Being an architect, Edgar Medina decided to focus his career on something totally different but that has always been present in his life, video games. For years he has been the Spanish Community Team Manager at Riot Games, the company developer of the most played game in the world, League of Legends. We had the privilege of being able to ask him some questions.

Q: What is it like to work in one of the best offices in Europe? How is the day-to-day life at Riot Games Dublin?

I didn't realize that it was considered one of the best offices in Europe until relatively recently, but this is actually a very peculiar office, where you are surrounded mainly by people who have at least one common hobby, which is the passion for video games, not even just League of Legends.

You are surrounded by talent, people who have lived many experiences, people who have the mentality and proactivity to help you no matter where you come from.

Regarding my day to day, it depends a lot. For example, these last three months we have been very busy with the All-Star event preparing all the outdoor activities. From Dublin what we have been doing basically is define the spaces, define the activities, looking for who can we work with, what can we do, how can we do it and thinking about what could be the best possible experience for the players who come to the event.

Q: Thousands of people would like to work at Riot Games, what advice would you give them to achieve this goal?

The advice I would have given them a few years ago is very different from the one that I would give now because, before, the company was very young and was looking for very enthusiastic people with hunger of working and taking projects forward.

The main advice now is to get involved in initiatives and projects that are related to video games. Very important, apart from being a gamer and having experience in other areas, is to have lived and felt the experience and the community that you want to dedicate to.

On the other hand, you have to keep in mind that we have a very specific culture, which means that you have to be a gamer.

You have to realize that the feedback here is something that is carried in the blood. There will not be a day where you will not find someone saying "I think you could improve this here", or "Let's talk about this initiative to improve it." In the case you would really want to join, you have to understand that it is an ecosystem in which we all try to improve and support each other.

 Q: What is the thing that Riot Games values the most in a potential Rioter?

Number 1, being a gamer. You don't even have to have an ultra passion for League of Legends, although that's a plus. I know a lot of people who have gone through all the interviews considering themselves gamers, but not really being it, and ending up becoming a bit bitter because they see that here the culture of being a gamer is very important.

You have to understand that we have a very strict culture that is what really makes us to be rioters. We work in sprints, it is usually said that it is a background race in some companies, no, this is a professional race in which we make successive sprints and, between one and another, there are very short breaks.

What we are looking for is also people who want to give everything and who want to be part of this growth that we are all living.

Q: What is the next step the international community needs to take to evolve? And in Spain in particular?

What I think characterizes the community is the proactivity and the fact that they are always giving opinions about everything we do. That's what has characterized the League of Legends community a lot and what I think we would need even more if possible.

Regarding the Spanish community, It has come to my mind the competitive scene in Spain above all. A year ago in an interview I spoke a little about the immaturity in some of the fundamental pillars of the national competition. I think that has changed, but we still have to take it a little further. Although it is improving now, and the professions are beginning to form themselves, it hasn't grown enough. We need to create fanbase for the different local teams, because that is going to do more than benefit all the ecosystem of League of Legends.

Q: What differentiates the League of Legends community from others?

When I started working at Riot I knew that the LoL community is very vocal. We are very critical, but that is good, I mean, it is really good that people devote the time and effort to give an opinion, because this means that they care about the development of the ecosystem, that they care about the video game, that they care about having a better experience for them and for those around them.

Also, even if it seems a lie, we are a family. At least in the Spanish community there has always been the myth that we are very toxic, but I have many examples, which I also keep in my heart, where the community, to help someone, has come together. The flashback I have is a streamer called Electrokidi, a Riven player who was very good with the character, but wasn't known as a streamer, and the community got together to be able to promote him through the social networks and made him Trending Topic. Passionate would be the definition that I would also give the community.

Also, internationally, we are all very competitive, but in Spain I think we are even more. I remember when I started playing League of Legends that there were already competitions everywhere. This does nothing but grow. We can see it in the All-Star event, that I will not forget in my life, because here we also have one of the best fanbases in the world in my opinion.

Q: What projects of the community did surprise you the most?

There are two very clear examples, there are many more, but the two that come to mind are, first, the viewing parties. For example, a guy named Joaquín, nick Escaparrac, began to create the concept of watching a competition in the cinema. I think that's a great thing that has inspired many other people. In fact, now we see video-themed pubs and there are lots of people who really go there to meet other people who share a hobby.

The second, contents in general. At the international level, two or three years ago, we began to see how some fans of the community began to create what they called the esports portals and, in Spain, in fact, we have a person that I consider one of the first there, Fernando Cardenete with FailFlash. I remember seeing that page and saying, finally.

Q: What is Riot Games' perspective on the great League of Legends community on Reddit?

We are delighted. Although there are many people who say otherwise, we really like it because it is still another place in which we can inform ourselves about a group of people who are very enthusiastic about the video game. Obviously it is not the only community we look at and it is not even the only point of information that helps us to make decisions, but it is still indicative of what a vocal group of players thinks. We like to interact with them a lot, I have talked there a lot of times, but I think it is the community that is most used because it is the biggest.

It's not necessarily the only one as I've said. In Spain we have LOLESP, we have Mediavida, we have the official forum, we have a lot of communication networks through which we talk to the players.

The communities are groups of people who are very enthusiastic with the game, that gives us opinions that we value a lot to be able to make the best possible decisions. Without going any further, for the All-Star event, although we did not mention anything in the forums, we did take into account when the people who went to an event said what they missed, what they wanted.

We cannot make decisions assuming that, because we are players, we represent the whole community. We have to take into account the different types of people and profiles that exist and the forums help us a lot to do it.