Twitch streamer Sydeon exposes sexist abuse in Valorant matches

Cosplay content creator Sydney “Sydeon” has come forward with some concerning experiences had while playing Valorant. 

Sydeon, who has notably played Among Us alongside Rachell “Valkyrae” Hoffstetter, has experienced severe harassment from toxic players while solo queuing in Valorant. The sexism Sydeon faced is unfortunately something that a lot of female Valorant players have shared in over the past year. 

On June 22, Sydeon explained that she was “held hostage” by teammates who kept yelling at her to “get back in the kitchen.” The experience left Sydeon shaking with frustration.

“I’ve never been so upset. People either call me boosted for playing with friends or I get flamed because of my fucking gender,” Sydeon said. 

When women have brought up this concern in the past, some in the gaming community have stated that female players should simply “mute” the other players or not use voice chat in the game to begin with. Others have said that “talking shit” is a normal part of playing any game online. But for many women, this doesn’t address the actual issue. 

“Also saying ‘it’s videos games, shit talk is normal get used to it.’ It’s not it. If that’s the culture then fucking change it,” Sydeon said. 

Female contenet creator LilyPichu has admitted that she never uses chat in solo queue in order to avoid such harassment. Another female streamer, Complexity Gaming’s Electra, explained that there’s a difference between commenting on someone’s skill or gameplay versus their gender identity. At that point it’s just harassment and the gaming community should understand that, Electra offered. 

Riot responds to sexism in Valorant

After expressing her concern, Sydeon directly tagged Valorant and called for action. She told the developers to listen to the comms of her being called a “whore.” 

“It makes the atmosphere unsafe to have people like this playing,” Sydeon said, offering to provide more information if needed. 

In response to the tag, Riot revenue lead for Valorant Joe “SWAGGERNAU7” Lee asked for the account name and tag in question. Sydeon swiftly responded, saying she would DM him the information.

It’s unclear if Riot ever took action against the players who harassed Sydeon. Either way, developers likely need to establish more safety features to keep players protected and allow them to enjoy the game without dealing with harassment if they decide to communicate in a team-based game.