Riot tries hard to have good conversations with players, but it can be a challenge when we’re having tough conversations or when players are angry or even abusive. I wrote this to share my strategy around how I talk to players on social media with my colleagues. It might be useful for anyone out there in game development or it may help players understand the developer point of view a little bit.

Be grateful you have passionate players.

Remember that there is a power dynamic in place here. You have the power and they do not (except a little bit through their decision to play or spend).

Since they can’t force you to make a change they don’t like, they can get frustrated.

Because they may feel like you aren’t listening, one of the few tools they have is to get angrier or more ridiculous.

When you are in an emotional place as a developer, spend extra time re-reading your responses. Ask for a buddy. I often draft a response and then sit on it for an hour to make sure I’m not going to say something I regret.

When you are saying something unpopular you are in one of those moments where you are spending the trust you have built up with players. Which means you’re going to need to build up the reserves again somehow.

Your studio and colleagues should have your back (this is certainly true of Riot). Even if 1000 players are calling out out, it doesn’t mean everyone is calling you out. We aren’t. I do think we screw this up sometimes and beat up devs when they are already beat down for saying something that didn’t go over the right way.

Engaging is hard. You’re going to screw up. It’s fine. You will get better with practice. You’ll learn from trial and error when your tone is off or when you chose your words poorly. There aren’t many shortcuts here, assuming you want to develop your own personal voice.

If you can’t take it anymore, take a break, do something else, go for a walk, have a beer. You don’t have to wade back in right away, and players do tend to cool off over time if the issue isn’t super serious. (But, if you actually fear for your safety, get help from the company.)

Always take the high road. Hold yourself to a higher standard. Remember you comments will often be taken out of context. Nobody will see the inflammatory comment that caused your inflammatory response. Just don’t go there. Remember the power dynamic. When you talk down, you’re just being a bully. Even if they deserved it.

P.S. I don’t go into a lot of tactics here, like don’t lie, don’t make promises, don’t sound like a corporate robot, do be authentic, do be humble, do acknowledge someone’s feelings are legit, and so on. This was intended more as a high-level framework: how to get yourself into the right emotional and mental space to have the conversation.

P.P.S. I realize the timing of this post may seem suspect with other events happening in the game industry today. Really though I was reflecting on the conversations Riot has been having with League players about the rune and reward changes we recently launched.

11/13/2017

