Valorant developers say they will be forcing name changes
Riot is no longer allowing offensive in-game Riot IDs.
Valorant recently tweeted that developers are launching the Forced Name Change initiative. In the tweet announcing the move, the official Valorant Twitter account stated that one of their top priorities is creating a "shortsmanlike environment where players respect one another." One way to address this issue is not allowing offensive in-game Riot IDs.
As @RiotSuperCakes has said, keeping a sportsmanlike environment where players respect one another is one of our top priorities. Today we're launching Forced Name Change for in-game Riot IDs.
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) September 22, 2020
"Baddies be gone: swifter justice will be served on reports for offensive player names that violate our Code of Conduct. Think hate speech, slurs, etc. The account of a reported player will then go through an automated check," Valorant tweeted.
If the reported account has a "disruptive name," the player will be forced to change it the next time they log into the Riot Client.
"This is just another step of many we’re taking to make Valorant truly welcome for all," Valorant stated.
Valorant developers acknowledged that the Forced Name Change initiative was inspired by Valorant executive producer Anna "SuperCakes" Donlon. The community leader had touched upon the toxicity of the Valorant playerbase earlier in the week.
"I think it's important I'm out here engaging with and learning about our community," SuperCakes said. "I know by doing so I expose myself to negativity; not just about the game, but personal insults about me. And yes, it can sting. I'm going to stick around though."
As a leader on VALORANT, I think it's important that I'm out here engaging with & learning about our community. I know by doing so I expose myself to negativity; not just about the game, but personal insults about me. And yes, it can sting.
— Anna Donlon (@RiotSuperCakes) September 14, 2020
I'm gonna stick around though. ❤️
Forced Name Change program has mixed response from Valorant community
The reaction to the Forced Name Change program was mixed. The Valorant community was split in its opinions on the rule change, with some players feeling the name change isn't enough of a consequence for trolls and toxic players. Some even suggested that Valorant should ban players who try to utilize offensive IDs.
So you're letting racist and bigoted people continue to play your game by just making them change their name? Why not just ban them? Seems simple enough.
— Dan Risen ダンカー (@Dan_Risen) September 22, 2020
Other Valorant fans felt that people's in-game IDs were the least of the community's problems with toxicity. One player said that women are far more concerned with harassment in-game rather than what someone's name is. While female players temporarily fix the problem by muting more offensive teammates, that doesn't make the community safer in the long term.
haha wow game is 100% safer now ._. how abt we work on the issue that some women dont even feel safe enough to play this game anymore because of the extreme harassment AND disgusting sexual advances???? like cmon..
— -ˏˋ♡ cat ¹² (@kwittiess) September 23, 2020
In April, a Riot employee admitted on Twitter that she wouldn't solo queue in Valorant because of the sexism and harassment she receives, even if she remains silent and ignores comments made. She said that men will start yelling when they find out she's a girl, treating her poorly and calling her inappropriate names.
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 🍵 (@Evergreenily) April 24, 2020
"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. But reality is that in general voice comms land, for a ton of females, their safety mechanism is identifying ppl like this early and remaining silent or muting," she tweeted.
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