Riot Games just opened the new VALORANT Night Market and players’ reactions are… one might say that they are all in one mood. The official tweet called it ‘your favorite merchant’, yet the comments below almost sketch a picture where you go into a room and each person in the room was given a lump of coal for Christmas. Each player is given a random choice of six skins at a lower price, and to make a long story short, the luck gods have not been generous with all the players.

What is actually going on? The Night Market is a short-term limited-time shop in VALORANT that offers individual discounts on weapon skins. It is meant to be a chance to pick up that premium skin for fewer Valorant Points that you have been eyeing for a while. The only downside is that you do not get to decide what will be shown. It is entirely random. And according to the huge number of responses to Riot’s announcement, a lot of people feel that the algorithm is actually mocking them.

The comments’ tone is a vibrant mix of despair, irony, and even rage. One player by the handle @1zautumnz1 brought Riot’s tweet back to the reality of the situation by saying ‘least favorite’ and putting a crying rose emoji along with it, which was a feeling that many could understand. Others such as @Animusx__ merely wrote ‘My LEAST fav,’ and to be honest? Mood. The common thread among them all is that players lament that they are getting ‘trash at every night market,’ in the words of @Kurisutina890. It really seems that either the number of good skins is way too little or the discounts are not on the right items.

On the other hand, it is not all negative! It is like mining, you have to go through the dirt and rock to get to the gold. When you dig a little deeper, you find some small victories of the players among the replies. One user whose handle is @FUTesportsgg even provided a screenshot with the question ‘W or L?’ inquiring the community for their verdict and showing the items he had gotten—a jury is likely still deliberating on that one. There was also a back and forth between @mikidizelFN and @n000el, where a player’s discounted Reaver Guardian skin created some excitement, and @n000el even said ‘so good bro.’ So, indeed, the market does deliver for the very few lucky ones. It’s just that this time the lucky ones are very few.

The players are quite clear with their wants. A large number of replies are demanding changes in the system. @Chrissu20_ sent a long suggestion: ‘Just get rid of this terrible event and allow the purchase of all skins, continue adding skins but the shop only has 4 slots why not make the 4 slots the daily nightmarket.’ That is already a fantastic suggestion. A daily rotating discount slot would give players many more chances to discover something that they really want. Another one, @jasonchainwax, commented ‘rotating every few days for the night market would be sick! only because it lasts so long..’ The current market period is too long, thus getting a past due refresh would keep the FOMO and excitement alive.

And then there are… other replies. The ones who will forever remind you that this is the internet. @DFreniek’s blunt ‘Got crap again. Nr company’ could be seen as a hot take. @trippyblue37 was polite enough to just say ‘lol thanks bitch for this trash ass night market.’ At the same time, @Hirosmiyavlatan is replying and trying to recover a stolen Riot account, which is an entirely different nightmare. And @raviilp is troubleshooting his Bluetooth audio problem, which is fair enough, but maybe not the right thread for that, dude? The chaos, I guess, is part of the charm.

However, the most hilarious thing is the staggering number of players sharing screenshots. Players show off their personal Night Market results as if they are going to trap a fatal loot box opening. @leeminkknow posted their result saying, ‘lemme redo it🙏🙏’ with crying emojis because they required a Vandal skin and did not get one. @yonhafn6 is doubting his own existence after being given a 49% discount on the Smite Odin, and is freely asking ‘better be trolling.’ And @Nexxpl was not afraid to thank Riot for a ‘butt plug melee’ skin, which is… a unique interpretation.

So what do we get to learn from all this online shouting? The VALORANT Night Market is an aspect of the game that players have a love-hate relationship with. When it works, it feels awesome. When it doesn’t, it feels like a personal insult from the game itself. The community on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox often shares similar sentiments about in-game events.