The Valorant community is mired in absolute chaos-the tweet for an AI-generated agent concept went viral. The tweet, containing merely the caption “New Valorant agent by AI” linking to the image, let loose the floodgates of varied reactions-from shocked disbelief to outright contempt. Did reactions become any better than the design itself? Absolutely.
Before anyone can get anything wrong-this ain’t real. Like, in all honesty. Riot has never made any such statement concerning it. The picture certainly portrays some kind of fan (or AI) generated nightmare. Players were merciless in roasting it to oblivion. The voyeuristic insult went a little too far and was somewhat genuine by user @flincex when he responded, “This is hot dogshit.” Brutal? Yes. Accurate? Also yes.
The best come entwined with sarcasm and despair-The doomsayer @Levi_resi said, “Ahhh its AI oh no! What are we gonna do? we’re doomed!” The ultimate roast from @Nahtemare dropped: “no way you’re posting this bro it’s the last thing anyone would ever wanna see.” It hurt. The agent concept was that badly received @GwenpostingTTV chimed in with, “His ability is a fucking cyber fart.” How does one start recovering from something like that?
All that said, there was a split on the idea. Some players can practically see some potential out of the concept, if only the execution appeared less questionable. @antares20022002 remarked: “The idea of clearing/opening smokes is pretty neat.” @KeepnItsimpIe tried bringing some sensibility back by stating, “Why are people so pissed over an AI video? The concept is the important part the AI is just visualizing it for us.” A valid point, though I wish the whole internet luck in trying to convince them of this perspective.
Judgment was not limited to English-speaking players. @XitXarop chimed in with a critique in Portuguese: “O único personagem masculino que acertaram foi Iso misericórdia,” roughly translating to “The only male character they got right was Iso, mercy.” And @ImBreiko outright warned: “Si sale esto se rompe todo el juego.” (“If this comes out, the whole game breaks.”)
The insults are now compliments, with other players rallying behind the entire design initiative of Riot. @blao131 said, “Agent looks too human, can’t be riot.” I must admit, he has a point; Valorant agents have a very distinct stylized art look to them. Meanwhile, @Daddy6Waffle almost switched to conspiracy theory mode, “bro valorant is not gonna be around in the next few years.” Quite a claim; however, maybe given how big this debate grew, he’s right in some aspects.
This tweet reignited the ongoing debate about AI and gaming. @Meep_the_peep said, “Posting AI with a company that ACTUALLY uses ACTUAL artist and game moderators? TS PMO 🥀🥀🥀.” (Translation: “This pisses me off.”) And @xRAYTRAYCEx demanded: “yo post actual updates and not this ai slop.” Couldn’t agree more.
What can you say? The Valorant community has spoken: they do not want anything to do with AI-generated agents. Whether it is due to the uncanny valley effect, the lack of creativity behind it, or on principle, players want the next character made by actual artists from Riot. Really? Same.
For now, we’re busy watching and laughing at the madness unfold. Because if Valorant players know anything about, they know how, from a singular tweet, to incite an all-out meme war. Stay tuned for the next agent reveal-almost hopeful that it won’t be robot-generated.
