Worked on this girl for 9 months. Now this new music video comes out and sheâs immensely popular, arguably one of the most popular characters in the LoL universe.
Donât get me wrong, Iâm really glad sheâs a huge hit, itâs super exciting to see so many people love the character design and the gameplay, and know that I contributed directly and significantly to the behind-the-scenes engineering that makes it all work. Itâs validating.
But itâs also so fucking melancholy to know I did so much work and put in so much time for such a shitty company, run by shitty people, and the reward I got for it was unemployment.Â
I threw a lot into this character. I cried at work. I started getting panic attacks, which Iâve never gotten before. I developed persistent heart palpitations from the daily overwhelming stress and had to go to the hospital (this is true, seriously.) I basically dropped all my friends outside of work. My manager (and his manager!) lied to me constantly to keep me working. They said I was doing a great job but to keep it up. Donât worry, itâs going to turn out great, and itâll all be worth it in the end â recognition, a raise, probably a promotion in short order. They promised me the world. When she was finally finished, I didnât even get to go to the release party, they just walked me out.Â
I remember a quote from my last day, it sticks out in my mind: âI know you realize this is really hard for me,â my manager said. Yes, in the end, when he awkwardly informed me I didnât have my dream job anymore â or any job at all â and then stared back at my shell-shocked face, my thousand-yard stare, the only thing he felt was sorry for himself.
She launched with no major bugs and was considered a technical success. Doesnât matter. Get the fuck out.
I donât know how I feel. A weird sensation of pride and intense bitterness. I did a good job; at least, I think I did. Unfortunately, internal validation is the only kind Iâm going to get.
Everyone reposting KDA should see this. Riot has successfully distracted everyone into forgetting their culture of sexism, exploitation, and toxicity mere months after it was all revealed.
Look, I get it. Akali is EXTREMELY my type. Itâs obvious how much love and care was put into her development. But it makes me furious to see all the free advertising that Riot is getting from people who I thought would know better. And now? One of the people who is arguably responsible for all that free advertising? Whoâs work is undoubtedly making Riot hundreds of thousands of dollars a day? Who was overworked to the point of near breaking? They get nothing. WORSE than the scant bit of credit that most devs can get in a big company like Riot. They got let go.
Fuck Riot Games.
One thing that I thought really sucked a lot is that the production company who made the KDA video isnât even credited. They credit a lot of other people on their videos, usually, but the actual animators of the video are hidden; almost a lie by omission. At best itâs a honest mistake, at worst itâs sneakily trying to pass off the video as something made in-house when itâs not. :(
