What to do with Smurfs...

Ok, so I'm going to be revisiting this topic again, because I came across some more people that just say that League isn't for them because of - guess what - people who Smurf.

A lot of you say, "What's the big deal? Everyone has a smurf to go pub stomping with!" and to that I say this is the problem. The only reason I know that these people are matched up with smurfs is because of what they told me. People aren't even trying to be subtle anymore. They all have similar stories about why they quit. They said the game was going great and they were starting to win some games, then all of a sudden one of two things happens.

1. They get roflstompted by a team of people with expensive skins over and over again, making it a huge chore to level up.

2. They get someone on their team that goes godlike in 10 minutes, who single-handedly wins the game for their team, and they don't even get one kill.

They feel like they're just so bad that people at their skill level either stomp without them, or just get stomped on because they didn't have that one person.

As far as I'm concerned, people who just smurf to stomp people are pretty fucked. Most of them are just frustrated because they failed their Bronze 4 Promos for the 20th time, and want to feel like they're worth a damn in League, so they just go and stomp pre-30's in blind pick. So, recently I... "commandeered" a friend's abandoned account (with their permission of course) to see what was going on. I mean, he wasn't ever going to use it again, and it's not like I actually tried to stomp some noobs or anything. Doing so, I heard plenty of stories, a lot of which beginning with "I got banned, and don't have another account, so I'm not smurfing."

First, can we take a side note and say what a crock of shit that is? Just because you got your account banned doesn't mean you go and make another one. Riot kicked you out of their game. If you got permabanned, you're probably someone who shouldn't be playing this game; Riot clearly doesn't want you here. I have not once seen a ban on this forum where the chat logs demonstrated that someone was innocent and deserved to have their account reinstated. You're probably either a troll, or just plain toxic. Just because you don't actually have another account doesn't mean you belong in with little Jimmy who's only level 7, and doesn't want to play anymore because you make his experience in this game rather unpleasant.

So, I'm reaching out mostly to the community here. Riot's been hearing these complaints for years and hasn't done anything about it, so clearly they don't care, even though they probably should. They have punishments for other kind of unsportsman like conduct, why not this? This is like somehow entering an elementary school soccer game, scoring a goal from the other side of the field, and overall letting those kids have a shit time. Except in this game, it's just not as obvious. Katarina looks like Katarina looks like Katarina. Not all smurfs buy skins, and some non-smurfs do sometimes buy skins, so there's really no sure fire way to tell, unless you're higher level looking in at how these players play the game.

Now, I would like to discourage people to try to prove that smurfs are good for the community in this comment section; this thread is more to talk about what to do about them. If you're arguing they're positive, you're missing the point of this thread. However, since I know that people will do it anyway, here's a list of a few common arguments that I have a preemptive answer for.

"How am I supposed to level up my account after I'm banned?"

Um, here's a thought... how about you don't get banned? It's not that hard to just be a decent human being and not get yourself banned. Just don't. If you got banned, you've lost my sympathy. If your account stays banned, there's probably a reason, I.E. Riot doesn't want you playing their game because you make the experience for players around you less enjoyable in some form... Just like you are now, playing your new account at a low mmr! How about that?

"Smurfs are part of the experience!"

No, they are not. There are so many smurfs, that new players don't even know what skill level they should be at, and don't learn from their mistakes because they just get stomped for everything and anything. They may pick up a trick or two, but overall they don't get much from being stomped all day or carried all day. They have barely any chance to carry on their own or learn important lessons. Getting stomped sucks, and isn't like some silly rite of passage.

"Smurfs can introduce new techniques to new players!"

Yeah, only in small numbers though. No one's going to learn shit about this game when Zed or Udyr smashes their face into the dirt every game. It's not like league tells you what "out of position" means or how important cs and objectives are. So these players have no idea what they should be taking away from each game, other than "maybe I just suck."