Valorant as a game itself has not much of an issue, it's the majority of the community that is making this game distasteful.
Valorant has always been a teamplaying game, this means working together as a team to accomplish a Win. We all play games with the ultimate objective to win right? And I'm not talking about foregoing fun in the process, but the fundamental of games has always been objectives like Defeat the Boss, Clear the Mission, Eliminate the opponents; putting it simply - to Win. And winning effectively in Valorant provides players with tools such as Communication, Coordination, Information etc etc.
Now here come's the issue.
Firstly, communication. Why is it when in matches, people choose not to comms at all, be it use their mics or even type like A, or B, or 1 mid etc. For a game that has an emphasis on communication being given the tools of a microphone, chatbox, for some reason, our player base seem to have developed this irrational disdain of using these tools. Why? Are you insecure about your voice? Is opening your mouth to speak too tiring? Does using your mic require you to pay money?
Idk about most of you who don't talk, for me, whether I'm in a party with friends or solo queueing with strangers, it's always a fun process to use your mic to talk, make new friends (who talk back), or be it just effective communication to coordinate and try to win the match effectively.
Secondly, the attitude people bring to games. Since when did modes like swiftplay, unrated, pretty much any mode other than ranked become a playground or green card to throw/troll. I can never understand people who say things like "its just swiftplay" as if it's a valid excuse for trolling. This has got nothing to do with RR, but rather, when have some people become so entitled that they think it's okay to throw other peoples' games? If you wanna troll, do it in your own 5 stack parties. If not, the least you can do is ensure the ones not in your party is okay with it. Just because you don't want to take these unranked games seriously doesn't mean others are not allowed to play their game properly. Etiquette guys, the world doesnt revolve around you.
I'm also not against eating, listening to music, playing mobile game, doing other things etc during together with Valorant. I use my phone and eat too in between matches, but that's the keyword right there, In Between Matches. I've seen so many times people starting the match with just a classic because they don't know how to choose their time to afk. You can eat take a bite of your food, go to the toilet before you press that queue button, during agent select, when you die in spectator mode, even during buy phase AFTER you buy. If you know how to plan your time, when to wake up from bed so you have time to take the shower, brush your teeth then take the bus to school, I don't see how this is any different or more difficult. Or have we simply become comfortable disregarding other peoples' gaming experience and only caring about our own gaming experience and convenience? And I think majority even the devs agree with this closing statement,
Penalties exist in unranked modes too for a reason
Thirdly, please stop making this community so soft by calling anything and everything you disagree with toxic. The state of Valorant's community has become as such that many people no longer use teamchat and talk because every little thing gets called toxic. Asking for a smoke gets retaliated with being called toxic, asking someone to hold an angle gets called toxic, teaching someone how to improve gets called toxic. It's funny how those of you guilty of this, you guys ask people to not rage at newbies and teach them instead but when we do? You call people toxic and backseating.
Here's a REAL example I encountered.
A: "Sova don't use your recon so soon, wait for people to entry then recon, you'll get more value since your dart will give the enemy one more target to shoot at when entrying"
B: "Omg it's just swiftplay chill"
I for one am welcoming of all players from all ages and background, however most of these kids in Valorant just simply have no manners or courtesy to others and it is this handful of bad etiquette players that make this game awful to enjoy and take seriously.
