Could Smurfing become an unnoticed asset?:Peer Mentoring
I think the case of smurfing is interesting because on one end of the spectrum it completely destroys the competitive experience. If a Diamond player is intentionally playing on a fresh 30 account with his silver friends in ranked, the other silver players are unknowingly fighting a battle they cannot hope to win other than by some miracle. On the other hand playing with players better than you can make you a better player much faster. By playing against and with better competition you learn about good tendencies, bad habits, good techniques, strategy , builds etc. Smurfing imho is so bad because when you encounter a smurf and it's confirmed, it's usually bad experience. They use it as a card to demean you, belittle your team, force their role on the team ,etc. This can kill the fun of the game and really make a winnable game an unwinnable one when you're fighting with members of your own team. But what if they did the exact opposite, could they not intern grow the community as a whole? So what if declaring yourself a smurf and subsequently participating in arguments is a bannable offense equatable to taunting and hazing, while being a positive smurf (or role model) can exist as an honor. Replacing something like "helpful" a player could flag themselves as a "mentor" and give the said smurf player boosted IP for a number of games/wins. What do you think?