Pokimane Reveals Struggles Playing Valorant

Imane "Pokimane" Anys might be one of the biggest streamers in the world, but she still has the same struggles that a number of other women gamers have. In a recent thread on Twitter, Pokimane revealed that one of the reasons she hasn't played more Valorant is that she doesn't like to talk too much in the game. Part of this is her celebrity status, but the other part is just dealing with some of the condescending comments and trolling that so many other women deal with while online gaming. However, it seems Pokimane is determined to get to Immortal rank in Valorant, as her brother has achieved that rank before she could!

Pokimane's Tweets on the topic can be found embedded below.

i find my biggest issue is i don’t like to talk too much in game (ppl get weird about me being a girl / being poki), and that doesn’t work with being a sova main 🥲 and i don’t have a dependable duo to comm on my behalf ~

so i’m gonna look for one + learn solo q agents 😌

— imane 👑💜 (@imane) August 27, 2021

Back in May, a study by Lenovo and Reach3 Insights found that 59% of women polled concealed their gender while playing video games online. 77% of the 900 respondents also stated that they had to deal with harassment related to their gender. Given how prominent this type of treatment can be in online gaming, it's not surprising that Pokimane tries to avoid talking in online games.

Fortunately, it seems that this won't be stopping the streamer from playing more Valorant to reach Immortal rank! The streamer says she's looking for "a dependable duo to comm on my behalf." Apparently, the streamer has tried using a voice changer in the past, but stopped because it made her sound like a robot. It's unfortunate that the streamer feels she has to go this route, but it's also encouraging that she won't be letting the issue stop her from playing the game more.

Valorant is now available on PC. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

Have you ever received harassment in online games because of your gender? Has it led to you playing certain games less? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!