Playing Valorant as a woman is hell

Sakina_-

And I do not weigh my words. I’ve been playing Valorant for two years (since the beta) and I’ve never been so threatened with r4pe. I play Valorant for its competitive aspect, I am currently in immortal / ascendant and I am insulted and threatened almost 10 times a day. I sent tons of messages to support in 2 years, seeing that my sexism reports were NEVER taken seriously (never feed back). The only answers I get are based on "I understand sexism is hard, you should stop playing this game". I was also confronted with p3d0 on Valorant which of course was not sanctioned. I can’t put examples here for fear of not shocking sensitive people because the things I’ve read and heard in 2 years of play will make someone normally constituted want to end his life. 😒

People on this game only want one thing, to make you cry and sometimes they succeed. And seeing that the suport isn’t understanding is ten times worse. It breaks my heart to see that millions of people (yes we’re not talking about just a few hundred) feel that I don’t have my legitimacy to play this game on the pretext that I’m a woman. I wish every man who sees this message would realize that insults even behind a screen hurt, that it is not normal to speak like that to a human in the same way as racism or homophobia.

I have since stopped asking for help from Valorant support because for them the solution would be for the victim to remain silent👎. They release bundles for pride month but for women’s day error 404. People have even told me not to talk or to use a voice changer, are we in the 18th century? Am I suppose to hide from people that I'm a woman lol ? I have been in the video game world for 10 years and no other video game has made me so ashamed of my status as a woman.

I hope that you will understand and that in the future you will be MUCH more respectful towards your neighbour, man or woman because at the end of the day, we are all human.
For the women who will read this message, you are incredible, do not let anyone make you think you are inferior. In the end half of the men who insult would not have the courage to endure what we endure on a daily basis.
For good men who would read this (and I know there are), stay as you are and don’t hide from the general public. It’s with people like you that the world could be a paradise. 😇

CassidyRaddick

I am so sorry to hear that you have to deal with this level of abuse and sexism on a daily basis when you just want to play the game and have some fun. I'm also sorry to hear that Riot isn't doing enough to address this problem. I've been taught that bullies who say these types of extremely offensive and hurtful things are just looking for a reaction, to get a quick thrill out of provoking people and getting into verbal arguments, so the best way to discourage this type of behavior is to mute them at the first sign of abuse and to not engage and give them what they want (even if you feel like it is completely justified to fight back.) This type of silence is different from the silence of victims who are unable to speak up: it is a tool you can use to take power back from the abusers by refusing to play or take part in their mind games, to refuse to add more fuel to the fire, so it would eventually die out when they get bored and find something else to do. Also keep in mind that the threats they are making are most likely empty, because they don't know you in real life (and think about it: if you really wanted to hurt someone, would you warn the victim beforehand so they have time to prepare or call the police? No!!) But if you feel like someone actually wants to hurt you, trust your judgement and don't be afraid to get help. This is just my (probably-simplistic) take on this complex situation, (since I am lucky enough to not have experienced this firsthand), and I know that my suggestions probably won't solve your problems, but I'm willing to listen and continue to have an open and constructive conversation about sexism in gaming, and what we can do to hopefully change things. Thank you for being vulnerable enough to share your story on here, and to help spread awareness on what is still happening to so many women. Stay strong and take care. 🙂