Riot Games plans to do more about Valorant’s toxicity. The company is updating its privacy policy to record voice chats in-game. Riot says a recording is not heard and reviewed until a report is filed. The company does not monitor voice communications during games. The move is in line with Riot’s goal of making its games “safe and inclusive for all”.
The voice log checking system is under development, but Riot wanted to give the community a hint. The publisher plans to test the system in North America before expanding to other regions and languages. More details about the move will be provided before any voice communications are recorded, including a message in the game client.
The only way to avoid logging your voice chats is to turn them off. The policy change doesn’t make much of a difference for players who only use third-party voice applications like Discord. These people will likely be in rooms with people they know anyway, and they may be less inclined to inflame friends and teammates (at least in a serious way).
Riot only plans to record voice chats in Valorant for now, although the policy update will apply to all games, including League of Legends, Wild Rift or Teamfight Tactics. When it comes to privacy, “we believe we should collect the bare minimum of data in order to run our games effectively and continuously improve your experience,” Riot wrote in a blog post. “When we collect data, we will be transparent, only keep it for as long as necessary, and we will protect it as if it were our own.”
Toxicity is widespread in online games, and developers do not always adequately moderate in-game voice chats when much of this abuse occurs. Reviewing voice logs and taking action against trolls is an important step in making games more inclusive and secure.
In addition to changing the voice recording, Riot has introduced a new refund policy for all of its games. It provides details on the refund entitlements, the procedure for requesting a refund, and the refund rules associated with third-party marketplaces. For example, in-game currencies, skins and emotes can be refunded, but chests, bundles and gifts cannot.
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