Every game that has an active competitive scenario also has a huge user base of casual players, and Valorant is no exception. While the pros showcase their skills at high-stakes tournaments, casual players do the same by pushing in-game ranks. There is a fine line between both these aspects; however, it seems that the Valorant community has put them together.
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Apparently, a lot of competitive players have started working on their act ranks and Elo. This not only creates a false picture in the minds of their audience, but forces aspiring pro players to tread the same path.
100 Thieves‘ Valorant pro, Josh Nissan, better known as 100T steel, recently tweeted his mini-rant on why stats/Elo/ranks have no meaning:
Mini-rant on stats/elo/rank and why it ultimately doesn't mean anything.
Played games on a new account and the amount of people in plat/diamond/immortal that have this superiority complex that they're better cause they have more kills or a higher rank is actually sad and gross. pic.twitter.com/agfd52q4ms
— 100T steel (@JoshNissan) January 2, 2021
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Nissan emphasized on the impact of the community’s expectations from pro players, and how they change their playstyle just to seem more convincing to the viewers. The casual fan-base considers act ranks and certain Elo ratings as important; accordingly, competitive players try to improve on these parameters. This further strengthens the community’s narrative, which 100T steel describes as a “feedback cycle”.
“It’s like a feedback cycle right? So, you have the community thinking one thing, and then it’s causing the people that are aspiring to be pros to think that way, and play a certain way. And then, it feed backs into the community’s cycle where it’s like these pros are now talking about how act rank, and this certain Elo actually matters.”
Stats mean nothing in Valorant, claims the 100 Thieves pro
Nissan referred to his past, where no one but himself cared about the stats in a Counter Strike: Source 24/7 public server. Now that he plays Valorant professionally, a similar outlook by the game’s community disappoints him.
“No one cares! When you stop playing this game, no one’s gonna be like ‘you remember this guy? he was Radiant, and he had an Elo of 2220’. No one gives a f**k”
To say the least, the pressure on pro players to push their ranks annoys 100T Steel, and for him, such an approach is nothing more than a joke.
Here’s the tweet where the pro talks about the misinterpretation of stats by the community:
The conversation in chat started as something along the lines of "im stuck in x rank as sage but I go 25-15 every game. should i use a different agent to carry". I explained that I'm only given one piece of info to diagnose when I need upwards of 20 pieces. Then went on a tangent
— 100T steel (@JoshNissan) January 2, 2021
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Do you agree with 100T steel or his rant against act ranks and stats was a mere overreaction?
