Lidia Zanotti, a 3D designer who previously worked on maps for Counter-Strike and Valorant , shared on social media the serious threats and harassment she faced—especially after joining Riot Games.

Known by her nickname PHRISK, she is the creator of iconic CS2 maps such as Overpass and Italy . After transitioning to Riot, she continued to design levels for Valorant , creating maps like Ascent , Bind, Haven, Icebox, Split, and Breeze. However, with her new job came a wave of hate—often with a gendered undertone.

In one example she shared, an individual wished harm upon her loved ones, insulted her professional abilities, and urged her to stop designing maps. According to Lidia, she receives messages like this regularly.

I make video games to bring joy to players. No one deserves this.
she shared

Community Reaction
A large number of people openly supported the developer after her post:

This is disgusting. Sorry you have to deal with this
armanguy

One user speculated on why Valve doesn’t disclose who creates the maps. To prevent such incidents.

That’s why Valve doesn’t reveal who worked on the maps. There are always toxic people who will blame developers for their skill issues
Fun_Philosopher_2535

Additionally, some in the community shifted focus from Lidia to the toxicity of the gaming community in general—especially around Valorant :

The Valorant community is a mix of frustrated CS players and people from LOL. One of the worst in the industry
BasTiix3

Some attempted to analyze why the situation with map developers differs between games:

Few know the map developers for CS by name. But in Valorant , authors are more visible, and they get blamed for everything—even decisions made by the studio itself
totallynotapersonj

This situation is just one example and likely not the only one. Unfortunately, such stories may remain out of the public eye, as not every developer is willing to speak openly about it. It's a bad and alarming signal for all players: no one should face threats and harassment for their work. It shouldn’t be this way.