My thoughts on the current brushfire that makes California look like the North Pole

I am a long time user of the boards. Vastly more so than reddit. As someone who has always been deeply interested in game balance and fiddling with abilities and numbers to see what happens I love the idea of a forum where ideas can be discussed. I have never posted before.

But this issue (for many reasons) has stood out to me so much that I felt compelled to post something that I think will help.

Here are my thoughts on the current situation summed up and broken up into parts and I'll go into a bit more explanation further in:

1. Riot's PAX decision was handled very poorly

2. The proximity of this decision to the recent scandal regarding Riot's internal sexist culture is extremely suspect

3. Providing a space that is tailored for women/NB people is a positive thing

4. The discussions regarding this issue have started dividing the community in a very toxic way that has started infighting along issues that are not the core issues

If you disagree/are curious about any of these points please read on before making a judgement. Also if it is too much to read please read the very end.

1. Its exasperating. This entire situation could have been handled so much better. For the sake of discussion let's put aside the issue of whether of having a women/NB only set of panels is a good or bad decision. Let's act as if it has been made. The handling of the decision itself is what I am calling out here. The main issues I have with it are thus:

-Why would this announcement be made so last minute? Men have paid for tickets (for some people a flight and ticket may have been months and months of saving) for events they desperately want to see only to now, after already having the tickets paid for and in hand, be told they cannot attend. Putting aside the larger social issues for a second, that itself is a very poor way to interact with a large portion of your fanbase who are dedicated enough to attend.

-Why endorse He-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless's clearly inflammatory twitter responses, which were blanket insults that covered even men who might have been thinking "Okay, but is there a way I can still get the information discussed in the panels." (AKA me) Again, for the sake of argument let's say at the root of the matter his comments had a degree of truth. Some of the responses on Reddit WERE immature and inappropriate. But you are a public figure speaking for a large company responding to your player base. You have a responsibility to NOT fuel the fires, to not spark hatred and animosity. To foster understanding and help those who are trying to understand do so. For an example, see Morello's response to the player base. Do I agree with everything he said? Not relevant. Do I appreciate the professionalism and desire to create understanding he exemplified in his responses? Absolutely.

-Why choose the events that were chosen? Some make sense, but others are clearly events that appeal equally to ALL fans of the game. Make a set of events tailored towards helping the women/NB fanbase make direct contacts with people they feel safe talking to. Who could become mentors for them, and could help them decide if and how they want to break into an industry that is so male dictated. Have open discussions about what is wrong and what needs to change to make women/NB persons feel more comfortable moving into this space. Hell, what a perfect time to have an open, honest discussion with the community most affected by the sexist culture scandal within Riot and to talk about what will be done to change moving forward and answer questions about it.

Which leads to point 2...

2. What biggest sense of discomfort with this whole thing is just a feeling I can't shake. The timing of this, so soon after the scandal regarding internal Riot culture, frankly stinks of taking advantage of what is a very real issue in the gaming community which is how hard it can be to get into if you're not male. This plus the effects that rise from how male-centric much of the gaming world is and how (intentional or not) this factors into hiring and content creation is a very real issue that needs to worked on. But such a significant issue needs to be handedly seriously and carefully, with tact and in a way that is non-inflammatory. The handling of this PAX announcement, coupled with He-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless's comments, is the exact opposite of that. In his response, Morello talks about false dichotomies. This case presents another, equally dangerous, false dichotomy:

In order to help promote women/the NB community in the gaming industry, we need to take something directly away from the male community.

While (I really just like to argue) it could be said that this is in fact true on a much more abstract/philosophical level, this handling of the PAX event does it in a very concrete way. In order to advance women/NB persons, they are taking away experiences and even monetary value from the male community. EVEN IF YOU AGREE THAT THAT HAS TO HAPPEN (I personally don't), you should be concerned by the reaction that would cause. It makes it a zero-sum game, where the mentality is "everything THEY GET, I LOSE". That is NOT the basis that we should be starting a progressive movement of inclusivity in the gaming community.

In fact, (hold on to your tin hats), it feels like this was handled so poorly in fact that it was deliberately trying to cause another, bigger scandal than the one they had internally with the sexism accusations. Because, if they are being blasted for being (THE LARGEST AIR QUOTES POSSIBLE) "too progressive", how can there still be a backwards and sexist work culture?? The exploitation of a real community issue for the purpose of covering up their own internal sexism is absolutely abhorrent to me. It might just be that they did a colossal job of mismanaging this situation. But it reeks of something a little more intentional.

Now I'm going to be short and sweet on this one because I think the focus on this part of the situation is what is going so poorly for us as a community...

3. I truly believe that having panels/events/discussions that are exclusive for women/NB people and are focused on the issues they face and how to create a more inclusive community is a very positive thing. Secondly, it does NOT have to be at the expense of anyone else. I don't want to go into this too far, but I truly believe that saying those spaces where a community feels more comfortable talking about the issues they face cannot be a bad thing. But it truly does not have to be done in such an inflammatory way towards the rest of the community.

finally...

4. A message to the community: These are my thoughts on the matter. This entire issue has definitely bothered me, and no matter how it is resolved I think real and earnest discussion about it and the consequences of it is important. I believe that the underlying social motivations are entirely real, that the community is very geared towards men and we have to think seriously about how to change that so everyone can feel included. However: on these boards the discussion should be focused far, far more on Riots handling of the issue, about how it could be done better with feedback and input from all sorts of demographics. How we can fix the exclusivity of the community and the gaming companies. I feel like more and more posts start out reasonable and addressing the issues but so often get lost getting into the deeply problematic aspects of should we exclude some to help those who have been long excluded, what IS sexism?, etc. And if you don't agree with me on those points everything you say is bad. That kind of mentality does us no good at all. The comments especially feel like they are dividing the community, and anyone who says anything pro women/NB exclusive events gets downvoted before people read what they have to say about it. And anyone anti Riot's decisions is immediately called a bigot.

We are losing the heart of the issue, what it is we should really be focusing hard on. How Riot handled this situation and how it could be done better moving forward. I hope no one really thinks that having a panel for women/NB persons to discuss the issues they face in the gaming community is not a good idea. I also hope that no one truly thinks that Riot handled this situation how they should have in a way that was fair and respectful to the greater community.

Start from there. Be constructive. Let Riot know that if they did this to divert attention from their internal sexism scandal it didn't work. If it was just mismanaged, here are some suggestions to it better. If they are truly trying to foster inclusivity in the gaming community here are our thoughts on how it can be done. I think a few deep breaths need to be taken. Keep hammering at Riot to figure it out. But do it with a needle, not a sledgehammer. Refine your points, make it focused on change and improvement, keep down internal animosity in the community. It cuts deeper that way.