As Valorant continues to skyrocket in popularity, Riot gun buddies become an ever rarer commodity. Only obtainable via communication with the developers, many have been asking how they can test the legitimacy of people claiming to be on the dev team. Thankfully, the masterminds behind the now-iconic FPS game have given us some advice.
If there’s one thing that Valorant fans will fight to the death for, it’s a Riot gun buddy. A tiny charm that gives your weapon some extra pizazz, the prize in question features Riot Games’ iconic fist bump logo, and is only available as a gift from one of the game’s developers.
Recently, Riot urged players to behave in order to get one of these highly sought after accessories, but this quickly led to swathes of questions; namely, how do you distinguish a real Riot developer from a poser?
Thankfully Valorant’s devs have answered that burning question, meaning that you’re one step closer to finally getting a Riot gun buddy.
As players across Twitter and Reddit asked how they could identify a real Riot employee, one developer has replied with an easy solution.
In a thread simply entitled “real Riot employee?'” one player recalls that they met a supposed Rioter while playing. “My fiancé and I played against this one person named Riot Rouxies. Is that a real dev or someone impersonating? Can people who don’t work for Riot even have the word Riot in their name?”
Another fan responds “if it’s anything like league, you can’t even have anything remotely close to the word ‘Riot’ in your name like that. It probably was a real employee.”
This was then verified by RiotNaCl, who writes “can confirm this is correct,” echoing a response to a different discussion that reads “Yes, many Rioters will have “Riot” in front of their names, although not all choose to have it. Only Riot employees can have this across Riot games.”
So, if you come across a player with ‘Riot’ in their name then it is, in fact, a real employee. Be sure to follow Riot’s guidance and “demonstrate good sportsmanship” in-game – otherwise your chance at greatness will slip away.