Diversity and inclusion are equally important for different reasons

Diversity, equity and inclusion are words that have swiftly come to mean much in the games industry. At GamesBeat Summit Next 2022, a panel of experts came together to discuss what each aspect of DEI means for businesses in the games industry and how best to implement them.

The panelists clarified that diversity and inclusion are different things and that just because a company is serving one doesn’t necessarily mean it’s serving the other. Patty Dingle, global head of diversity and inclusion at Riot Games, said, “Diversity is really like who’s in the room, right? Counting all your heads. Inclusion is about making all those heads count — you’re in the room, you feel valued…. We all like to think we’re all human, we’re all the same, and we treat everybody the same. But that simply just isn’t true. People walk through the world very differently. Where they start in the world is very different. So when you activate those two things, hopefully you can get to an equitable place.