Hi everyone,
I'm frequently connected to the Warsaw server when I queue for VALORANT, even though I currently live in another EU country. I actually lived in Poland for over five years, worked there, and still visit regularly — I even have family there. I speak Polish, not perfectly, but well enough to communicate in voice and text chat during matches.
I usually play 1–3 matches a day, and I can confidently say that in over half of the games I play on the Warsaw server, at least one teammate harasses me, and often more — two, three, sometimes the entire team.
The pattern is depressingly predictable.
Because of my accent, players realize I'm not a native speaker. Some don’t care. But most quickly become mocking, xenophobic, or aggressive — especially when I make a minor mistake, or when I speak Polish on voice chat.
Typical example:
I miss a shot or make a bad play, and suddenly:
“Where are you from? Your accent is weird.”
I reply:
“I'm from [X country].”
They respond:
“Ah, okay… makes sense then.”
When I play agents like Sova, I try to be communicative and give intel like:
“Two A rotating B” / “One C two mid”
But instead I often get replies like:
“You should go fight your war, not play VALORANT.”
(referring to the war in Ukraine — people assume I’m Ukrainian just because I speak Polish with an accent)
“You're so bad, you must be Ukrainian.”
When I clarify that I’m from another EU country:
“Like I care. Don’t play on Polish servers.”
“You're a [insult][insult], so bad your mom must be a [insult].”
“Quit playing, you [gay / black / insert slur here].”
It gets worse:
If I call out this behavior or defend myself, the abuse escalates. They troll me the rest of the match — flash me, stun me, grief my plays — simply because I’m “not Polish.”
Most of these offenders are young men who seem to believe this kind of behavior is justified. There’s no reasoning with them. It doesn’t matter how polite or cooperative I try to be — once they hear my accent, the game turns into harassment.
I’m not sharing this to generalize all Polish players — I’ve had many amazing teammates from Poland. But this has happened so consistently that I’ve decided to speak up.
❓¿Has anyone else experienced this?
❓¿Is there anything more we can do as players to report and prevent this kind of behavior?
Just to make clear, I have very good polish friends and even part of my family is polish, I am just sad for this situation growing up in there.
Thanks for reading.
