Disruptive behavior is one of the issues that make gaming experiences unpleasant, and Riot Games wants to tackle the problem starting in July 2022.Riot Games will start recording voice chats, but it won't monitor your interactions per se. So, why would the gaming company do this, and what does it mean for players?

Riot Games Will Start Recording Your Valorant Voice Chats

Gamer wearing headphones

Riot Games—the parent company of popular games like Valorant, League of Legends, and Teamfight Tactics—shared that it will start recording voice chats starting July 13, 2022.

The announcement was made in a Riot Games blog post, which noted that it would record only English-speaking Valorant players based in North America at this time.

Riot Games had previously announced plans to start recording players in April 2021, stating that it aimed to tackle harassment in its community. Now it is moving forward with those plans, but it won't be recording gamers specifically to look into reports of harassment or any form of disruptive behavior just yet.

Why Riot Games Will Start Recording Your Valorant Voice Chats

Riot Games wants to test its language training model before rolling it out across various games. As stated in Riot Games' privacy notice and terms of service document:

We’ve been taking a look at disruptive behavior in our games for a while, and voice evaluation is just one of the ways we want to make our games better for everyone who plays them. Disruptive behavior on voice comms is a huge pain point for a lot of players. And we believe one of the ways to combat it is by providing quick and accurate ways to report abuse or harassment so we know when to take action. We also need clear evidence to verify violations of behavioral policies before we take action and to help us share with players on why a particular behavior may have resulted in a penalty.

In essence, this is a beta test to improve the technology necessary to look into harassment cases in the future to ensure that the technology is efficient and investigations are thorough and fair.

This development is crucial for preventing online harassment, especially for children. If you have gamer kids, read these tips to make online gaming safer for your kids. It also helps to know what they're exposed to by trying the games out yourself.

What the Recording of Valorant Voice Chats Means for Players

man wearing gaming headphones in front of screen

Riot Games will not listen to or monitor your live chats. It will only pull your recordings if you've been reported for harassment to investigate the complaints against you and take action as necessary.

And if you're worried about how it will handle your data, Riot Games promises only to collect "the absolute minimum" data. The company assures you that it will treat your data with the utmost care. It will keep you in the loop on what it does with it, not store it longer than necessary, and guard it as its own.

However, you can simply turn the voice chat feature off if you still have privacy concerns. Riot Games will share more details about the beta test before it begins.

Riot Games Is Making Its Games Safer for Players

All online platforms come with the risk of abuse and harassment. It is up to the owners of those platforms to make them safer for users. Riot Games is doing just that.

It is making its games safer and more pleasant for its community by improving its systems for handling reports of abuse. But this takes time, so don't expect the company to get it right overnight.