Toxicity and the overwhelming number of AFKers in VALORANT have been a major issue that directly affects players enjoyment of this tactical shooter.
Following the launch of VALORANT, Riot made some bold commitment towards making VALORANT a better place for players by giving players who abuse the platform harsh punishments. Right now, AFKers in the ranked mode and toxicity in both text and voice chat has made the overall experience unpleasant for players.
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Female players also got a lot of unnecessary flacks whenever they used their voice chat for a call out. Riot Games claimed that they were already testing a lot of things to combat these behavioral issues. They finally revealed what they have in store to address the toxicity as well as persistent AFKers in VALORANT.
Starting with patch 2.04, there will be an overhaul to the whole AFK detection system that will apparently track your whole behavior the moment you enter the pre-game lobby and will give punishment accordingly. Therefore, players whose internet connection went off involuntarily shouldn’t have to suffer any huge consequences.
However, frequent abusers will get progressively harsher punishments. Although for the first few offenses Riot will notify these abusers before handing them anything serious. Simply put, Riot will extensively monitor your behavior to determine your punishment.
AFKs Punishment (Target Patch: 2.04)
Penalties can include the following:
- Warnings
- XP denial for the games in which you were AFK’d (see ya later, AFK farmers!)
- Small deductions from your ranked rating for pre-game dodges
- Deductions from your ranked rating for in-game AFKing (Patch 2.03)
- Increased queue restrictions
- Barred entry from ranked games
- VALORANT game bans (but only if you’re really, really persistent)
To put it simply, Riot has leveled up their detection and management of AFKs. And they’re eager to bring these to your game.
CHAT-BASED OFFENSES (Target Patch: 2.04)
Alongside AFKers toxicity in both voice and text chat have been really awful for players. With advanced text moderation for more than 11 languages, these new systems that are supposed to drop in patch 2.04 will severely punish bad actors with proper warning beforehand.
Also, similar to AFK related penalties, punishment for repeated abusers will also increase and might end with a permanent ban from the game altogether.
Penalties can include the following:
- Warnings
- Comms bans
- Extended comms bans
- Ranked queue bans
- Game bans
- Extended game bans
Riot also doubled down on their stance against toxicity in the game. ‘there is no room for violence, threats, or targeted harassment in VALORANT—those behaviors will not be tolerated. Certain offenses (like those listed above) are categorized as “zero tolerance,” and they warrant a game ban, full stop’, Riot on toxicity, and harassment.
REPORTER FEEDBACK (Target Patch: 2.05)
Similar to how players get a notification when their reported cheater gets banned, the exact same thing is also coming to chat and text related report. So, if you report a player for toxicity and later that player receives punishment, Riot will let you know via a notification.
