Valorant Lead Vows that Fighting Toxicity is a Priority

Like every other multiplayer game in existence, Valorant has something of a toxicity problem, a problem that Riot Games, the studio behind Valorant and League of Legends, is extremely familiar with. They’ve been struggling with the latter game’s infamous toxicity problem for years now, and while they’ve made some notable headway in that front, League’s reputation as an unwelcome place remains – and it’s a reputation that looks to spill over to Valorant, who has a huge problem with jerks even in the beta phase of the game.

Well, in a new blog post, executive producer of the Valorant team Anna Dolan commented on the rising toxicity in the game:

I’ll be super real here: harassment and bullying in games is not a status quo I’m comfortable accepting. I replied to a colleague’s tweet last month about my fears of solo-queuing, a problem I’ve had for many years of multiplayer gaming. And I’m not alone. We’ve learned to mute others who are harassing us. We’ve learned to mute ourselves in order to keep the peace. And as a result, we have a competitive experience that can feel compromised. We often find ourselves at a disadvantage

The tweet she’s referencing refers to an event last month, where she revealed on Twitter that despite running the game, she plays muted because she fears backlash for being a woman. Anyway, moving on…

I worry that if we (Riot) don’t make a larger commitment here, we’ll end up following up with very little, or we’ll stop at providing ‘tools’ to self-isolate, rather than promoting a fair, competitive experience for everyone. So I’m going to make that commitment.

This is a very hard space to take on. I can’t solve society, and some of these issues are really, really deeply entrenched. But what I can say is that Riot takes this seriously—it’s why we established a dedicated “Central Player Dynamics” team to tackle the science and research of what promotes fair teamplay (it’s not always punishments!) and it’s why we formed the Fair Play Alliance with our partners in the gaming space.

I can also say that as the leader of the VALORANT team, I’ve personally made this a priority for the game and will invest the resources necessary. This is a priority for us, not just in the short-term, but for as long as it takes to reassure a player—any player—that as long as they play to win in VALORANT and respect their fellow human beings, they’ll be guaranteed a similar experience in return.

Welcome, wise words. As far as an actual plan goes, she’s only detailed her goal to include a code of conduct asap. Everything else will come later, but I have to imagine a system similar to what League of Legends has – and Overwatch to a lesser extent – can’t be that far off.