Riot Games has teamed up with mental health charity Take This in order to support the mental health of its community and its content creators. The partnership will initially involve a series of modules designed to address issues around streaming and content creation, as well as panel discussions involving different communities.
What will this Riot Games and Take This partnership entail?
In an announcement on its official website, Riot declares its commitment to the mental health of its communities. The developer says it wants to help "alleviate the mental health crisis", and that it shares a "common vision" of creating a safe and inclusive environment in the gaming space (although many League of Legends players would probably beg to differ).
The first thing Riot and Take This will do is create what they're calling a "mental health curriculum", which is essentially a series of informative articles regarding certain issues faced by content creators and streamers. These issues include creator burnout, intersectionality, self-care, and advocating for mental health, among other things.
In addition to that initiative, Riot is also introducing a "video series of panel discussions" about mental health by and for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities. Panels will be led by mental health professionals and also made up of BIPOC gamers and creators, and discussions will revolve around how BIPOC folks can access mental health services and why they need them. The first of these panel discussions, which revolves around Black identity and gaming, is already live.
Riot Games and its responsibility to its community
Historically, Riot Games hasn't had the best relationship to its staff or its community. For many months, the developer has been embroiled in a gender discrimination lawsuit that started back in 2018. Said lawsuit was resolved via a $100 million settlement back in July this year, a move that was seen as a major victory for the plaintiffs of the lawsuit.
The other issue Riot has historically faced in its games is rampant toxicity. It's fair to say that many multiplayer games struggle with this aspect of their communities; competitive games get heated, but toxicity is a constant problem in games like League of Legends, Overwatch, and Dota 2. Riot's communities have complained that the developer isn't doing enough to combat this toxicity, though, with criticisms leveled at League's underwhelming report system and the ease with which players can simply start new accounts after being banned from their old ones. It's a tough problem to solve.
Mental health as a wider issue is also becoming more and more pressing for the gaming community. Charities like Safe In Our World are launching new initiatives constantly in order to try and help gamers with their mental health, and surveys are suggesting that although gaming helps with mental health concerns, companies must do more in order to support gamers. Here's hoping this new Riot partnership with Take This yields results.
