Valorant players flabbergasted as Riot allegedly bans them for saying “GGWP”

A couple of Valorant players are hitting out at Riot after claiming they were banned for absurd reasons.

Automated bans have become increasingly common in online games with systems making decisions on whether or not something said in chat is appropriate.

However, over the years, we’ve seen quite a few bans go viral due to how strange they are, such as when an Overwatch 2 player was banned for saying “dumpsyer” – the name of his teammate.

Now, X user and streamer ‘taxfraud4’ is going viral after sharing an email they had supposedly received by Riot informing them that they had been banned from chat.

The email provided a series of chat logs showing why taxfraud4 was penalized and they have the Valorant community up in arms.

Supposedly, the player was banned for typing “????” and “ggwp,” which stands for “good game, well played.”

Players were baffled by the ban, noting how all Taxfraud was doing was showing good sportsmanship.

“That’s actually wild, funny to see their stance on banning willy nilly is still in motion years after I quit any game under their company,” one commented.

“How dare you be courteous and exhibit sportsmanship!” another sarcastically replied.

A user called ‘bigshhmeat’ also chimed in, revealing an email they had received where they claim to have been banned because they had the persona name “i farted” on Apex Legends. Valorant isn’t the only game banning users for bizarre reasons.

“Can’t be worse than mine and I was banned for a week,” they said.

Amazingly, this isn’t the first time a player has been banned from a game for exhibiting good sportsmanship and given the lack of a response from the devs, it’s unlikely that this will be the last.

Earlier in 2024, an Overwatch 2 player was banned after typing “GG” in chat, leading to much confusion and a slew of backlash against Blizzard.