Valorant – Behavior Detection & Penalty Updates

Valorant

Creators of co-op shooter Valorant have shared a new post on the official site of the game to update players on the changes coming to the behavior detection and penalties. The devs have taken players’ feedback to heart. There is still a lot of work to do, with the changes below being the start of a long iterative process.

AFKs (Target Patch 2.04):

even one AFK (away from keyboard) player can turn the tide of the game, and it is quite discouraging having to overcome your team’s obvious disadvantage. The team worked on several features that are aimed to reduce AFKs in Valorant.

  • AFK-type behavior detection: the previous system had a few loopholes that allowed some players to slip through the cracks. It will be patched and its detection will broaden to encompass ther types of disruptive behavior and non-participatory play.
  • Penalty structure for AFK offenses has been revamped: the behavior of your account will be tracked over time. This means that your occasional “what the heck happened to my internet” moment likely won’t be punished too harsh (if at all). However, if you are someone who consistently drops out of games, a varied set of penalties will be applied depending on a variety of factors: warnings, XP denial for the games in which you were AFK, small deductions from your ranked rating, increased queue restrictions, barred entry from ranked games, and even the Valorant game ban for the especially persistent delinquents.

Chat-based Offenses (Target Patch 2.04):

In addition to the AFK’s, the team has been hard at work improving the system of communication in the game: the penalty system for the chat-based offenses has been revamped, more nuance has been introduced, penalties escalate with both the frequency and the severity of the offence.

Penalties can include: warnings, comm bans, extended comm bans, ranked queue bans, game bans and extended game bans.

“Let us be crystal clear: 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.”

Reporter Feedback (Target Patch 2.05):

With the new feature, players will be notified when their reports have been actioned on.

The team understands it is frustrating to send a report and not know if it was ever seen, let alone acted upon. Version 1 of this will require you to be logged into the game client to receive the feedback.

On the Horizon:

Once the bad behavior is under control, the devs aim to explore the positive side of Valorant: ways to detect the positive behavior, and to give players visibility and recognition for their pro-social play. As a little added bonus, the team is introducing a new feature which allows you to invite players to games with only their Riot ID (rather than having to add them as a friend first). This will give you the chance to test out new teammates, without the commitment of adding them to your friends list.

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