League of Legends Devs Threaten Walkout Over Forced Arbitration

The League of Legends staff isn't too happy right now. Employees of the popular MOBA's development company, Riot Games, are considering a walkout as a statement against poor staff management.

Kotaku had published an article last week, highlighting an attempt by Riot Games to remove their employees' right to take legal action against them. The company had received a number of lawsuits after an exposé about the sexism culture throughout the studio.

According to an anonymous source provided by Waypoint, this is what sparked the idea of an employee walkout.
 

Talk of a walkout has been brewing among a number of folks with varying levels of investment since Kotaku's first article hit. And leadership consistently promised transparency/actions to be taken and then did not deliver on that promise.

 
The news eventually spread internally, prompting a response by Riot Chief Diversity Officer, Angela Roseboro. She called for a meeting on Monday, where employees and executives can discuss the problem and "provide as much context as we can about where we've landed and why." They asked that interested members add their names to a spreadsheet to keep the meetings smaller and more personal.

The response to this has been unsavory, to say the least. Some pointed toward their phrasing, noticing that they didn't mention the possibility of change or compromise, just an explanation as to why they're doing it. Others feel that the small group idea is only another instance of hiding information.
 

When Angela Roseboro offered to schedule focus sessions with people. There was backlash because people were frustrated at yet another example of closed-door discussions instead of transparency. Overall, I think Rioters are sick of feeling like they have no visibility into what leadership is actually doing to improve.

Forced arbitration, which requires an employee to negotiate with a company over a dispute, offers a much greater degree of freedom for companies, which taking that freedom away from an employee. The folks at Riot have the right, and good reason, to be entirely unhappy about this. Riot Games has not backed down from their efforts at this time. But stay tuned.

And can I just say? When you're planning a rebellion, putting your name on a list for your employer's convenience sounds like a good way to get identified and silenced (i.e. fired).