Riot Games roll out detailed roadmap to combat AFK and behavioural issues

Earlier this month, we heard from VALORANT’s Lead Insights & Strategy Aeneia the studio’s commitment to combat overly toxic and sexist comments towards other players. A few days later, Senior Producer Ian “RiotBrighteyz” Fielding revealed the development team is already working on a technology to implement within the next two to three patches that would prohibit chat and voice restricted players to queue up for ranked games. Well, Riot Games have finally let out their roadmap for punishments towards bad behavior and those who go AFK.

The following two patches 2.04 and 2.05 will introduce a lot of changes to how VALORANT handles players who put their team in almost unwinnable positions. The upcoming update will focus more on AFK players, with an improved detection system that takes into account several factors. Not only that, a completely revamped list of punishments will be waiting for those who do it, which includes everything from XP denials and increased queue restrictions all the way to permanent bans if someone is constantly inting his teammates.

“Rather than apply generic penalties on an “as needed” basis, we’ll track the behavior of your account 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).

On the other hand, if you’re a player who consistently drops out of games...the hammer will come down on you, friend. These penalties are varied, and they scale based on several different factors.”

Another new feature will be introduced to the reporter feedback feature, giving players more information about what happened to that teammate who really ruined the experience for everyone. This is something Riot Games are very keen on, trying to reassure everyone that their reports are always taken seriously and are looked into.

“We understand it's frustrating to send a report and not know if we ever even saw it, let alone took action on it. Believe us that we’re listening, and your reports do matter—in fact, they’re absolutely essential in making sure we know what you’ve experienced. Version 1 of this will require you to be logged into the game client to receive the feedback, but we’re on our way to a system where we can notify you outside the game.”

“Ultimately, we just want you to know that we take these issues as seriously as you feel about them, and we are not afraid to punt the bad actors out of our game. We have a long journey ahead of us, but we are thrilled to work with you on making VALORANT a great social experience for all.”

Do you think these changes will be enough to make VALORANT an overall more enjoyable experience for everyone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!