VALORANT players agree ‘time-wasting’ AFK penalty system needs these big changes

VALORANT players are fed up with the AFK penalty system and agree Riot Games isn’t doing enough to combat the issue. Some suggest the dev increase the penalty to ranks, while others shared unique ways to make matches more balanced.

In a Reddit thread on April 17, players discussed ways to fix VALORANT’s AFK detection system. There are some good ideas in the mix, and a few suggested Riot should punish AFK players by limiting the RR they gain from each win.

“If you AFK for more than a round, you should lose double the RR if your team loses and gain no RR if your team wins. At least hope that will discourage AFKers because timeouts don’t seem to be doing the job,” the opening post read.

Several players also recounted playing four-vs-five matches due to the system identifying AFK players incorrectly. If you buy a weapon, move in the first round, and go AFK for the rest, you won’t be flagged as AFK. This won’t let you call for a remake, leaving you to play the entire match or start a surrender vote.

Another player shared a unique way to balance the four-vs-five situation. “When a player goes afk, the opponent team gets one of their players disabled as well for one round and they take turns round robin going disabled,” they wrote.

While many commenters agreed with these changes, others argued they’d help derankers lose RR quickly. VALORANT players with connection issues could also be unfairly punished with this system.

Given the AFK system can force you to play an entire match with a massive disadvantage, we hope Riot is working on a solution. Until then, you have to make the best of a bad situation.