Riot Charity Weekend Idea
Over the time that I have played LoL, I have noticed that I get increasingly agitated in my personal life because of the stresses of this game. The game itself isn't a stress factor, but rather the importance of demonstrating top-notch performance for fear of being flamed into hell and back. But that isn't the topic I want to cover today.
Recently, I have found myself back on RuneScape to take a break from LoL. The game itself is objective-based, so you can still accomplish a lot, but it's not competitive. It's a lot more relaxed and the people in the community are more than willing to help struggling players out - whether it be knowledge, bosses, and so-on. Remembering this game as a childhood favourite, I have found that my start-up on RS again has sparked an idea. Jagex, a company minute in size compared to the behemoth that Riot has turned into, has a promotion for World Wildlife. This promotion is an in-game addition to promote awareness of big cats and their endangerment. Pretty cool, right? Not only that, but they are donating AT LEAST 2.45 GBP per Bond donated. (Bonds are perks purchased through Jagex for the exchange of in-game gold, perks, or membership - they can be traded). Charitable work from a small company that provided one of the most popular games throughout many of our lives.
Aside from the recent WWF campaign (even NPC's in the game are programmed to promote this event, as well as a news bulletin that is sent through every player's dialogue box through the game), Jagex also has a Well of Goodwill. The way the Well of Goodwill works is that you put valuable items into the well, and based on the value of the in-game items, Jagex donates an amount per gold-cap. For example, a famous RuneScape YouTuber by the name of "A Friend" posted a video of him accepting donations from other players. He raised A LOT of money ( 15.3 BILLION GOLD) and, on stream, added all of the discontinued items (items that are worth a lot because they are NEVER coming back - kind of like the old vault skins in League cough cough) and all of the gold from the current valuables into the well. This accumulated, from 10 hours of donations and charity from one player, around $5855 of charitable donations from Jagex.
Where am I going with all of this? I think that Riot should start doing the same. LoL's community is known around the gaming world for being the most toxic lot of people. It deters people - and even veteran players - from playing the game. RuneScape, on the other hand, has its obvious black marks (scammers, hackers) as every game does, but the community is so much more helpful and generous. Granted, it's not competitive like LoL is, but I believe it's also Jagex's stance on their content.
Players vote for content. If the majority vote in favour of the content, it gets implemented into the game. If the majority votes in favour of leaving it out, it is left out and possibly reworked to better suit the community and their needs/wants. It's how a democracy should work, without all of the under-the-table secrets that occurs in realistic democracy. Sure, they implement fixes and balance changes that players may not like, but they give power to the players to get to know their player-base better.
Riot, back when I first started playing League, was all about their players. I had MANY conversations with Riot employees and they legitimately seemed to care. Since then, the game has skyrocketed and eSports has become a huge thing. Riot grew as a company and thus, leaving less personal interactions with players and more automated systems and long wait times to reach customer support. It's understandable, but it doesn't have to be this way.
Where I'm going with all of this is that RuneScape has lasted for so long, still having around 100k players on for a majority the the day, every day, because of their commitment to the community and content that the players want. With their success, they have found humility in success and are reciprocating that back onto the player base as well as finding time to donate the company's money for charitable causes. Riot should look at doing the same. Multiple successful businesspeople have told me to donate more than I am comfortable with - not for the reward, but for the satisfaction of keeping the system going and knowing that I am helping a great cause. Kindness is a domino effect.
Riot should dedicate at least one weekend every month where a percentage of ALL sales go to a charity of choice. The charities can either be chosen by Riot or by the players (maybe choose 3 charities or so and have the player choose one after the purchase - but let them know that this is not an extra payment, but rather you guys doing your part with the proceeds). Or you can have a constant charitable donation option. I am not sure how you would do that, but I think that the one weekend a month is a good idea.
Not only will you be helping people, making more sales, and promoting kindness and humility, but you will also be able to see your player-base doing the same. As for the interaction Jagex staff gives their players, I think that is one thing Riot should work on as a company. Learn from other companies before you who have been, and still are, successful. Work on getting more "boots on the ground" and less of sitting on the other side of a two-way mirror.
TL;DR: Donation weekend - % of proceeds go to charity - choice of charity - one weekend a month. More personal interaction, less "I'm in my tower and you can't touch me" mentality with employee-player relations. More board activity. Mainly CHARITY WEEKEND GET HYPE
