Riot hires diversity and culture adviser

After Kotaku shone a flood light on how sexism and detrimental bro-culture was running rampant within Riot Games, they have taken steps to fix their mess. First came an apology denouncing toxic behaviour, then came a detailed plan on how they were going to fix things and make amends, then came panels and workshops for women and non-binaries only at PAX West (which wasn't very well-received by the male portion of the LoL-fanbase according to Polygon, go figure) and now they have hired a senior diversity and culture adviser.

Frances Frei, former Uber exec who has a doctorate in Operations and Information Management, will advise Riot's "culture strike team" and executive team, according to VentureBeat.

"Two weeks ago, we shared a message about our first steps in the evolution of Riot, including accelerating diversity and inclusion initiatives, rebuilding our culture, and launching third-party evaluations of systems and processes. Throughout her career, Frances has helped many companies evolve and navigate change to achieve their full potential, and we're humbled that she's chosen to work with us," Riot said in a recent blog post,

"Riot isn't interested simply in fixing problems on the surface, they have an ambition to be an industry leader and to provide a road map for others to follow. I share that ambition and am eager to help them navigate this process," Frances Frei wrote in the same blog post.

This all sound very good, so it'll be interesting to see what they actually do and achieve in the coming months. Kudos to Riot for not doubling down and ignoring and denying the problem, but actually doing something about it. Time will tell if it's a genuine effort, or just for show.

What do you think?