaviour. Looking at the traits exhibited, snarky passive aggression and over
authoritative behaviour were found to be the most common negative associations,
with some employees 'pulling rank' on other players to intimidate them. This
behaviour tended to fluctuate with mood, unsurprisingly, but the situation was
bad enough that the company singled out the 30 worst offenders and separated
them into two groups: those who needed a warning, and those who needed to
leave.

These 30 employees were brought into resolution meetings and confronted with
their chat logs. Most, the company reports, were appalled when asked to justify
the behaviour, showing contrition almost across the board.

"Pretty much everyone we spoke with was appalled at their own behaviour. We
actually received some essays from employees vowing to change their ways and
become not just more considerate gamers but better people," said Riot's Talent
head Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar.

Now, the logs form an active part of recruitment. All prospective employees are
asked for their in-game account names so their behaviour can be tracked. All
are then rated on a traffic light system to highlight any potential troublesome
proclivities. In addition, Riot is now using the study to try and find out
which players work best together, identifying the best team players to create
more efficient employee groups.

[the game]

This seems to go along with employers firing employees based on social media posts.

[Deleted]

Riot is trying to evolve something that isn't there. They should hire some professional social scientists.

[TITAN308]

Their company their rules.

Don't want to fork over your character info, work somewhere else.

[RickJamesLich]

Sounds really idiotic, I really hate the whole thing with workplaces wanting their employees to use social media, but if you make one joke that a few people find offensive, you can lose your job.

I worked at Sears for a few years and they had their own social media website, called Pebble. At first people were encouraged to use it if you had issues (like if you needed to order an item, but weren't sure how to go about getting that item, for example). But suddenly Sears wanted people to use "Pebble" just to communicate with other employees.... sounds normal, until we found out that our reviews were in part based on how we behaved on Pebble lmao. I'm not making this up either.

I was criticized for using "lol" in too many of my comments, and I made a joke about "wearing a turtle neck and a back pack feels like a weak midget is on your back, trying to strangle you".... the quote came from Mitch Hedberg and I correctly attributed it to him lol... it was on a comedy forum, but I still got written up.

[Gegan]

Seems pretty easy to get around. Give them an account they can track and put some time in on it while being good. Create a 2nd account that you can troll on. Riot gets a 'cleaner' employee chat log and the employees can keep on keeping on with the burner account.

[PACOX]

I would fire an employee if they posted on MMO-Champ.

[alzoron]

This isn't just judging employees based on their gaming behavior in general, this is judging employees based on their behavior in Riot games specifically. It's sort of like if a McDonald's employee comes into the store on their day off and starts fights with customers. Damn straight that's going to earn you some negative points on your next review if not out-right get you fired.

[Xargoth6634]

"Most, the company reports, were appalled when asked to justify
the behaviour, showing contrition almost across the board."

I'd be fucking appalled that Riot was using that shit in an employee review. If I were an employee and played the company's games on my own time without letting anyone know I'm a Riot employee, they're way out of line using that info.

[Wildtree]

I support Riot on that.
You are part of the company, and you are required to represent it with appropriate conduct while using company products.
Makes completely sense.
Misconduct should get you fired.

[Deleted]

Oh man, and here I was hoping it would be about how good their K/D was would determine if they could keep a job

[Wildtree]

This isn't just judging employees based on their gaming behavior in general, this is judging employees based on their behavior in Riot games specifically. It's sort of like if a McDonald's employee comes into the store on their day off and starts fights with customers. Damn straight that's going to earn you some negative points on your next review if not out-right get you fired.

Exactly.
I don't know what it is with people, how having to face consequences for ones own actions is something foreign or alien.

[Xargoth6634]

I support Riot on that.
You are part of the company, and you are required to represent it with appropriate conduct while using company products.
Makes completely sense.
Misconduct should get you fired.

You're making a huge leap assuming that they're representing Riot. If they're playing anonymously then Riot has no business pulling this shit.

[Ripster42]

I'd be fucking appalled that Riot was using that shit in an employee review. If I were an employee and played the company's games on my own time without letting anyone know I'm a Riot employee, they're way out of line using that info.

From the OP:

Looking at the traits exhibited, snarky passive aggression and over authoritative behaviour were found to be the most common negative associations, with some employees 'pulling rank' on other players to intimidate them.

I'd say that makes it Ritos business when their employees say they're employees to try to intimidate other players.

[Super Friendly Kitty Cat]

I hate being spied on at work by my boss so I don't like this either. Riot games looks at employees in game behavior and chat and uses that in their annual employee review.







http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...oxic-employees

Because all Riot employees play League, and have the same persistent player
records as everyone else, it's a relatively easy matter to take stock of which
employees have been attracting bad feedback from team mates and opponents. That
done, Riot looked back at the dismissals it had made over the last year and
found a correlation between poor in-game reputation and problem behaviour at
work - a quarter of all fired employees had been unpleasant players. Toxic
players tended to be toxic employees, even if the reverse wasn't always true.

Following that realisation, Riot took a proactive stance, looking at the most
problematic LoL records of current employees and examining their workplace
behaviour. Looking at the traits exhibited, snarky passive aggression and over
authoritative behaviour were found to be the most common negative associations,
with some employees 'pulling rank' on other players to intimidate them. This
behaviour tended to fluctuate with mood, unsurprisingly, but the situation was
bad enough that the company singled out the 30 worst offenders and separated
them into two groups: those who needed a warning, and those who needed to
leave.

These 30 employees were brought into resolution meetings and confronted with
their chat logs. Most, the company reports, were appalled when asked to justify
the behaviour, showing contrition almost across the board.

"Pretty much everyone we spoke with was appalled at their own behaviour. We
actually received some essays from employees vowing to change their ways and
become not just more considerate gamers but better people," said Riot's Talent
head Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar.

Now, the logs form an active part of recruitment. All prospective employees are
asked for their in-game account names so their behaviour can be tracked. All
are then rated on a traffic light system to highlight any potential troublesome
proclivities. In addition, Riot is now using the study to try and find out
which players work best together, identifying the best team players to create
more efficient employee groups.

So they identified 30 groups who they saw as people with mood swings which are a common sign of mental illness, and instead of offering help they fired them?

Lawsuits when?

Riot literally fired people with obvious signs of depression or other form of emotional mental health issues.

[coprax]

Their company their rules.

Wrong. There are federal rules to regulate employer - employee relationships for a reason.
As an employer you definitely cannot do everything you like or else show them the door.

[Axphism]

I would fire an employee if they posted on MMO-Champ.

Better go resign, listing your 7,000 posts as the reasons.

[Machismo]

I've played with Riot employees in games, and they've always been quite professional in their behavior. Honestly, I feel bad for them, because they get asked a shit ton of questions in game.

Riot seems to be a well-run company, with happy employees and a solid product. They have taken different steps in the past to deal with toxic players, and honestly, I think they do a fairly good job. Personally, I would like more feedback when it comes to numbers and how fast they respond to reporting, but that's not a huge deal.

[Stormspellz]

completely understandable as the employees in game still represent the company

[Kaganfindel]

Toxic LoL players represent a threat to Riot's success as a company. I think it makes perfect sense to take their employees to task for verbally abusing customers, especially if they claimed to be Riot employees when they did so.