Cover-Credits:
Riot Games has introduced a new rule that protects teams against stream sniping. A lack of clarification in the rules led to confusion between players and coaches. A number of teams expressed their concerns over participants watching streams during games to gain a competitive advantage.
Riots’ Competitive Operations team added a new rule that prevents players and coaches from watching streams during their matches. The rule is in effect immediately and it will be applicable to all Valorant Champions Tour games moving forward.
Riot Games’ stance on stream sniping in Valorant Champions
In the official competitive Valorant Discord server, Nerd Street Gamers (NSG) tournament admin Josie said that coaches can tune into the live broadcast during official matches and that it is allowed in the Valorant Champions Tour.
NSG has been responsible for a number of competitive Valorant events including First Strike and the ongoing Valorant Champions Tour Qualifiers and Challengers events. Upon hearing that “stream sniping” is essentially allowed in the VCT, players and coaches expressed their concerns and wanted Riot Games to step in.
The tournament admins discussed the issue with Riot Games and a new competitive rule was added for the VCT by Riot’s Competitive Operations team. Moving forward, coaches may only watch official matches from the perspective of the in-game coach’s slot. They are prohibited from watching live broadcasts as that provides additional information on the behaviour of the opposing team beyond what is visible from the point of view (POV) of the coach’s team.
With a delay being mandatory for all Valorant Champions Tour broadcasts, NSG did not deem it necessary to implement restrictions against teams. However, multiple players and coaches pointed out the flaws in the system.
Oxygen Academy’s James "Nurfed" McFadden said that stream sniping might not flat out win teams games, but it can offer a competitive advantage. With coaches being able to see how other teams rotate or set up during the early rounds, the information can be enough to turn the tides of matches.
Despite the new ruling being enforced, it will be difficult to monitor the activity of all coaches in the Valorant Champions Tour. With most events being hosted online, it is nearly impossible to enforce competitive integrity across the board.
Gen.G coach Chris "Elmapuddy" Tebbit suggested, “Can we just at enforce everything properly with an admin monitored TeamSpeak and webcams on coaches at least.” The new rule needs to be enforced by Riot Games with measures to monitor all coaching activity during online events to uphold competitive integrity in the Valorant Champions Tour.
