Riot Games Reveals Valorant Voice Evaluation Update

On 24th June 2022, Riot Games announced its latest efforts toward combating disruptive behavior in Valorant with a background launch of its new Voice Evaluation System in North America. This came after the developers updated their Privacy Notice and Terms of Service in April, allowing the recording of in-game voice communications when reports are logged against toxic or abusive player behavior.

Valorant to Combat Comms Toxicity with Voice Evaluation Update

According to a Tweet on the official Valorant Twitter page, the Voice Evaluation Update will launch on 13th July 2022 in North America. The update will launch for English only to "help train our language models and get the tech in a good enough place for a beta launch later this year," the developers said.

On July 13 we'll begin a background launch of the voice evaluation system in North America/English-only to help train our language models and get the tech in a good enough place for a beta launch later this year. Read more: https://t.co/MYmBfGq8QOpic.twitter.com/RBQRMBwbeN

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) June 24, 2022

While Riot Games acknowledges the importance of voice communication in its game, it also recognizes that some players abuse its voice coms system to foster an abusive, toxic environment unfavorable for recreational or competitive play.

Riot communicated these plans earlier this year in its Valorant Systems Health series, in which they also disclosed plans to address comms toxicity and what they consider unwanted behavior. This behavior included insults, threats, harassment, or offensive language communicated through its game systems.

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"Voice evaluation would provide a way to collect clear evidence that could verify any violations of behavioral policies before we can take any action. This would also help us share back to players why a particular action resulted in a penalty," Riot noted.

The developers added that they would not use the Voice evaluation period for disruptive behavior reports; instead, the background launch will be used as a training system to tease out the kinks.

"We know that before we can even think of expanding this tool, we'll have to be confident it's effective, and if mistakes happen, we have systems in place to make sure we can correct any false positives (or negatives, for that matter)."

At this time, this Voice Evaluation Feature will be exclusive to Valorant; however, Riot aims to roll out the feature to other game titles in the future. While the developers expect "growing pains," this latest move is geared toward a safer and more inclusive environment for all.

And that's all. For more related game content, check out our section dedicated to Valorant news, updates, leaks, guides, and much more.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games.