Riot Games has provided an update on its ongoing efforts to combat voice and chat toxicity in Valorant, promising harsher, more immediate punishments for abusers as well as the previously announced voice recording moderation system. In a blog post last year, Riot outlined the areas it would be focusing on to combat unwanted player behavior in Valorant, which included repeated AFK offenses as well as those related to toxic comms use. The developer has now provided an update on its progress, highlighting some of the new steps it will be implemented in the near future in order to provide a more enjoyable player experience.
Valorant Producer Sara “Necrotix” Dadafshar of Riot Games and Insights Manager Brian “Riot South Korea” Chang of Riot Games discussed the current state of toxicity in Valorant, as well as the publisher’s plans to control bad behavior. The developers are developing systems to discourage inappropriate behavior such as insults, threats, harassment, or offensive language.
Riot Games revealed that over 40,000 players were banned due to toxicity in January alone. However, the publisher is aware that the numbers are indicators of behavior detected by the system and do not imply that toxicity has been reduced.
Despite these efforts, Riot admits that “the frequency with which players encounter harassment in our game hasn’t significantly decreased.” As a result, it describes its work thus far as “at best, foundational,” and admits that “there’s a tonne more to build on top of it in 2022 and beyond.”
To that end, the developer has promised to make several changes to its current moderation methods. To begin, it is investigating the creation of Player Support agents, who will oversee incoming reports strictly dedicated to player behavior and take action based on established guidelines, as part of a Regional Test Pilot Program currently limited to Turkey. Riot will consider expanding the test to other regions if the results are promising.
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