Meant to celebrate the whole VALORANT Community, a very novel and timely approach was taken to reinvest in those creators building culture around the game. This new “I Create” gun buddy is a shiny badge of honor nowadays given to those players whose fan art, videos, or any sort of creative work were broadcasted on an official VALORANT channel or channels. Consider this your company-wide, big virtual high-five from the devs you can now proudly boast about in-game!
How does this new cosmetic exactly work? Simply put, if Riot ever spotlighted your work, whether it’s a weird fan skin concept, that really good hype montage you made, or a meme that suddenly made waves in the community, then this exclusive buddy could be chilling with your very own gloved hands. You can’t buy it, nor can you grind it away; the only way to obtain it is when Riot notices your creativity. That is cool, really!
Coming just out of the mystical gates of the official VALORANT Twitter account, the announcement paired with a cool image of the gun buddy would be enough to enthrall any perceptive onlooker: it’s just simple, almost trophy-like, and screams “I made something cool.” No colors splattered crazily, no bling-bling; just classy and understated. And let’s be fair; that’s exactly what you want.
This certainly may not be the first time Riot has rewarded the community, but it has to be the most personal. Other games might throw it on a generic thanks-for-playing cosmetic for everyone, but VALORANT’s way feels so much more specific. It’s not about just playing the game; it’s about being in a culture that surrounds it. And for an entity whose very identity exists mostly through player content (hellooo, radiant fan artists and cracked editors), this decision feels almost too natural.
The real question: how in the world does one get featured? The short answer is to just keep creating; however, an actual answer can be found on the link to a blog post mentioned in Riot’s official Twitter post. Stuff can be anything from fan art to guides or even crazy out-of-map exploits. If it catches their attention, you might just be next. And really, who wouldn’t want a little trophy to show for it in-game?
The “I Create” buddy is currently a very exclusive flex, but with the level of insane killer content the VALORANT community produces every single day, it probably would take only an hour or so for it not to be so exclusive anymore. If you have some crazy good Reyna fan art or Jett film waiting to blow up, less talking, more posting. Worst-case scenario: it gets a few cute likes. Best-case scenario: creatively acknowledged alongside Idol from Riot Studios.
And if you think that means the solution is only for artists and editors, do not worry: more prizes for content creators means more dope content for all of us to enjoy. Shoutout to Riot for keeping that love flowing both ways. Time for ranked grind…or maybe finally finishing that Sage watercolor. Who knows?
