Valorant players want to tie phone numbers to accounts to prevent smurfing in ranked.
Valorant is a 5v5 tactical first-person shooter (FPS) developed and published by Riot Games. It was released in 2020 and has been a notable game in the esports and competitive environment.
Players can join various game modes, such as Unrated, a casual experience for players and where most beginners learn. There’s also Swiftplay, which is a shorter version of Unrated. The Competitive game mode is where players get ranked according to their skills.
Smurfing and throwing become problematic in competitive game mode, as players can create new accounts without limits. This is why a Valorant player demanded that all accounts be tied to a phone number.
They shared that it was frustrating to see a level 15 Reyna with a KDA of 50-1, as they wanted to make their TikTok clip. They also couldn’t understand how the Overwatch community was butthurt after the game tried to tie phone numbers to accounts.
During the launch of Overwatch 2, players were required to attach phone numbers to their accounts, which has since been removed from the game due to the backlash from their players.
Another player suggested that accounts themselves shouldn’t require a phone number, but access to competitive or ranked should. While it is not active in Competitive mode, accounts require a phone number before joining Premier, which focuses on top-tier competition and testing players’ skills as a team.
Smurfing, throwing, and cheating are constant problems in the Valorant community that are yet to be resolved. Smurfing was previously addressed in 2022 by the devs, who introduced the Automated Smurf Detection.
There is still no indication whether phone number association would be implemented for competitive mode, but only time can tell.