More Riot PR Fails

[Wingflier]

I figured that because Riot is so adept at PR catastrophes I might as well make an entire thread for it, as a shining example of what NOT to do as a company.  We all make mistakes (some companies more than others), but to then lie about it to your playerbase (as Riot has a history of doing) may not be the best idea

"Hey all.

I'm not sure how much you guys know about it, but apparently Riot's world championship in LoL failed hard in the last 2 days. I've been lurking around their forums and Reddit to find out what all the fuss was about and i figured i'd post a quick recap along with some things which S2 should definitely consider when preparing for winter DreamHack and other future tournaments in order to avoid similar (or worse) fails.

Quick recap: the event was held on an open-air stage with big displays which showed each teams' minimap along with the main gaming screen. The first issues arose when players complained that the sun is shining on their screens and they can't see well. Later they started having lots of technical difficulties during the event which resulted in multiple remakes of already long games. Twitch and Own3d streams were reportedly flooded with bots which resulted in them being taken down and the transmissions stopped. There were unconfirmed reports of a DDoS taking place and even the whole game was unaccessible for some time. To top it all off, the huge minimaps were placed in such a way that the players - who were not inside any kind of isolated gaming booth - could see the enemies mini map and some of them clearly took the advantage of it. When players themselves told this to judges on the first day, the staff decided to not change anything and go ahead with the displays anyway, but when later on the players were cought looking up, the whole event was canceled and moved to another time and location (probably without the map displays).

These problems resulted in a huge stir on Reddit and LoL forums (the Reddit thread reached the top of /all in about 3 minutes after it happened with over 10k posts), but what was the worst of it is the way Riot handled the aftermath. I was reading the relevant forum thread at that time, so i can confirm it as well. When players called Riot out on the mini-map fail by posting multiple pictures and videos, where even professional players agreed that it was in fact happening, the head judge of the event wrote on the forum that he can 100% confirm these things did not happen but even if they did, they wouldn't have any impact on the teams' progress in the tournament. After a couple of posts in which dissapointed players proved him wrong, his post dissapeared, but luckily it was quoted by a reader and reposted several times. Then after a couple of reposts these posts started to dissapear as well, but by then people had already taken screenshots and started posting these instead. When the situation started spiraling out of control, all the deleted posts misteriously reappeared in the thread along with an edited version of the red post, where the head judge once again stated that these things definitely didn't happen, despite he had been proven wrong on multiple fronts before.

You can find a compiled thread on what happened here - http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2647926; there is also a video with the player Reginald telling the judge that he can see the enemies minimap here - http://zh-tw.twitch.tv/riotgames/b/334537601 (skip to 5h 16m 03s) and a picture of Riot's forum fail here - http://i.imgur.com/dZ592.jpg.

During my lurking i've also noticed many Riot fans stating how well they handled the situation at the event by buying pizzas and snacks for all participants on the site as well as giving out free Teemo hats and other LoL swag.

I'm sure that S2 event organizers are professionals in their field, but even so here's a couple of good-meant guidelines for S2 if they'll ever organize a huge event such as this one (i know that DreamHack is pretty big, but this was bigger imho):


    If you have a choice, don't place it in an open-air hall with the sun shining on the stage, rather place it in a closed hall (which was the case so far anyway).
    Don't place mini-map displays in a visual area of players.
    In accordance with #2, place players in isolated cubicles or at least in a position where they'll have absolutely no eyesight of the main screen, even when looking all around them (this was done so far as well afaik)
    Prepare a special dedicated server and secure internet line for such an event. It will probably be a hassle, but it will save you much trouble later on.
    Take at least a couple of days ahead of the event to set up everything and then check & double-check everything.
    When you're done double-checking everything, have a group of people stress-test it on site for at least a couple of hours if not more.
    Don't underestimate the power of free food & drink. Hungry people are grumpy and if they are angry & hungry, you'll get double the hate, so be prepared to get some pizzas and non-alcoholic beverages delivered asap if there are delays or longer technical issues. Seriously, this will make a big difference.
    Bring as much free handouts to the event as you can afford. There's no need to hand them all out, but if the situation goes bad, it will definitely make you look better.
    If people notice and mention your fails, just man up and admit them instead of trying to downplay them or even sweeping them under the rug. This is one of the hardest but most important things to do in such a case, but honesty and transparency go a long way with fans.



Anyway, this was my 2 cents on the matter; i didn't mean to educate the people in charge of events on their job, i just wanted to give some personal opinions based on what i've seen and read in the last 2 days.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: Riot did number 9 on my list and offered an official explanation & apology here - http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2655300"

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Entire post quoted from here:  http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?455520-A-couple-of-things-that-S2-can-learn-from-LoL-s-recent-championship-fail

[Lancefighter]

Example of really good setup: https://p.twimg.com/A1kv3rOCYAAOQuu.jpg:large

For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldq1afiKQb8

(only mostly satire, blahblah dota2 is better than league, OH MY GOD THE BLACK HOLE).

[chemical_art]

[I was going to delete this but I can't stop laughing at my own incompetence so it'll remain]

Wish I had enough vitriol to make my own threads about people liking that which I don't like by researching said event hosted by that I don't like even though I don't like it to post in a 3rd party website under the guise it's what not to do despite the only likely value of aggravating those who like what I don't like since said 3rd party nor its audience will ever host anything remotely relating to said events but I'll certainly give myself pleasure in seeing those who like what I don't like fret that I don't like their stuff they like by pointing out that factors that don't concern them still make them feel despite no relevance to their own lives except they will see my post highlighting their companies faults for my own gain with the hopes of getting them to like what I like since otherwise I would be a cruel person who simply enjoys seeing others squirm but I'm no said person so I'm hoping to improve their lives of showing what I don't like is something they shouldn't like to show what they should like through implications.

Yes, I drunk.

[Wingflier]

Eh, I consider it my responsibility to call out a company on a forum that I know has a lot of supporters of said company.  Said supporters are free to hate me for doing so, but they should probably hate themselves more for continuing to support said company after it continues to blatantly lie to its playerbase after its catastrophic failures.

If I knew the forum was full of Romney supporters, I would make sure they knew that according to him, 47% of Americans were lazy freeloaders as well. 

Love it or hate it, being responsible for the kind of thing you're promoting is part of being a civilized member of a free-market society.  It doesn't mean I hate or want to hurt anybody.  Even if I loved Riot, I still think the whole story is hilarious.

[Lancefighter]

You find it your responsibility to incite riots against you?

Dont get me wrong, there are certainly a few league players here, but I would not go as far as saying there are a lot of riot supporters on this forum. I play league, and I think its a fine game, but I have absolutely no care for it at the professional level any more. I'm pretty sure the majority of people here (that have any care about league/riot) have similar feelings - They like playing the game, but they dont really care for the professional scene at all, nor how poorly executed this event was. Sure, it might be difficult to watch if the streams keep going down or something..
But as for the league they enjoy playing? It hasnt changed at all because of that event.

And really - Since TI2, I honestly dont care at all about riot's attempts at the professional scene. Not only is dota so much more entertaining to watch, but TI2 in general was so well done.. And INGAME SPECTATING OF TOURNAMENT GAMES.

[Wingflier]

Well I mean, there's been a staunch defense of Riot as a company by many different people.  I've even been accused of being flat-out irrational about my opinions of them by more than one person.

I think it's my responsibility to show said people that 1) I'm not being irrational and 2) It's much worse than they are making it out to be.

I've seen some fairly scumbag companies in my day.  You won't catch me buying anything from EA anytime soon, and after Blizzard's Diablo 3 fiasco, possibly not them either (though I don't consider them beyond redemption yet).

It does beg a very important question though - even if you aren't supporting a company monetarily, are you still supporting them simply by using their product?

Do you indirectly support the porn industry by watching free online porn videos every day, even if you've never actually paid a dollar?

Do you support Fox News by watching their channel even if you've never actually sent donations to the station?

I would say yes you do.  I don't think you have to support Riot monetarily to still be a significant supporter of them or their business practices.  You also don't have to explain to me or anybody else WHY you support Riot despite their questionable behavior towards their customers if you don't want to; but I think you should at least be aware of what's going on.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

This is hardly the first time Riot has lied to its players. I know at least one prominent person who has had Riot lie to them blatantly. But Idk anymore than that because said person is under NDA. But in any case, You reap...what you sow. And Riot is probably reaping that.

As far as whether Wingflier should not make this thread, which could incite a riot/flamewar...I dunno. I talk about companies and inform people of what they've been doing, both good and bad, but not on this forum. So I guess it all depends on whether threads like these are against the Arcen Forum rules.

[Wingflier]

To be clear, it wasn't made to cause a flamewar.  I never mentioned DotA or Valve once, I'm not comparing companies.  I just think it's an interesting thing to talk about.  I would really rather we keep it civil and not bring other games or companies into it unless it relates to the topic.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

To be clear, it wasn't made to cause a flamewar.  I never mentioned DotA or Valve once, I'm not comparing companies.  I just think it's an interesting thing to talk about.  I would really rather we keep it civil and not bring other games or companies into it unless it relates to the topic.

Yeah, well, we'll see. I'd like it to remain civil too, but the moment it doesn't, I'm out. My opinion, is that Riot royally messed up. And it is slightly bemusing but also sad to see so many people defend them after all the lying and screw ups. Its also a bit flabbergasting that Riot made as many mistakes as they had when they could have looked at how Starcraft 2 & DOTA2 events had been handled and model their event just like theirs. Were they worried that people would complain about Riot copying? I don't know why, you don't fix what isn't broken. I mean, had they copied them, they could have avoided most of the mistakes that went on at this event. The lying thing, well, that is not unheard of from this company.

And seriously. Just build rooms to house your players in where they do not have the ability to cheat. If they can turn their bodies around and see the screens, then the players are going to take every chance to do so to gain that edge they need. When your name, team's reputation and money is on the line, it happens. I don't blame the players for doing so. Do not know why Riot had not built them, that seems like a really naive mistake.

For a company that supposedly has as much cash and knowledge as they did, they made a lot of mistakes they shouldn't have.

[Lancefighter]

Why not mention the 10k referral reward for making a champion? TB seems to have quite a problem with riot over that.

And yeah, I intentionally mentioned dota/valve to incite funtime. There is an established history of a few people on these forums that react interestingly when the subject comes up.

And one final point - You are raising a question.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Why not mention the 10k referral reward for making a champion? TB seems to have quite a problem with riot over that.

And yeah, I intentionally mentioned dota/valve to incite funtime. There is an established history of a few people on these forums that react interestingly when the subject comes up.

And one final point - You are raising a question.

Heh, I was actually referring to him in my post earlier.

[Wingflier]

I haven't heard about TB's problem with Riot actually...

*searches*

Ah, found it.

Yep, Riot promised that after 10k referrals you could design a champion with the Riot Team.

http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=660475

Apparently Total Biscuit hit well over 10k and they backed out on their promise.

[eRe4s3r]

I have only 1 observation. This thread is a perfect example on what people mean when they say that LOL/DOTA/HON communities are toxic.

How about you watch this instead http://videosift.com/video/Honest-Trailers-Prometheus 

[Lancefighter]

People in this thread:

Wingflier. Playing some sort of whistleblowing role, informing us community how bad riot is (who we apparently like?)

Me: Doesnt actually care about riot. Pretty damn near trolling the thread by saying dota2 is better. But seriously, that navi v ig game. Spectacular.

KingIsaacLinksr: Agrees riot makes mistakes. Probably is also saying that they shouldntve made mistakes, they certainly have the resources

eRe4s3r: 'you all are terrible'

[Wingflier]

Yeah this is basically how it turns into a flame war.  Nobody has insulted anybody else so far, it's been a pretty civil discussion; then out of the blue we're all called toxic.

An honest critique of a company which blatantly lies to its playerbase over and over again makes the people who participate in that discussion toxic?

Maybe we should be more "balanced" in our criticisms?  I mean Valve is by no means perfect either, and anybody is welcome to bring up whichever company they would like if it relates to the discussion.

Like if someone started bringing up Valve's faults I would probably be the first to agree with them.

By the way that Prometheus Trailer was pretty funny.  I liked that movie though, should I get upset because you posted a link that criticized it?