As most of us are almost undoubtedly aware, the United States is currently seeing a massive amount of civil unrest. Civilians have taken to the streets in the thousands in a protest against American government and institutions, organizing a massive movement.
There’s a heavy number of reasons for this movement. While the match that struck the flame was the murder of George Floyd at the hands of four police officers in Minneapolis, the protestors have championed the cause of racial equality and an end to police brutality in general.
While much of the American government has failed to speak out in support of the American people, it seems that gaming developers haven’t had quite the same problem. Recently, dozens of notable names in gaming have taken to social media to voice support.
Of course, some of this has come with a bit of a hypocritical flair to it, and much of the gaming community is happy to point that out. For example, Activision-Blizzard took to Twitter to voice their support and belief that human rights should be stood up for.
However, as many were quick to remind them, it was only a few months ago that Blizzard was silencing pro-Hong Kong voices on their platforms as the protestors there championed a similar cause. Blizzard is far from the only example of this situation, and many have accused the variety of developers that are only offering words as virtue signaling to appeal to their player base.
— Riot Games (@riotgames) June 2, 2020
Thankfully, not everyone is simply leaving their activism at words. Riot Games recently laid out their plan of how they intend to help beyond kind words in a tweet that we’ve embedded above.
“Progress is a perpetual commitment,” the developers wrote. “Through a joint effort between our social impact fund, our Diversity and Inclusion team, and Riot Noir (our employee resource group for Black employees), our approach will be thoughtful and deliberate in choosing organizations that can help make meaningful, sustainable change.”
In addition to their words, Riot Games has decided to donate a hefty amount of funds – $1,000 per Riot employee – to a variety of different charities and non-profits, as well as the Black community directly. Their preferred recipients are as follows:
- Nationwide criminal justice reform
- Longer-term solutions for systemic change to address racial bias
- Local communities with a focus on black-owned businesses
Again, just as Blizzard isn’t the only company that seems to be virtue signaling, Riot isn’t the only company offering their wallets with their words. Many notable individuals in the community as well have been donating, such as Matthew Mercer and the rest of the Critical Role company.
At times like this, it can be incredibly difficult to find anything that even begins to resemble a silver lining or upside. In the middle of a pandemic, United States civilians have been left with no choice but to take to the streets and demand justice and change from a government that seems uninterested in giving either.
But if there is to be an upside, it’s how swiftly and impactfully the community has come together. All walks of life have joined hands in the demands for justice and equality, showing that the majority of the nation is tired of cruelty, racism, and bigotry, and are willing to stand together to see those things end.
