Players forced to play with high ping cause controversy around the world

Ping Abuse Might Never Get Fixed

Valorant has become a mainstream game when it comes to competitive play and esports. Leading the scene, there are many factors that control the competent environment in the game and make it as good as it is. However, there is a downside that players have always spoken about. 

That is, of course, ping issues. As you know, VALORANT is a global game meaning there are different regions welcoming players from all around the world. With, a little problem that is.

As in every tactical first-person shooter, you will hear about the term “Peekers Advantage” which is when the player peeking can see their opponent before they do, giving them the advantage in that duel. We won’t get into too much detail as to how this happens technically, but rather how it affects the game and the controversy it creates. 

What many people don’t take into account is African players who have no choice, but to revert to play on European and Middle Eastern servers. The problem is, to connect into any of these servers from Africa would mean to have an average of 160 ms (ping, latency) 

This creates an insanely unfair gameplay experience for the player on that ping, especially as in patch 6.02 Riot decreased the maximum server rewind time from 200 to 140 making the game extremely laggy and unplayable at higher pings. 

On the other hand, peeking with that ping could cause a fairly frustrating experience to anyone holding an angle against it as peekers advantage would take part in that. But, this could be the only advantage to this ping while being an overall unplayable and completely disadvantageous position. 

The community usually lashes out at “Ping Abusers” but the reality is, most players don’t have a choice as there is a lack of servers in the African region which inevitably forces them to play on that ping.