VALORANT players agree it’s okay to ‘let nature take its course’ when there’s a cheater

No one likes a cheater in VALORANT, but players say it’s completely fine to keep playing your ranked games if you happen to end up with a cheater on your team. They make a good point, too.

Unfortunately, cheating is a huge issue in VALORANT, whether players are sniping big streamers like Tarik or using cheats in official Game Changer matches. But what’s the right thing to do if you believe someone on your team is cheating in a ranked game? One player asked the community what they would do if they found themselves in that situation in an Oct. 21 Reddit thread. 

The original poster recalled a game where they reported their teammate who appeared to be cheating but otherwise continued to play the rounds as usual. This apparently rubbed the opponents the wrong way, as they might’ve expected the alleged cheater’s team to surrender or throw the game to make things right.

Most players chimed in, saying they would also just report the cheater and keep playing. After all, it’s not your fault for randomly being put onto a team with a cheater unless you’re in a party with them. Aside from reporting suspicious activity, it’s not your responsibility to punish cheaters by surrendering or intentionally throwing the game. That’s on Riot Games to do something about the cheaters in its game.

In fact, you’d be hurting yourself in the long run by purposely losing games just to teach cheaters a lesson. You’d not only lose RR but you’d also risk being reported for throwing the game. And that’s unfortunately not worth it for many players who work hard to rank up.

Instead, the best thing to do would be to “let nature run its course” because there will be other unlucky situations to balance out having a cheater on your team. For example, having an AFK teammate in another game could be seen as a disadvantage that cancels out the advantage of the cheating situation. Sometimes it works in your favor, and other times it works against you. In the end, it should all even out—unless you’re really unlucky.

Ultimately, it’s Riot’s job to catch cheaters and punish them for violating the competitive integrity of the game. So don’t feel guilty if you win one game because one of your random teammates happened to be cheating. It’s not your fault, and it’ll balance out one way or another.