Riot Games has shared updates on its management of voice and chat abuse in Valorant, promising harsher and more direct penalties for abusers, and a previously announced voice recording moderation system that is underway.
Riot initially outlined in a blog post last year that it would focus on cracking down on undesirable player behavior in Valorant, which includes repeated AFKs as well as chatting with abusive behavior. The developers are now offering an update on the latest developments, with new plans in place that will be implemented in the near future to make the experience more enjoyable for players.
Currently, Riot relies on a combination of player reports and automatic text detection to curb unwelcome player behavior, which it defines as insulting, threatening, harassing, or offensive language. In January alone, these management methods allegedly resulted in 400,000 voice and text chat mutes, as well as 40,000 game bans (implemented due to "multiple, repeated toxic communications," ranging from days to permanent).
Despite these efforts, Riot acknowledges that "there has been no significant decrease in the frequency with which players experience harassment in our games". As a result, it called the work done so far "fundamental at best" and acknowledged that "there is still a great deal of work to be done on this basis in 2022 and beyond."
To that end, the developer has promised to make some changes to its existing control methods. First, it is exploring, as part of a regional test pilot program currently limited to Turkey, to create a player support agent who will strictly oversee uploaded reports specifically targeted at player behavior and act on established guidelines. If the test shows enough prospects, Riot will consider rolling it out in other regions.
As for the measures it will implement in the short term, Riot said that now it is "more confident" that its automated detection system is functioning properly, and that it will gradually begin to increase the severity and escalation of its penalties, which should lead to "faster handling of bad actors.". In addition, it wants to make changes to its real-time text control system so that players who use the word "zero tolerance" in chats will be punished immediately, rather than as now, other players having to put up with their poisonous tongue until the end of the game.
Regarding the abuse of voice chat, Riot noted that it is harder to spot than text, and that developers will make improvements to existing control tools and launch a voice evaluation program announced last year. At the time, it said it was updating its privacy statement to allow it to record and evaluate voice communications when submitting reports of destructive behavior. The system will eventually be introduced later this year in North America/English and then implemented globally when the technology is "in good shape."
However, having said all this, the national area is still not online.