Riot Games has launched a new map for the VALORANT agent which definitely created a lot of discussions among the players. The VALORANT Leaks account on Twitter published a tweet with a poster that simply said “Agent Map” that pointed out the countries of the current agents and without a doubt, in no time, the gamers started asking for their countries to be acknowledged in the replies. You could almost say that the comment section was a geography class with longings.
The main problem about this is the Canadian players are making a lot of noise about the missing agent. Players are coming up with their suggestions, especially supporting the idea of a Canadian agent, such as Chotric asking “As a Canadian when is a Canadian Agent coming?” and MykeeisREAL who is even inquiring “Is Canadian agent next?” The request is so big that one person just blurted out that Riot must be against Canadians. But hang on a second, what was I saying? Oh yes, the Canadian gamers are very eager to partake in the action.
But it’s not only Canada that people are talking about. Gamers from every continent are bringing their nations up. An Argentinean player commented in Spanish “Y PARA CUANDO UN ARGENTINO NENAZO SCALONETA” which translates to “AND WHEN FOR AN ARGENTINIAN NENAZO SCALONETA” thus, proving that South American representation is a major request. Someone even asked for “another South American. It can be an argentinian or a chilean” making the whole region feel under-represented in the roster.
In addition, the requests are getting even more precise. One of the players demanded for an Indonesian agent who instead of saying “ugh” would say “cok” when shot – which is considered to be a common Indonesian interjection. Following that, another continued with “wkwkw and when they get dinked it’s ‘TEKE'” signifying that gamers are really after authentic cultural vibes for the voice lines. That most definitely is the kind of detail Riot has been watching, so who knows maybe those regional tastes will be there in the end.
The players from Portugal are getting loud too by claiming “A very dark spot in the middle of Europe huh? (BEGGING FOR A PORTUGUESE AGENT)” – XicoLikesVal using a crying emoji map along with the request. On the contrary, rihkagnes is saying “i need Portuguese agent voicelines with raze bro” which implies that the already existing Brazilian agent Raze could have a potential Portuguese character interaction. Such a situation would actually be both very interesting and amusing since the language differences would create comical situations between the two countries.
It was really funny when one user compared Omen to being from Chicago and the comment got a laugh since it was a reference to a notorious neighborhood in that city. Another user jokingly said he got why Viper, who’s “born in the middle in Timbuktu”, decided to live like that because her origin is so strange. The community always seems to find a way to poke fun at everything, and that is actually the other reason why VALORANT is such a blast apart from the gameplay.
One thing that can be considered as quite a revelation is that it is surprising players of such diverse backgrounds want to be represented in the games nowadays. It’s not enough to have cool powers – gamers want to see characters that look like them, hear their languages, and feel the culture as part of the virtual world. So far, Riot has been quite successful in diversity in VALORANT having already introduced agents from China, Morocco, India, and a few other countries. However, players are quick to point out that there are still some gaps in the world map that they would love to see filled.
The dropping of the agent map has not only raised a lot of questions concerning the timing but also speculation about who the next agent would be. Usually, Riot teases new characters a long time in advance, so this could be their way of testing the waters as to what regions the players want to see next or they might just be rotating the global reach of the VALORANT protocol. Whatever it is, the response has been huge and predominantly focused on which countries should get agents next.
A glance at the future roster reveals quite clearly that some territories will have to be more cherished. Raze is the only representative from Brazil in South America, Europe has a variety of agents but is still lacking some major countries, and Canada is not represented at all even though it is a huge gaming market. Southeast Asia has only Thailand which is also very new and could take more representation. The demands in the replies are a pretty good reflection of these gaps.
But the most fascinating aspect of the entire situation was the lively debates over the nationalities of existing agents. One user contested the claim that Vyse is Korean and was corrected with the information that Waylay is actually Thai. This indeed shows how dedicated the community is when it comes to the characters’ backgrounds. It’s not just the gameplay mechanics in which players are mainly interested; they want the world building to be done.
One thing that captured attention is the number of requests by Canadian players when compared to the rest. Their comments are all about Canada, while others make jokes about combining French and American agents to create a Canadian one, and one even offered to act as a voice for a possible Canadian agent. What dedication! Perhaps, Riot might listen to their cry – they have indeed indicated that they value community feedback.
The agent map, once more, exposed VALORANT’s aspect of a social and cultural gaming phenomenon that goes beyond borders, adding more countries in the roster of agents would only help to establish that point. The game would seem more like a place where many different players live together, and giving the players someone relatable would be a very good marketing strategy. The reactions to this mere agent map tweet have clearly stated that location is of the utmost importance to the community, hence it would be wise for Riot to consider such requests when planning the next characters. The demand is definitely there now all we have to do is wait and see if the developers will fulfil it.
Thus, to sum it up, that agent map caused a discussion about representation in the industry where Canada appeared as the most thirsty country for its agent. Who knows, maybe the next agent will be Canadian and he/she will be killing by saying “sorry” and wearing a maple leaf as an emblem. That’s very Canadian indeed. The community has made it very clear that they want their countries in the game – let’s see if Riot takes the feedback. PlayStation and Xbox gamers might also have their own representation wishes.
