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Boards people, do you think the solution found to fight smurfs in new Clash mode is the right one?

Ale non è male·12/12/2017, 11:21:04 AM·4 votes·1,837 views

Title.

Clash mode has been recently announced by Riot for 2018 season as a brand new esports-like tournament experience for the players of all ranks (the substitute of old ranked 5s basically) In the video where Clash mode was presented (and subsequent /dev post), Riot stated that they had working on measures to try to avoid the problem of smurfs cannibalizing low tier tournaments for the prizes or just for the sake of crushing lower ranking people

From the announcement of beta phase tests on EU, it basically come out as the anti-smurf measure is to link a phone number to your account

You will need a valid SMS phone number. We’re testing a system in Turkey to try and maintain competitive integrity in Clash, so you will need to input a phone number when first registering or trying to join a team.

https://euw.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/features/clash-beta-launches-europe

While I think this thing will discourage a percentage of smurfs from joining Clash tournaments, I'm not fully convinced its benefits will be greater than its downsides Many smurfs will easily be able to bypass a system like that if they care just enough to play those tournaments with their smurfs, and many legit people that would like to join this mode will renounce because they do not agree to link their real phone numbers to a "trivial" online service

Do you think the proposed solution is the best/only possible to stem the possible smurf problem in Clash, or do you think some other solution (not ISP/hardware, because that's even worse than phone number one) could exist to try to distinguish smurfs from legit players?

21 Comments

Titanium7012/12/2017, 12:48:50 PM4 votes

I mean it's not the ultiamte solution - but it's a good first step. As long as no government arives in the digital age an provides a save, usefull and unique Online-ID for everyone such smurf protections can alway be bypassed.

And about people don't want to share their numbers? If you play for Rewards - you have to identify your selfe. I don't see the problem.

Mephisto312/12/2017, 1:07:44 PM2 votes

It's a very good solution and it should be implemented for all ranked play. How can a smurf "easily bypass this"...?

NocturnalSheild12/12/2017, 1:16:44 PM2 votes

Boom i got a house phone,Work phone, personal cell phone, personal work cell phone, wife personal cell phone, wifes personal work phonr

I can have like 10 accounts muhahahha. (Never understood smurfing its stupid).

SciFi Scrivener12/12/2017, 2:52:43 PM2 votes

It's a good start. I just hope that what ever anti-smurfing tech they use is also used in ranked play.

Critkeeper12/12/2017, 3:18:41 PM2 votes

I think RIOT should go further than that and require you to provide proof of identity, either through their own means or through a third party (the same process used to acquire a passport basically)

In korea game accounts are linked to what is basically your social security number. The only way to stop smurfs is to take the matter seriously, and if you don't want to participate in measures to make smurfing impossible then you shouldn't have the privilege of playing in a tournament where smurfing is impossible.

El3r10n12/12/2017, 12:14:20 PM1 votes

For me it Looks like the best possible Idea... I have no Problem linking my phone number with my lol acc ! If i would be a smurf i couldnt renounce to Play on my main account. Yes maybe the Person is having fun crushing low elo Players but he wouldnt be able to get any rewards on his main account... Ofc Smurfs who really want to cheat will have no Problem getting a second phone number but like u said it will decimate the number of smurfs.

GripaAviara12/12/2017, 3:41:21 PM1 votes

I despise smurfs with all my heart so every measure is welcomed. They are the virtual equivalent of real-life bullies