SUPPORTED BY
Left: EA has partnered with a number of organisations looking to make the industry a better place, such as Girls Who Code
workforce needs to reflect the full range of identities and experiences we see in our players. We have watched the stories unfold around us and each cycle has prompted us to look ever more closely at the cultures we are creating and the process we have in place to support our people. We have to create environments where the behaviours that facilitate those situations are not tolerated in any way. At EA we ensure there are clear and secure processes in place that enable our employees to report abuse of any kind. We have procedures that facilitate alternative paths to escalate issues, avoiding the need to route through line managers if needs be. We have robust staff welfare policies in place, including our ‘Raise a Concern’ initiative which enables employees to side step the normal reporting structure if they feel the need. In recent years we have created and grown our People Relations team who also bring expertise and impartiality to the investigation of complaints. Recent events prompted us to speak about this issue at every level of the company. We took steps to clearly articulate our position to every employee in addition to issuing a public statement encouraging anyone to come forward. Talking about these issues makes a big difference and we hope it will help embolden everyone to speak out and ensure there’s no hiding place for those offending. We take every allegation seriously at EA, we investigate thoroughly and are deeply committed to ensuring there are safe spaces for employees and those outside our company who interact with our employees, to come forward.
What can you tell us about your work with groups like Girls Who Code, and your virtual intern program? Put simply, we look for programmes and partnerships that help us make our industry a better place. Making sure we’re investing in the next generation of female tech talent has long been one way we do this – for example through our partnership with Girls Who Code.
This year we hosted our seventh summer intern
programme, introducing more than 600 girls to coding this year alone. We also signed the organisation’s #HireMe
pledge to promote meaningful career opportunities to the Girls Who Code alumni network. I’m very proud to say 11 have decided to join us as interns already, with one taking on a full time role as a Software Engineer. Here’s to many more joining our ranks in the future! But I also think it’s important that efforts to bring more women into our industry don’t stop at skills and recruitment. Employers need to make careers rewarding and meaningful for their employees, no matter who they are. At Electronic Arts we have gender pay equity globally but there are still too many businesses that fall behind.
What advice do you have for developers and publishers seeking to reduce toxicity in their games’ communities?
Online communities mirror what we find offline. They can be incredible places of friendship and support but sadly there are bad actors as well. We’re being purposeful about standing behind our commitment that play should be fair, safe and fun for everybody and we take action against those who look to disrupt that in our game or adjacent communities. Video game communities should be respectful and welcoming to everyone. As an industry, we have a responsibility to set boundaries and make it clear what is and isn’t acceptable.
Last year we launched the Positive Play Charter to make it clear what our expectations are of our community. Defining what we see as ‘fair’ is only half the job but it allows us to hold players accountable – anyone publishing games should be clear about what they will and will not accept. Holding players to account makes a real-world impact. Recent data from Apex Legends shows that when players receive feedback about their behaviour, many of them change it. 85 per cent of Apex Legends players who received an email from us after exhibiting behaviour that violated our Positive Play Charter, didn’t go on to repeat the behaviour.
This kind of work is extremely important to us and we will continue to progress this to reduce both in-game toxicity and to make all our games more accessible.
January 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 33
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