Ummm Riot... what are you doing?

YAMETE!

Riot games are a studio teeming with online experience and the potential to seize ever newer online ventures in the endlessly expanding future. Whilst handfuls of other studios in the world today bemoan the trials of online infrastructure work and flounder at the very prospect, Riot have been working in that field for the better part of the last 12 years, so they should recongise every challenge and how to handle it with grace. That's the reason why all those the online dabblers out there who insist it's literally impossible to launch a polished experience from the get-go, (Todd Howard) find themselves shutting right the heck up when Riot Games rock up and drop the hugely successful Counter-strike successor; Valorant, which works out the box. Of course, that isn't to say Valorant never had it's issues, such as a inherently dubious anti-cheat software that seemed built to one day be exploited either within the company or without; but we haven't had any serious breaches with that just yet and so the standard operating procedures in such an event is to carry on like there's no problem and act deeply surprised when you turn around one day and find your email is getting sold on the Deep Web. (whoops.)

But I'm not here to harper on about the 'root-kit' anti-cheat system again. I'm sure those eggs with hatch by their own one day and do all the talking that they need to, no instead I want to talk about something a lot closer to home, something that requires no mid-level tech knowledge to comprehend, and something that isn't even a specific problem of Valorant's to fix. It's the issue of many different online games out there, (although not, as some alarmists would have you believe, all online games) that whenever we come down to voice chat there's a certain level of- inherent hostility, shall we say, that a lot of folk get subjected to, and it tends to make the gaming experience worse. Talk to some folk out there and they'll refer to it as 'toxicity', but I personally never liked that expression because it's been overused to meaninglessness. In a nutshell, sometimes people out there are right asses on voice chat, and that's something that Riot have found some interesting ways to tackle.

Now I know that if you've been around here any length of time you might be thinking back on my personal opinions on online gaming and thinking "Whatchu know about 'voice chat' abuse anyway? You don't even have any friends and/or play online games." For which you would usually be right, however you're actually wrong. You see I did have me some MMO days (surprise, I guess) and a lot of the time the people I'd play with were total randoms who I just happened across and would sometimes, though not often, chat with them. I also played GTA Online back in the day, and was rather good at it, (I only ever lost 5 deathmatches out of hundreds played) so I'm no stranger to receiving torrents of random abuse out of literally nowhere for just playing the game. And even though my MMO days were generally much more tame, there were points when you just had a bad day, and the right comment at the right time just hits you harder than it should, and then you just don't want to play that game anymore for at least a week. You could argue that's the same with general conversation and social interaction in general, but we've all been in lockdown for over a year so who can even remember at this point?

Of course the stickler here is the whole 'being driven out of the game' aspect of online discourse. When you jump into a game lacking perhaps some of the on-the-point reflexes or experience of some of the other players, sometimes that can become a point of online ridicule. Maybe you're just having an off-day, and someone out there feels the need to rub it in as though you can't see that those numbers yourself. Maybe you just have the wrong sounding type of voice that sets off weirdos in the lobby, say if you happen to be a girl or have a non-American accent. This can lead to folk getting the ol' voice chat harassment and lead to that game, in the minds of the receivers, getting associated with negative emotions, rather than with the elation of victory. Maybe they'll start concluding that the stress isn't worth it, and move away from that game entirely. Then you've got a community of elitist players who rule your game's infrastructure and stamp out any new players by being generally unwelcoming, stanching the growth of your player base and eventually reflecting back on the bottom line. (and then you need to hire Nevercake to voice 100 adverts for you.) As you can imagine, this is when it becomes important to the studio that this crap needs to stop.

Yes, make no mistake this comes down to the company worrying about the user base being stunted, at no point are they worrying about your well being. (those two ends just happen to align for this singular instance.) But how does one go about fixing the rude people over voice chat, I wonder? Well for Riot that process starts with recording voice cha- what? No seriously, what? You've already gotten crap with issues regarding how invasive your anti-cheat software is, and now you want to turn around and start recording people's conversations? Are you high? This is a real thing, Valorant is going to start recording voice chats with players so that they later can confirm accusations of toxic speech. Why does that matter? These guys have a shotgun-approach to this sort of stuff anyway, they just accept the account of the 'victim' no questions asked and dish out bans usually. Now they're going to start a whole privacy concern just to introduce 'evidence' into the equation? Why? You ain't a court, you don't need to go through 'due process'. Either they're lying about the endgoal of this new feature, or this is a classic case of overreacting to fix the problem.

Let's start with the fact that this isn't going to specifically address the problem of problematic chat abuse in the game, but the wider problem of people talking at all using in-game voice chat. (if, indeed, you see people communicating as a problem.) I'm sure that general orders and just playing the game is going to remain just fine, but what about casually  chatting and having fun with teammates? If I know my voice is going into the Riot databases, I'm not going to be nearly as affable to the newbies I happen across. And they'll likely turn around and say, as they always do, "We're not going to do anything untoward with this data, it's purely accessed only when it needs to be"; but we're not idiots here, Riot, even if you never honestly exploit this, someone will. Or even discounting the very real possibility of hackers getting this data, what happens when Riot suddenly decides that they want to combat toxicity before it happens, and isolate those that may be a problem to new players. Why, then it's entirely justified within their minds to start shifting through private voice chats between players in search of a smoking gun like this is 'The Winter Solider' or 'Minority Report' or something. Claim "they'd never do that!" all you like, but don't turn back around on me when it actually happens because that's just the natural progression of 'efforts' like this. ('the road to hell'- as they say.)

And what if Riot isn't on the up and up about exactly why they want to start recording what people sound like, the things they talk about and the times at which they play? I mean, and this is purely supposition with literally no evidence pointing to reality; but this would make for wonderful data to be sold to advertisers should they want to better marketing algorithms. Valorant is, afterall, a free-to-play game which makes it's bread-and-butter trying to swindle players on over priced side content, is it such a leap to assume they'd start mishandling player date too? (I'm sure apologists argue "but they're the one's who set the value of microtransactions", which is the exact attitude adopted of those who are prime swindling targets) What I'm trying to say is, Riot have shown that they're not above trying to dupe their customers for a bit of extra dough, so letting them off the hook for recording voice chat would be nigh on silly. Maybe it's not an issue today, or tomorrow, but someday it will be. Do you want to entrust them with that ticking time bomb regardless of acknowledging that?

At the end of the day, I just think there are better and more involved methods that Riot can go about trying to fix it's voice chat problems. Because I feel like this is an issue of community composition over one of trying to bully players into behaving how you want them to under threat of video-taped blackmail. (That was hyperbolic on purpose, I loathe having to clarify) Be clearer about the types of people who are and are not welcome in your community, let the undesirables see the door, cater game modes specifically for those who want more casual play, charge less for skins on the skin store. (You might think that last one is unrelated, but think about the ecosystem of superiority that premium skins reinforces. Also, those prices are whack, seriously.) Maybe if Riot put as much effort into crafting their community as they do into marketing we wouldn't be looking at these quietly dystopian measures looming over our heads. Or maybe we would anyway, Riot might just be creepy like that.

Valorant: Start of something special?

"No more games, you're DEAD!" a line I've heard WAY too much.

Okay so Valorant has been out for a while now, right? So I feel it's safe to say that just about every interested party is already well acquainted with it. Now that the beta period has come to an end and the game is looking to fully release as a free-to-play title any day now, the question on some folks' minds (like mine) is how worthy such a game is to join the pantheon of online gaming. Because make no mistake, dear reader, Riot Games have tripped backwards over themselves in a desperate bid to have this title be the next sensation of the gaming world, and I have a funny feeling that it just might be. But at the end of the day the real question is whether or not this title will have the sort of staying power to justify it's existence, or whether or not this just ends up being a 2020 fad that received inflated attention due to the lockdown and will wind down in the new year. (Let us discuss!)

So first of all I should probably address the elephant in the room; yes, Valorant's anti-cheat program is still as invasive as ever. The way it's system worms it's way into the core of the user's computer is unreasonable and honestly unjustified (the game has still suffered from a minor cheating problem) so that may be something of a sticking point for people once the wide release hits. (Or it may not, it's hard to tell with crowds.) In the pre-release stage everyone was just so taken by the prospect of partaking in an 'exclusive program' that no one wanted to question just how smart they were being in entrusting their computer to it's systems, but maybe that star power will fade once the free-to-pay drops early next month. Whatever ends up happening, for me the anti-cheat is a deal breaker in it's current state and thus I'll be avoiding a title that I otherwise am quite intrigued by. (Such a shame.)

But talking more about the game itself, I think it's quiet easy to draw parallels between this game and another incredibly popular tactile FPS romp, (In fact, I'd say that Valorant practically invites comparison) and that's because this game is quiet literally a remake of 'Counter Strike: Global Offensive'. (Or just Counter Strike in general, I guess.) I remember when CS:GO first launched and how so many people raved about the title's storied past and theorised that this would be the sort of game that would remain active for years to come; little did they know how right they were. Despite, or perhaps because of, the games simple premise it stuck around through all the Call of Duty craze, Overwatch mania, Battle Royale frenzy and even survived a couple huge scandals against itself. (At least one of which was explicitly criminal. The other was just unethical.) So you can see why it would behove a studio to try and copy that formula, but it would take a talented studio with a good idea in order to pull it off. (Along comes Riot.)

To be clear, I have nothing against Riot but I have to admit that the core of Valorant is one of the most unoriginal and transparent get-famous-quick schemes that I have ever seen. In terms of gameplay it is almost exactly CS:GO; teams take turn to hunt each other in one-life matches whilst one side attempts to plant a 'spike' and the other tries to stop them. ("Oh, but it's not a bomb so that's different, right?" Guess what happens if this Spike isn't defused. It blows up.) In order to shake up that formula, however, Epic decided to dip into the Hero Shooter craze which tanked many a prospective multiplayer darling in the wake of Overwatch to add some class mastery to the equation. So yeah, this idea is essential a hodgepodge of other successful games thrown together into a pot. And does the resulting recipe compliment their talents?

Why yes, yes it actually does. Anyone who has played a hero shooter for any prolonged amount of time knows the amount of nuance and replayabilty the inclusion of Heroes can lend to a game, and for a formula as already repeatable as CS:GO's search-and-destroy gameplay; it's really a match made in heaven. Learning how each character functions, the times to use their abilities and the tactics they gel with is almost as important as learning your favourite gun, and it also adds sufficient room for the title to grow in the future. I imagine that if this title can be supported under the weight of it's overpriced premium store, then players will enjoy the sort of live-service additions that just weren't a thing when CS-GO first launched; neatly placing Valorant on the trajectory to entirely eclipse the predecessor it 'borrowed' so shamelessly from. ("Well, the  old game getting on a bit there anyway. Probably about time they took her out back with the twelve gauge...")

However, at the end of the day you can craft all the clever systems that you want but without a playerbase and community it won't mean jack in the longrun. Luckily Epic were no strangers to amassing both and their campaign to get Valorant into the mouths of every gamer in the world was as ingenious as it was supremely tacky. You might remember earlier how I said that the game was yet to be released, however most still know literally all there is to know about this game and that's due to the Beta keys system. Essentially, this took advantage of the huge live gaming audience on Twitch by encouraging them to watch Valorant streamers in return for randomised Twitch drops of Beta keys for the game. Of course, this would then encourage that individual to join in on the program and suddenly the pyramid scheme has begun. (Okay, maybe that comparison is being a little unfair, but the FOMO exploitation was real with this title and I'm slightly perturbed by that approach to game marketing.)

You can't argue with the results though, and oh boy did it work! Look around today (Well, maybe not today as the game is down in order to prepare for the F2P launch) but any other day and you'll see literally tens of thousands of Twitch-folk watching various Valorant streams. Whether that be in order to get their own key or simply to check out the game, it skyrocketed interaction with the public which logically resulted in a meteoric rise to stardom. It's unreal to see how huge the Valorant community has grown so quickly, and quite honestly that's not the kind of momentum that looks like it's slowing down anytime soon, even for the anti-cheat debacle. (Not everyone is as concerned with protecting their data from hackers as others.)

So is Valorant the start of something special? Yes, I think it is, although it does pain me to admit that, seeing how manufactured and synthetic that promising start was. In the months to follow I can easily see this title becoming the next Overwatch and honestly I don't think this is the sort of title that'll peter out with the changing seasons. Too much work has gone into fitting this game into a competitive state that I seriously wouldn't be surprised if Riot are in talks now, before the game has released to the wider public, to get tournaments going for Valorant as soon as possible. Mark my words, this time next year Valorant will be sitting in the hall of online video game honours, even if it's seat at that table may have been notably bought and paid for. Although, despite all my snark I will admit, I'd play it. (Maybe the inferior console version though, like a scrub) That's just a power of a good, if appropriated, idea.

What the heck is Valorant?

Where'd this guy come from?

Am I the only one who was completely blindsided by a game that everybody seems to be talking about? I mean, one day it was all just "Hey, Resident Evil 3's coming out soon" and "Final Fantasy 7's gonna be great! But only if you have a Playstation cause if you don't then you can wait until April next year. Hah hah, screw you."; and then before I know it this Valorant is getting shoved in my face and people are just like "Yeah. What are you, a Boomer?" Now I feel like I can't turn around without hearing about this game and I still have no idea where it came from. I mean, this isn't an 'Apex Legends' situation wherein the game dropped by surprise and caught everyone off guard, this is the kind of title that you get actively shamed for not knowing about, as though everyone's embarrassed to admit that the title is new for them too. And that isn't just me projecting, (it is me projecting, but it's not just that) this game broke the Twitch most streamed games listing pretty much the day the closed beta launched. All this and I still don't even know what this game is, so what gives?

Well, let me be the most unoriginal scum in the world and parrot the initial reaction that practically everyone and their blind elderly Nan has already deduced; it's Counter Strike but Overwatch. I know, I know, description through comparison is like the absolute soul of laziness, but there is no better description. Aesthetically this game is built upon a cartoonish design this is intentionally crafted to make the visual timeless (It works for Kingdom Hearts afterall) whilst also putting enough individuality behind each hero so that they can be told apart from each other from their silhouettes alone. (I mean, they still don't look even nearly as unique as the Overwatch cast, but it's baby steps.) Whilst from a gameplay perspective it simply exudes 'Counter Strike: Global Offensive' with tactical gunplay, fiddly aiming, and a default POV so wide it's designed for the pros.

And that's probably the biggest take away from Valorant; it's a game designed for Pros. More specifically for ESports. It's apparent from the menu-to-gameplay time, the design of the lobby, the construction of the HUD and the light graphical load designed to be able to run on almost anything. Now personally I never really like it when games go out of their way to aim themselves to an Esports crowd without growing that naturally, although that might just be because, as a crappy amateur writer, I'm allergic to contrivance; but this title's picking up quite the crowd already so I may be in the minority. Perhaps this is exactly the sort of hero shooter tactical hybrid that people are looking for right now in this age of heroes. (That's probably the title of a crappy mobile game, isn't it?) Whereas other titles that have tried the same thing ended up pushing too hard, like Evolve, maybe Valorant has slid into just the right number of palms (or maybe just the right palms) to launch strong.

I say that because already we can hear the rumblings of big streamers jumping aboard the bandwagon. Summit, Shroud even Dr Disrespect have either played or spoken about the game on their platforms. (Dr Disrespect was being critical, but just getting the name out there is enough to build audience recognition. Plus it's sort of his brand.) This is the sort of rise that actually somewhat mirrors the dawn of Apex Legends, or even Fortnite (albeit, in a much more streamlined fashion) to the point where certain questions might arise, such as; is any of this forced? Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt the game itself is serviceable and has earned fans from that right, it is made by Riot Games afterall; I just have reason to believe that some sneaky tactics might have been deployed to make this game's debut splash as wide as it currently feels.

On the launch of it's beta, Valorant peaked at an knee-wobbling 1.7 million concurrent viewers on Twitch and on the first day it accumulated 34 million hours watched. (Which is frankly just ludicrous) So you may be wondering how exactly such a huge global gaming event occurred? Bribery, to put it bluntly. Knowing that the allure of a brand new big budget game was going to drum up excitement, Riot partnered with Twitch in order to come up with something to keep people watching, and this ended up materialising as a Twitch drop set-up. Basically, as viewers tuned in to watch Valorant, they would be given the chance to earn a free closed beta key, provided that their Twitch and Riot accounts were linked. This alone drove a great many folk to try and game the system, with unconfirmed claims that some people would set-up 50 Twitch tabs to improve their chances.

Now there isn't anything inherently wrong with what Riot was doing, besides the way that it blatantly inflates the viewership numbers on the promise of access to a unfinished title with one-in-several-million odds. But this is just the way the game is played on any marketing machine. The problem really comes in the amount of success it has warranted the game, because now this title has come from being an relative unknown to a household game practically overnight and that's a lot of pressure to be under. Remember that this is a game that's riding the 'this is a beta, please ignore bugs' stage of it's life-cycle and yet they're playing for marketing points that are equivalent to a AAA multimillon dollar blockbuster. Needless to say, all eyes are on Riot Games right now and if this game launches to the wider audiences with anything less than a flawless landing, that's going to cause quite the early ripple. Already there are some folk, myself included, who are approaching Riot with a raised eyebrow over this 'coerced viewership' situation, and that's not the sort of mistrust you want to cultivate, really ever, let alone before the title's out the door.

But there's another dimension to this whole issue, although it's a little out of my technical wheelhouse so forgive me if I'm not being as concise as I could be. Online PC games all require their very own form of anti-cheat system in order for a healthy ecosystem to be formed, and that's just a universal given due to how easy it is to inject code on a PC. Valorant, however, takes that a step further than is perhaps necessary with their implementation of Vanguard, a system which installs a 24-hour checker that boots with one's computer and runs with Kernel privileges (the highest level of privileges affordable on a traditional computer) Now this could be nothing of any consequence, Riot's head of Anti-cheat seems to insist so, but seeing as how Riot is owned by Tencent who are themselves a corporate stooge for the Chinese Government, that gets some questions being asked. Riot insist that this is a necessary step to stop cheats designed to boot before the Anti-cheat boots, but clearly that's proven ineffectual as cheaters were being banned off of the closed Beta by day four, so why are we still entertaining this system if not for more nefarious purposes. Okay, so maybe neither Riot nor Tencent have anything overtly predatory planned with root access to people's computer (despite Tencent being known meddlers) but what about third party hackers who just happen to notice a root-kit leading into your computer's core systems? Basically, right now the installation of Valorant is the technological equivalent of making oneself immunodeficient, and if this title takes off in the way that Riot is pushing for so desperately, this could be the start of a very worrying precedent for how games are permitted to treat the devices we install them on.

So what is Valorant? A new competitive title with designs of internet immortality through merit of becoming an Esports title, but perhaps also something a little darker. I hear that the game itself is fine and hardcore FPS stans seem to enjoy it, so perhaps it's inevitable for this to be the new Overwatch, but is this perhaps not the future for Esports that gaming deserves? At the end of the day, I don't even really care about Esports and thus Valorant will never land on my radar in a substantial way, but I think it's important to wonder about regardless. But by all means, if keeping ahead of the times is worth all that I've discussed so far than don't let me stop you, just never say that you weren't ever warned.