A block list could be on VALORANT’s horizon, according to one Riot Games developer recently. But implementing the feature isn’t as simple as one may think.
Earlier this week VALORANT producer Sara Dadafshar said in a post on Reddit that a “safe version” of a block list could be implemented into the game in the future. Players have long requested ways to play in a safer and less toxic environment, but the block list feature is a “trickier” one to add.
The block list “isn’t completely off the table,” according to Dadafshar. But there’s one factor that has to be addressed when considering implementing it.
“Often times, this block would be thrown left and right against good players, causing them to be on a mass ignore list, tanking the queues that they’d join,” Dadafshar said. “It’s a great way for folks to isolate certain individuals from queues, even though the intent of it is to ‘block/ignore’ the disruptive players who are tossing profanities and other inappropriate things into voice/chat.”
Toxicity is often a source of frustration in the gaming community. The possibility to chat with your teammates and opponents comes with a high chance of homophobic, sexist, and racist language. In VALORANT, as in other FPS games, a voice chat offers better communication with your teammates, but it can only exacerbate many of the toxicity issues already present in the game.
VALORANT has a “mute” button that will prevent a player from listening to the muted teammate, but sometimes it’s not enough. A toxic player has more than one way of becoming a hindrance to other fans of the game. Sometimes the toxic attitude is expressed through in-game actions that aim to make the team lose or disturb a specific player.
The block feature is already implemented in another Riot title, League of Legends. League players who block someone will automatically have the blocked summoner’s messages muted in case they end up in the same game together.
Riot is also disabling “/all chat” in League to test the impact this feature would have on the game and its community. In the game update article Riot said the /all chat could be a way to interact between enemy teams, and even house friendly banter. But as of now the “negative interactions outweigh the positives.” The developers will evaluate the influence of the absence of /all chat through the reports rates as well as “surveys and direct feedback” from the community.
Related: Riot is disabling /all chat in matchmade League queues in Patch 11.21
As the idea of a block list could be discussed more in the future, players can expect some update on the topic directly from the VALORANT team.
