Video Game News: Riot Games COO Scott Gelb Suspended After Workplace Misconduct

Riot Games, known for their development of games such as League of Legends has allegedly suspended their COO Scott Gelb over workplace misconduct.

Employees at Riot have accused Scott Gelb of "ball tapping" which basically means fondling employee's testicles. His punishment for this behaviour is only two months of suspension without pay and Riot employees are not happy about that.

According to Kotaku, there has been a growing culture of sexism within Riot. The company, having 2500 employees is about 80% male and does not favour their female employees, even the ones that are qualified.

Supposedly, Scott Gelb does "ball tapping" regularly to employees that it has become common workplace behaviour. He even behaved inappropriately by "farting at employee's desk" which was his idea of humour.

Riot Games has tweeted and announced apologies for their behaviour. The misconduct was supposedly so common across different employees that many now former employees have begun to call out the toxic work culture in Riot. This was a chain reaction of events after Kotaku's investigation into the Riot Games culture.

To listen, we have to be quiet. You haven’t heard from us, because we’re focused on listening and supporting internally. In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll share the immediate and long-term actions we’re taking to enact real change for women at Riot.

— Riot Games (@riotgames) August 11, 2018

However, Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent has denied that the accusations against Scott. She defended him by saying that he's a top senior at Riot Games and that they have investigated him prior to the accusations that were being thrown at Riot.

Riot employees were not happy about this and several of them have mentioned that the punishment was too light. They mention that Riot claims to want to change its culture and to provide fair and equal workplace opportunities, but do not do anything about the toxic management. Scott Gelb had made his money during the early days of Riot, especially as it grew to become as big as it is today and employees think that unpaid leave does not affect him at all.