Toxicity, chat abuse, voice abuse, racism, and sexual harassment are all a huge problem when it comes to online gaming. While this is not unheard of, even in real life, at least in the physical world it’s easier to hold the perpetrators accountable. When it comes to the virtual universe, things get far more uncertain. Abuse runs riot in the online gaming industry. What makes it worse is it goes unpunished in most instances. Case in point, Valorant.

Despite still being in the beta phase, the abuse and sexual harassment are already an issue. In fact, one executive on the game had to avoid solo-queuing altogether to avoid in-game abuse.

Valorant has a Problem to Deal With

Pokimane recently tweeted out urging everyone to be ‘nice to girls.’

That prompted a huge debate on social media pertaining to the abuse against female gamers. Valorant director took that opportunity to call on the community to be civil. Unfortunately, even passionate rallying calls and earnest pleas don’t really do much to help. The abuse continues to ruin the experience for many gamers.

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In April, Anna Donlon, an executive on Valorant, reacted to a video of harassment on the game. She confessed it was the reason she avoided solo queuing.

You know the problem is rampant when an official makes a public comment.

However, Donlon assured everyone they were working on making sure the abuse was dealt with appropriately. You can check out her tweets from the recent discussion that erupted on Twitter on the very same subject.

“We have a lot of plans in development for VALORANT that I think will be steps in a more positive direction (both short term and longer term). I’d love to see the entire industry come together on this.”

Reporting systems are usually available on most games. The same is true for Valorant as well. You can check out the details of their reporting system on their official website here.

However, the real question is how effective is it? Can the developers tweak and optimize it?

The problem is that reporting tools are often not enough. Unfortunately, they fall well short of actually making a difference in discouraging such abusive behavior. Given the steady stream of complaints, especially from female gamers, it is apparent that Valorant has much to do yet.