VALORANT Adds Voice Recording Software To Combat Verbal Abuse

While VALORANT basks in the glory of an awesome game that has produced thousands of careers and sparked millions of players' interests, not even Riot Games can control bad eggs slipping through the net to spoil the feast. Until now.

The developers' successful anti-cheat system has combated one main problem for online PC games, although there persists an ever-looming dark cloud over the game in the way that players speak in-game. Seldom a week goes by without reports of abusive behaviour by streamers or casual gamers on the voice chat.

Following the banning of popular streamer Darren "IShowSpeed" Watkins, due to misogynistic comments targetted at a woman VALORANT player, Riot Games pledged to combat the voice chat abuse in their game, promising ways of defending players from the bad eggs that don't have iShowSpeed's streaming pedigree.

Riot Games Announces Voice Evaluation System

Riot has now officially announced that as of July 13 a new software will be rolled out that will allow the developers to record in-game voice channels to provide clear evidence of any misdemeanour when a report is launched.

However, the software will not be used to respond to reports yet. Riot said, "We know that before we can even think of expanding this tool, we’ll have to be confident it’s effective, and if mistakes happen, we have systems in place to make sure we can correct any false positives (or negatives for that matter)."

The software will be exclusive to VALORANT in its early stages, and will only be available in Europe and North America until the language models can be developed ahead of a worldwide launch. 

As the software is added to the game, Riot has confirmed that their Privacy Notice and Terms of Services have been updated to combat disruptive behaviour. 

Should the system prove positive in stopping abusive behaviour online, it will undoubtedly be shared with Riot's other child League of Legends.