Riot Games to include voice chat in Valorant for moderation

League of Legends developer Riot Games will record voice communication between players in its online shooter Valorant in case unwanted behavior is shown. It is ‘analyzed’ and ‘evaluated’ when a player makes a report.

The voting data is temporarily saved. If a report of transgressive behavior is not received ‘in time’, the voting data will be deleted. If no violations are found after a complaint, the data will also be deleted. If a violation is found, the data will be deleted after the case has been settled. The American Tencent subsidiary also talks about ‘analyzing and evaluating voting data’, but does not elaborate on how this is done in the announcement.

In an interview with TechCrunch, two Riot employees provide more information about how the analytics and evaluations might work. “One possibility is speech-to-text, or using machine learning to detect a violation without the help of text.” Whatever it is, the two argue that there will always be an “element of human moderation” to make sure the system is working properly. The two employees further state that the recordings are already being made, but are only used to test systems for processing reports.

The updated terms of use also applies to players of the other Riot games: League of Legends, Wild Rift and Teamfight Tactics. However, the developer has “currently no plans” to implement the same system there. The consent of players is nevertheless granted with the conclusion of the agreement.

TechCrunch further reports that the system is initially being developed for Valorant players in North America. The voting data will be stored in the region of the player that is the subject of the complaint after a notification.