Riot Games was experimenting with Valorant's rated ecosystem before bringing the game into the global competitive circuit. However, with the recent changes to the game's ranked system, we're looking at a change in the entire ranking distribution.
If you look at the ranking distribution on Valorant as of August 2020, you'll see that the midrange rankings are the highest on the charts and there are fewer players on either end of the spectrum.
However, if you look at the tier distribution right now, you'll see that the lowest tiers have the highest players, and the number of players decreases as you move up the hierarchy.
While this distribution makes a lot of sense, the fact that the player surplus in Iron 1 is significantly higher than the others is questionable.
Now, as for the situation in August, the reason midrange rankings have the highest player density is because most players are stuck there.
Smurf accounts are lowering player rankings!
The biggest reason for this may be the abundant use of Smurf accounts in the game. For those who don't know, the Smurf account is a low level/ranked backup account owned by a high ranked player.
The reason many players use Smurf accounts is to play with their lower rank friends. Riot released a patch a while ago so that players can only play with a maximum of 3 ranks higher or lower than theirs.
Therefore, playing with the Smurf account allows players to team up with their friends and give their team an edge as they belong to a higher skill set.
Another major reason behind the concentration of players towards the lower end of the rank spectrum is the rank reduction system. Players must now struggle to maintain their rank or they will be demoted to lower ranks.
This density brings its own problems. Many lower-rankers complain that either their teammates carry them in a match, or that they are brutally defeated by players of the same rank who are on an entirely new level.
While the player demoting issue cannot be fixed, the “smurf accounts” issue may become a permanent issue in Valorant. Riot Games should realize this as soon as possible and try to prevent it as soon as possible.
