While nearly 9,000 players have already been banned from the game since its release in closed beta, Riot Games continues to want to offer the most optimal gaming experience possible in Valorant by taking action against AFK players this time.
For those who don't know it yet, AFK is an acronym which means "Away From the Keyboard." It describes players who aren't in front of their computer and who cannot play a match in its entirety.
In a game as cooperative and competitive as Valorant, this type of player can quickly become a scourge and cause his/her team to lose one or more rounds in a matter of seconds. Suffice to say that this ruins the match of the other four players who must play with a missing teammate.
AFK players are commonplace in the game and, after the beta version was released several weeks ago, it was only a matter of time before action was taken.
Thus, Riot Games announced heavier penalties including — in addition to exclusions as a last resort — longer queue restrictions. It will expand as the players go AFK in their various rounds. A countdown will tell them how much time they have left before taking a penalty.
We don't know yet the full extent of these new measures, but we can easily imagine that the downgrade of a player's rank could also be considered. Riot Games is expected to communicate on the subject again in the coming days.
Philipp Koskinas — a member of Riot Games' anti-cheat team — has announced that 9,000 players have been banned since the beginning of Valorant's closed beta.
