Women of Valorant, how do you deal with this?
Hi, I recently got back into playing Valorant after a few years. I played a lot after release, then only occasionally, and now I’m playing regularly again.
One thing I noticed is how different my experience is when I use VC.
When I was mostly solo queuing back then, I remember getting a LOT of toxicity directed at me just because I’m a woman. And obviously, whenever I made a mistake, suddenly it was a huge deal and everyone had something to say about it.
Now when I use vc I get SO many friend requests after games. And then when I join their party, it’s usually the same thing: they start asking for my IG, Discord, trying to flirt with me, etc.
The thing is, I genuinely just want teammates. I’m not looking for friends or anything romantic. So I started setting very clear boundaries and saying that I’m only looking to play.
In like 99% of cases, the moment I say that, they suddenly don’t want to play anymore.
But apart from that, I feel like playing as a woman in low elo is just a whole different experience. You never know if people will be completely normal, start treating you differently after hearing your voice, or scream at you for making one mistake.
So to other women who solo queue a lot: how do you deal with this? Do you mute people immediately, ignore it, keep using VC anyway, or have you found a way to find normal teammates?
I just want to play Valorant and have fun