Since launch, Valorant has enticed players all over the world to experience Riot Games’ version of a character-based tactical shooter. Riot has continually added new content to the game, and recently launched Episode 2, Act 1 with the new Agent Yoru. Unfortunately, it isn’t always sunshine and roses for players in the game. Developers for Valorant released more information on additional penalties it plans on applying to players with disruptive behavior in-game.
With Valorant being a team-based competitive game, teammate behavior majorly influences how players experience the game. Cheating in Valorant has long been an issue, but player toxicity and other disruptive behavior such as AFK-ing persists. As many Valorant players can attest, sometimes several rounds will go by before a player is kicked for being AFK. So this behavior often has negative impacts on gameplay and affects overall game fairness.
Today, the Social and Player Dynamics team for Valorant detailed some upcoming changes that should be added in Patch 2.04 alongside improved detection of AFK behavior. The biggest change is that players discovered to be AFK will end up receiving progressively increasing penalties that range from initial warnings to XP denial and even up to a full game ban. Devs assured players that those who experience the occasional mishap, such as an internet outage, wouldn’t be affected negatively.
More nuance has been incorporated to chat moderation as well, and chat-based offenses will be penalized based on frequency and severity. Valorant wants to be clear as well that “there is no room for violence, threats, or targeted harassment” in the game. Certain zero-tolerance offenses like those can result in a full game ban. However, Valorant also wants to warn players that its text evaluation systems can’t tell who “started the rage war,” so the devs caution players against harassing other players back, as doing so may lead to them getting punished as well.
Valorant is also working on report feedback functionality, and additional moderation to combat the toxicity that can occur in voice chat. Overall, Riot is looking to help make Valorant a more enjoyable game for everyone playing. Toxicity, in all its forms, is already a huge issue in gaming, so these are good steps to take on a game like Valorant.
Even though Valorant’s current and planned precautions might not go far enough for some, the game has a bright future in store. That is, if Riot can also fix some of Valorant’s bugs and glitches along the way.
Valorant is available now on PC.
Source: Valorant