Riot Games has been on pretty much every gamer’s radar since Valorant went into its closed beta phases, especially considering the only way to gain access to the beta was through watching Twitch streams in hope of getting a drop. However, a Riot Games employee shared a clip of her experience of harassment she faced while playing. Now, Riot Games has stated that they’re going to find “long-term solutions” to combat in-game harassment.
Riot Greenily, UX Designer for League of Legends took to Twitter to share the below clip of her experience streaming a Valorant match. However, despite this being Valorant specifically, she states in her tweet, ” It’s like this MOST of the time on solo queue voice comms REGARDLESS of the game I’m playing.” She admits that she doesn’t usually give in to comments like the ones she experiences in the video, but “Inevitably you get to a point where you have to mute them.”
Today’s
: It’s like this MOST of the time on solo queue voice comms REGARDLESS of the game I’m playing. I usually don’t give in to this like in the video; I’m silent in an attempt to not incite more. Inevitably you get to a point where you have to mute them. More perspective: pic.twitter.com/7ruWcI78tL
— Tea!
She brings up a follow-up tweet that she’s hesitant to upload videos such as this because of how people may judge her for gameplay rather than the harassment, as well as the potential of a target being painted on her back. “I want to live in a world where this guy doesn’t go and ruin other peoples’ games. Where people feel safe to speak up.” she continues in the thread. “for a ton of females, their safety mechanism is identifying ppl [sic] like this early and remaining silent or muting.”
Please don’t be this dude who shouted “OH MY GOD IT’S A GIRL” the moment I talked; who called me his “babe”/ acted like I was his girlfriend throughout the whole game. I had to heal this guy because I’m trying to win the game and that SUCKED.
— Tea!
Riot Greenily encourages people to recognize harassment such as this and report it and speak up. She also admits that she did mute the player. However, muting the player is beyond the point, that doesn’t stop them from going off and harassing another player as she states.
And for the record, yes I muted his ass. Does that mean he won’t go making other people uncomfortable though? No. If you’re in one of these parties, please help speak up and report these people. Because I hope this is not the kind of community you want to be playing with.
— Tea!
Anna “RiotSuperCakes” Donlon, executive producer for Valorant jumped on the thread, promising to make the game a safer environment for female players. “Gross, this is creepy as hell. This is why I can’t solo. I’m so sorry. We’re absolutely looking into long-term solutions for making it safe to play VALORANT – even solo queue!”
Gross, this is creepy as hell. This is why I can’t solo. I’m so sorry. We’re absolutely looking into long-term solutions for making it safe to play VALORANT – even solo queue!
— Anna Donlon (@RiotSuperCakes) April 24, 2020
This has led to more speaking out regarding their experiences with toxic harassment in video games. Another member from the Valorant development team spoke out. Insight & strategy analyst Riot Aeneia shared her story about a player making sexist remarks as well as sexual harassment. She also mentions that there were 3 other players in voice communications but no one spoke up.
This dude just wouldn’t let up. He kept calling me a liar, that I’m actually a dude. He told me to “save [my] ideas for the kitchen.” About half way through the match, he asked if I’m single. By the end of the match, he repeatedly asked if he could add me. He proposed to me.
— Riot aeneia (@aeneiaa) April 24, 2020
I didn’t lose it. I tried several tactics to discourage this dude’s behavior, but none worked. He just kept at it. (Muting can be strategic sabotage, so I try to avoid it.)
But you know, there were 3 other folks in comms with us. None of them said anything about it. Not a peep.
— Riot aeneia (@aeneiaa) April 24, 2020
How Riot Games looks to crack down on these interactions will be interesting to see. It’ll be great if other methods open more ways to punish or change the player’s online behavior in other video games. And before you bring up how other games have it worse, or the past was worse, we’re in a time where change should be welcomed and immature behavior in games such as exampled here should be stopped.
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