Why is smurfing in Ranked allowed?

Bouncemaster Zac·Apr 11, 2017·6 votes·4,310 views

I understand Riot wants people to make multiple accounts so they'll buy skins repeatedly and give them more money; but letting Diamonds and Challenger take multiple accounts through the lower ranks is beyond stupid. Having games decided before they even begin is beyond unfair to the 9 other players in the match. If you have a Diamond on a team full of Silvers against a team full of Silvers, the team with the Diamond will win 100% of the time, regardless of the skill of the other players. 5 players will be handed a guaranteed loss in a game they might've won, and 4 players will be handed a guaranteed win in a game they might've lost. Why is this not only allowed, but even encouraged by things like Unranked-to-Whatever streams?

21 Comments

Deep Terror NamiApr 11, 20174 votes

I understand Riot wants people to make multiple accounts so they'll buy skins repeatedly and give them more money

No that isn't why smurfs are allowed; Riot literally cannot stop players from making smurfs. They are free and you can make as many as you want. Riot neither condemns nor condones smurfing.

not only allowed, but even encouraged by things like Unranked-to-Whatever streams

What's Riot supposed to do about those streams? It isn't against Twitch.tv or Riot's policies, and people like to watch them.

It sucks when there's an unfair advantage due to a smurf, but there's very little if anything that can be done about it. If you have reasonable, logical suggestions that reduce smurfing without compromising the free aspect of the game and people would actually generally prefer it, let them know.

Bouncemaster ZacApr 11, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Deep Terror Nami,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=6LPU3XAF,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2017-04-11T06:56:22.272+0000)

No that isn't why smurfs are allowed; Riot literally cannot stop players from making smurfs. They are free and you can make as many as you want. Riot neither condemns nor condones smurfing.

What's Riot supposed to do about those streams? It isn't against Twitch.tv or Riot's policies, and people like to watch them.

It sucks when there's an unfair advantage due to a smurf, but there's very little if anything that can be done about it. If you have reasonable, logical suggestions that reduce smurfing without compromising the free aspect of the game and people would actually generally prefer it, let them know.

My solution is to deny smurf accounts the ability to play Ranked. That or immediately put them into the rank they're at on their main.

Deep Terror NamiApr 11, 20174 votes

You have to be able to identify the smurf and their main first.

Bouncemaster ZacApr 11, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Deep Terror Nami,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=6LPU3XAF,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2017-04-11T07:21:43.729+0000)

You have to be able to identify the smurf and their main first.

There's a method for that that's existed since the early days of Runescape: E-mail registration.

Deep Terror NamiApr 11, 20174 votes

https://i.gyazo.com/86aaeba37af715707d4e6af4d6bb3c35.png

I'm sure you can think of at least one reason players who do not want to link their accounts can avoid doing so.

Bouncemaster ZacApr 11, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Deep Terror Nami,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=6LPU3XAF,comment-id=00000000000000000000,timestamp=2017-04-11T07:32:38.011+0000)

https://i.gyazo.com/86aaeba37af715707d4e6af4d6bb3c35.png

I'm sure you can think of at least one reason players who do not want to link their accounts can avoid doing so.

If you mean ways around it, yeah. Having multiple e-mails. That said, it'll still be a hassle that leads them to having multiple junk e-mails used solely for their smurf, which disincentivizes it a bit.

GankedByWindowsApr 11, 20174 votes

No it doesn't. it takes less than 2 minutes to create an email for an account you're going to be using for potentially hundreds of hours.

Bob the ToastrFeb 26, 20191 votes

Totally agree. It's super easy to create a free extra email account and you only have to verify once unless you forget your user/pass.

The Fuzzy 0neApr 11, 20171 votes

Most people already have multiple e-mail addresses anyways so I doubt it's such a big stretch to use another one of them in a new account. And like that other guy said, it takes like 2s to make a new one.

MrJaguaariSep 19, 20181 votes

Im about year late (sorry) But how about if you won't let them link same credit card to another account?

FioraWillCarryApr 11, 20171 votes

I watch many of these, as he calls it "Unranked-to-Whatever" series on YouTube and the OP is most certainly exaggerating. There are many games in these series where these guys straight up feed and lose to lower ranked players, most games they do just ok, like going 5-5 and shit. They hard carry just as much as anybody else. They don't stomp every game going 22-2 and shit like that. The only thing interesting about smurfs is that they are able to maintain high win rates through subtleties in decision making which is why they are superior players. But they certain don't "stomp" their way through low elos.

PachydermFeb 26, 20192 votes

Rather than feeling bad about it and coming here to vent, you could try watching a replay of whatever game you got stomped in and follow the smurf around, taking notes the things they do that you don't. At the end of the day, there's no special sauce that makes a diamond player win these games. They're still beholden to the same rules and raw stats that you are. You can even beat them, if you can match their skill.

Just remember that there's someone at the other end of the computer screen, a person of flesh and blood who breaths and eats and sleeps, and who is as prone to mistakes and bad plays as you are. Their experience and skill is something they learned, and you can learn it too.

Best of luck!

ThrëatApr 11, 20171 votes

Honestly, if they fixed the Normals match making system I probably wouldn't smurf so much. I realized I was ruining games for others on my smurfs so I attempted to play Normals on my main but it wasn't rewarding at all. I kept getting games where I would be matched with 4 low golds and go against 3 diamonds and 2 plats. Because of this consistently bad match making it is a lot more fun to play on a smurf where your team mates and the enemy team mates have a pretty balanced MMR. Yes this can be achieved if I just do ranked on my main, but sometimes I feel like just relaxing or trying new builds.

llIllIllIllIllApr 11, 20171 votes

New accounts place G1/P5 anyway with p3 MMR given they're good enough to 10-0 placements

LexyyApr 11, 20171 votes

I hate smurfs. :)

FioraWillCarryApr 11, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Bouncemaster Zac,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=6LPU3XAF,comment-id=,timestamp=2017-04-11T06:47:18.898+0000)

If you have a Diamond on a team full of Silvers against a team full of Silvers, the team with the Diamond will win 100% of the time

Completely untrue. I've seen many Unranked to Diamond games on YouTube and smurfs lose in lower elos. And they certainly don't go legendary every game. They even feed in games too.

kristopher205Apr 11, 20171 votes

Going against smurfs are hard. But once I went up a smurf that had a 86% win rate and won LOL

fr00alphFeb 26, 20191 votes

What i don't understand is why they don't ban / don't allow multiple accounts on the same ip adress. They already can IP ban you so why don't they verify your ip just to make sure you don't have 5 accounts. It really pisses me off that people are lacking that much self confidence that they need to smurf and ruin everybody else's experience

PachydermFeb 26, 20191 votes

{quoted}

What i don't understand is why they don't ban / don't allow multiple accounts on the same ip adress. They already can IP ban you so why don't they verify your ip just to make sure you don't have 5 accounts. It really pisses me off that people are lacking that much self confidence that they need to smurf and ruin everybody else's experience

It's more of a case that whatever plat player is smurfing in your ranked games likely reached that rank on a very small pool of champions in a very specific role. Most smurfing is less a case of cowardice and more of a case of them wanting to learn how to play in other ways outside of their comfort zone. A play can be at a plat level on their main while still being barely silver in another role.

Just some food for thought. ;)

5050BSFeb 26, 20191 votes

Yep Smurfs completely Ruins the whole ELO Rank system.

Also Smurfs are boosting their whole team also ruining the ELO Rank system.

Riots all "We want you to play with Friends"

THAT IS WHAT NORMAL AND CUSTOMS ARE FOR!

xizzexMay 8, 20191 votes

I have had numerous high elo players against me which of which I had a 15% winrate orso. It's almost not doable, even when you win lane you still lose the game because your team cant keep up with his skill level.

My solution (only for ranked games): Just create report tab so the people after the game can report the user if he or she feels like it. Whenever the user gets 5 to 6 reports his account gets will go through a check his kda over the past 50 games to check if it is insanely high, if this is the case the person is smurfing and thus should receive a ban or at least a warning not to play ranked anymore. Simple as it is. This should result in less smurf accounts because they will have to level the account back to level 30 every time or they have to spend money every time.