Data miner reveals new point-based AFK penalty system coming to Valorant

Recently, Valorant has been seeing AFK players during online matches. They seem to be using some sort of script or bot to continually keep the agent jumping in one place, thus keeping them active in-game.

Riot Games is looking to tackle this situation calmly. After each game, players using jump bots will lose more than usual points while also getting queue restrictions.

The developer also introduced a new feature to earn more points in ranked matchmaking.

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Riot’s answer to tackling AFK players in Valorant

After the latest patch, in addition to queue restrictions for AFK players, it seems Riot will also deduct extra points from the account, as shown by popular data miner Valorant Leaks.

You can now lose points for being AFK, and earn bonus points based on performance in ranked. | #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/zA6rTQRdES

— Valorant Leaks (@ValorLeaks) January 21, 2021

YesThat’s a summary of one of his/someone else’s matches and it seems this feature should be in game

— vik (@vikdotexe) January 21, 2021

The data miner has shown excavated game files, stating that the AFK penalty will only get severe.

AFK players have been pushing the point of frustration for Valorant players for far too long. If someone is AFK, they become inactive and get removed from the game. That helps the team get bonus money and the ultimate orb in spawn to help with the 4v5 odds.

A Valorant player, u/C9sButthole, posted on Reddit about an algorithm that helps explain the situation better. The algorithm studies all ten players in the game and comes up with one of the two results, viz AFK and non-AFK.

This Redditor faced an AFK player a game. He wrote:

"Where most AFKs would get disconnected for inactivity, this one was either running a script or had a physical weight on their keyboard that kept them jumping on the spot for the entire game."

With this update, not only will AFK players be timed out, but also they will lose points so much that none of the actual players with good points ever face them again.

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Bonus points for ranked performance

All Valorant players, especially the consistently good ones, have been waiting for this much-needed update. They did not even know about this until the tweet was released with the string of codes stating there are bonus points for ranked plays.

In the latest patch, if a player performs better than the others in the game, he/she will stand to gain the usual amount of points for winning. A bonus point system has been introduced, which helps players get MVP in every match they outperform others and themselves.

Plays like baiting with Jett will reward them more than just the team’s respect and own satisfaction now.