If you have ever played Valorant, we have no doubt that you have experienced toxic behavior. Such behavior is easy to replicate, and today we'll tell you why it's not worth it.
You know what kind of game Valorant is – it tends to be toxic in some aspects. However, a considerably large part of the community chooses to speak maliciously to their teammates or to insult them directly. This article is to make you rethink such a behavior, and look at it from a different perspective. We think that it can actually lose you games that you would normally win by itself!
And there are many aspects that can lose you games that you would normally win, such as high ping or FPS drops. But that you can't always control, and your toxic behavior is that you (believe it or not) actually can control.
- Read about Valorant voice chat and its problems: Why Giving Valorant A Voice Chat Was A Horrible Idea
Toxicity Will Cost You Your Valorant Matches
Yeah, we know that saying "just don't be toxic lol" is easier said than done; we are not blameless, trust us. Some players are just... special. And you may be playing in a high-ranked lobby, and you run into someone who doesn't know any map callouts and doesn't know virtually anything about the game; well, it happens, unfortunately. So, why start flaming him, right?
Well, no. First, there are moral issues, but we won't write about them because, first, there are self-explanatory, and second, who am I to tell you about your moral choices? At the end of the day, I'm a 23-year-old dude; come on. However, I do know something about winning matches in video games (really useful skill, I know, right), and because of that, I will tell you why being toxic will lose you many games.
In a game like Valorant, you can rarely solo-carry because of the Agent classes and the role each fills. So, you can't just ignore your Controller and be like "woo-hoo, screw that retard", because well, you won't have a Spike Site smoked, and that is a problem.
Even if your teammates seem useless or you just don't like them for something, you need them to win the game, and that is a fact. That said, by being toxic to them, you reduce the chances that they will want to help you win the game in any way. If you talk about a person on your team, as we wrote above, the situation will be reversed, and when you ask your teammate to throw a smoke, grenade, or whatever, the other person will ignore it.
And you can say "duh, I don't care if any noob will ignore me". Sure, but you care to win the game, don't you? So, chill a bit, and don't yell at your teammates. Cheers.
How To Treat Your Teammates
Besides the obvious things like giving callouts, you want to be nice to your teammates.
You want to be the one saying "nice try" and appreciate them for each of their efforts. And when they actually get something right (even if it's something insignificant), tell them that they did a good job. Because why not.
You can only gain from it, and even if it's not someone you want to play with in the future, so what? You might run into each other on a team again someday when that player you wanted to be toxic to gets the better of you, and unfortunately, people are vindictive. So, once again – praise your teammates. No one does that; they are all tryhards and are focused on their rank. And yet, they all miss that how you treat your teammates has a massive impact on that bloody rank.
And by all means, you don't need to be excessive in this. You don't need to write essays on how good they are. Saying "woah, nice dude" will be enough.
How To Deal With Toxic Behavior In Valorant
And here we have our another "just [X] looool" kind of advice. But yeah, what to do with toxic teammates? The answer is – ignore it, king.
And some of you are probably like, "woaaah, how do you ignore it? no no no, I won't get treated like that!!!! I have to show him where he belongs." Well, do you? Seriously, ask yourself – do you?
Since we already know that you can only lose by giving the toxicity back, why lose? Try to keep your side of the street clean. Sure, not everyone has the so-called "tough skin", and to some, these insults can really ruin the day, especially if they are strongly personal.
Still, after all, that's what the "mute" function is for? Sure, you lose that potential info, but if it's going to spoil your day, no matter how much you want to win the game, that info isn't worth it. Still, it's better to ignore it, but it's clear, not everyone can.
All in all, don't be toxic, it's not worth it. Being nice can give a nice RR boost, and it's basically a free RR boost, so why not? Even though we know that our opinion is not pretty popular, especially since some streamers replicate toxic behavior.
Still, even if we look purely in terms of maximizing our chances to win as many games as we can, being toxic can be compared to having a high ping. And who with a healthy mind would increase their ping on purpose?
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