With the 6.07 update, Riot Games will implement some AFK and Queue Dodge behavior updates. Let’s see what we can expect from it.
Since VALORANT‘s launch, Riot Games has been trying its best to improve players’ experience in the game. VALORANT considers three criteria and evaluates player dynamics to ensure fair play and a safe environment for everyone. According to Riot Games, “Player dynamics is the craft of helping people play well together in games and social systems.”
VALORANT incentivizes these “pro-social” behaviors and punishes players for violating them. The three anti-social behavior includes Participation violations, Fair Play violations, and Comms violations.
To keep players updated with VALORANT’s insights on these Competitive/Social & Player Dynamics spaces, Riot Games introduced a “VALORANT SYSTEMS HEALTH SERIES,” where they talk about various aspects of player dynamics and their plans to create a safe and belonging experience for VALORANT players.
Similarly, Riot Games is changing the Participation system this time, including AFK behavior, Queue Dodging, and Bot Activity. The new changes will be implemented in the 6.07 patch.
The summary of the changes are:
- We’re increasing the amount of Ranked Rating loss for repeated Queue dodging.
- We’re introducing a 1 day ranked restriction for excessive AFK behavior sooner than previously introduced ranked restrictions.
- These changes will be implemented in Patch 6.07.
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All Participation Changes in 6.07 Patch
In this section, we’ll dive into the details regarding the exact Participation violations and the improvements VALORANT is making with the 6.07 patch.
Queue Dodging Behavior
“Queue dodging is the act of entering a queue and then abruptly leaving the Queue e.g. timing out in agent select. This action can be really disruptive to players as it increases the time it takes to get in game and is extremely frustrating to players who want to compete.” Riot Games
Since VALORANT’s launch, Queue Dodging has been one of the biggest challenges. According to the data shared by Riot Games, the Queue Dodging incidents account for 37.07% of all participation incidents since the beginning of 2022.
So, to prevent players from purposely Queue Dodging, players will lose an increased number of Ranked Ratings compared to before. Understandably, the internet or other technical issues may force players to dodge a queue. So, Riot Games will not penalize every queue dodge, just the repeated ones.
AFK Behavior
“AFK (Away From Keyboard) is the act of leaving a match or not participating in a match. E.g. disconnecting from rounds, being present but not participating in a match, or being detected as a bot. This action significantly lowers your team’s chances of winning and tarnishes the gameplay experience for all players in the match.” Riot Games
From now on, Riot Games will implement a 1 day-ranked restriction for players who frequently goes AFK during a match. Previously, VALORANT would gradually increase the ranked restriction timer even for the players who dodge excessively. However, that won’t be the case starting from the 6.07 patch.
Bot Usage
“Bot Usage is the act of using bots to perform actions during a game. This behavior sets a player’s team up for failure by creating a one-sided team vs team balance and is detrimental to gameplay integrity.” Riot Games
Riot’s Vanguard Anti-cheat is by far one of the best anti-cheats available right now. However, players still use bots to perform certain actions during matches. Although no change is implemented right now, Riot Games is continuously improving its bot tracking system to maintain the competitive integrity of VALORANT.
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Hopefully, these changes implemented in the 6.07 patch will improve player dynamics in VALORANT. Nonetheless, Riot Games will look for feedback and community suggestions to improve its system further.
