Riot Introduces Voice Recording To Ban Toxic VALORANT Players
Developer Riot Games have made the decision to begin recording in-game voice comms in their tactical FPS VALORANT to combat several reports of harassment, bigotry, and toxicity amongst players.
Where written comms can be censored and reported automatically, voice comms are a little more tricky to mediate. Riot Games are committed to eliminating "toxicity" in-game and stated ", we're updating our Privacy Notice to allow us to record and evaluate voice comms when a report for disruptive behaviour is submitted, starting with VALORANT. If a violation is detected, we'll take action and remove the data when it is no longer needed for reviews."
This evaluation of voice comms could lead to account bans, but not IP bans as of yet.
While this may seem to be a violation of privacy for those gamers who do behave themselves, and use voice comms in the way they are intended to be used, in the long run, Riot hopes to combat these long-standing issues regarding players being targeted with racist and sexist abuse.
As VALORANT is a team game, voice comms are necessary for gaining vital information from your teammates regarding everything from enemy locations to spike-planting. If some of those squadmates are strangers, the threat of harassment is ever-present, but muting may not be enough.
Riot Games have been vigilant when it comes to protecting their VALORANT players and immediately added a Vanguard Anti-Cheat system on launch, which will not allow you to play the game unless it is turned on.
Hopefully, these new changes will protect players from unwarranted abuse from their teammates, and make VALORANT a nicer place to be.
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Images via Riot Games