Riot aims to further minimize toxicity in Valorant by finally adding reporting in Agent select with patch 3.13

Valorant's latest patch, Patch 3.12, is going to bring a number of key social updates to the game to tackle the ever-increasing cases of toxicity. A quick look at the Valorant community posts will make one aware of this raging problem. It seems like Riot has finally taken note of the situation.

Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League in their survey covered more than two thousand US gamers who engaged in online multiplayer games. Valorant topped the list for the second straight year with 79% of players reporting some form of harassment they have faced in-game.

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How Patch 3.12 tries to tackle the issues of toxicity and harassment in Valorant

Once Patch 3.12 is live, players will get the option to report disruptive or toxic players during the agent selection screen. This has multiple implications, as there are players who will instinctively pick an agent to ruin others' experience or run down the clock and dodge simply to annoy others. Other than this, voice and chat abuse are common occurrences.

The other major change that Riot added with this patch is that friendly fires will now be punished. If the player's abilities adversely affect their teammate's game, Riot will take action against the player.

Both of these changes are being put in to place to combat the toxicity that surrounds online competitive gaming, especially Valorant. Riot, in an official statement back in 2020, announced that they are a part of the Fair Play Alliance - a coalition of professionals and companies who are committed to creating a fair in-game space.

Anna Donlon, the executive producer and leader of the Valorant Development Team, addressed the player behavior concerns in the statement as:

We’ve learned to mute others who are harassing us. We’ve learned to mute ourselves in order to keep the peace. And as a result, we have a competitive experience that can feel compromised. We often find ourselves at a disadvantage. I worry that if we (Riot) don’t make a larger commitment here, we’ll end up following up with very little, or we’ll stop at providing ‘tools’ to self-isolate, rather than promoting a fair, competitive experience for everyone. So I’m going to make that commitment.

With Riot pouring a large amount of resources into Valorant, it is imperative that they tackle these issues and ensure that their players have a pleasant time in the game. Competitiveness can not become an excuse to harass other fellow players. The changes in this patch could become a starting point for Riot to make further such meaningful changes.