A flaw I intend to question about Boosting vs Smurfing

Eternal Torment··4 votes·364 views

This is merely a question i do, I am by no means intending or actually conducting any Statements, but hear me out on this one.

Apparently, in the ToS it is defined that Account sharing for boosting etc. violates the Terms, and one reason for such is that it creates an Unfair enviroment for others in the Account holder's benefit.

If such is true, and creating unfair enviroments is not ok by their own selfmade rules, how come Smurfing is allowed when it does literally the same but on an even worse scale?

If i, just as an example, would as a D1 Player create a Sub account and start anew, with all my pro skills on some champs and what not, then i would create an artificial experience for other Players in every one of my games by bringing mechanics and Knowledge they are neither ready nor expecting to experience, and thus by Definition create an unfair enviroment in my favor.

So i ask again, If Boosting and Smurfing literally carry the same result, sabotage experience for personal gain, how come only one is prohibited? is there a difference i don't catch or are the Terms really being selectively preserved here?

7 Comments

alasarcher2 votes

Thing is, smurf doesnt have benefit from it. Boosted person does.

in the Account holder's benefit.

Eternal Torment2 votes

In a sense it does, given that most of those smurfers usually come with excessive trashtalking.

Maybe i am wrong, but so far i have not once seen a smurf who was humble about him "outperforming" others. cough cough

And while the Benefit part may be argued about, it still creates an uneven field and an artificial experience, which as far as the Terms are set riot has described as not ok.

and THAT part i question

Algido1 votes

I don't think the original person replying understood your reasoning or really what you were trying to get across. That's a really good point and I like how you used their reasoning for one rule being in place and use it to point out the lack of logic in there not being a rule against smurfing. Unfortunately they can't make a rule against having a higher level of skill/knowledge than others and if they made a rule against smurfing they would not be able to enforce it, at least with much accuracy or consistency which would result in decrease in how seriously their rules are taken by the general playerbase.

DemonBoneJangles1 votes

{quoted}

Thing is, smurf doesnt have benefit from it. Boosted person does.

the account holders benefit in this case is the ability to play against people much less skilled to avoid having to "try" or even just to troll. in the context riot described I would have to say that boosting and smurfing are nearly identical with the one exception that boosting requires 2 people while smurfing only takes one person otherwise they provide the same outcome, a vastly more skilled player is taking a low level or low skill account and having a detrimental impact on newer or less skilled players gaming experience

if a red posts to this it would be nice

alasarcher1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Requiem of Bones,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=sa8ae7dp,comment-id=00000001,timestamp=2017-12-09T12:17:46.210+0000)

the account holders benefit in this case is the ability to play against people much less skilled to avoid having to "try" or even just to troll. in the context riot described I would have to say that boosting and smurfing are nearly identical with the one exception that boosting requires 2 people while smurfing only takes one person otherwise they provide the same outcome, a vastly more skilled player is taking a low level or low skill account and having a detrimental impact on newer or less skilled players gaming experience

if a red posts to this it would be nice

There is no benefit there for smurf. During boosting benefit of account holder are ranked rewards. Smurf gets no benefits.

Èclair1 votes

how come Smurfing is allowed when it does literally the same but on an even worse scale?

Because after few games system can easily adjust their MMR to their current skill level. It's not flawless, but smurfs from diamond usually end up in diamond after some period of time. Unless they got there by taking advantage over overpowered strategies.

is there a difference i don't catch

The difference between smurfing and boosting is the account holder. Wich was stated in the rule you mentioned. It creates unfair enviroment for others because account holder didn't climb the ladder personaly. Did nothing to accomplish the thing he is rewarded for thus creating unfair situation towards players who achieved something on their own. Smurfs do just that. And in my entire ranked experience I actually only met one exceptional good player that was confirmed smurf I couldn't actually win against because of his skill level so I doubt this is an epidemic of high elo player ruining experience of others. As I said, hidden MMR will sort this out eventually and one lost game because of that is nothing. If you're good enough for promotion you'll end there eventually, no matter if there are feeders or afkers in your way.

NekoniClaws1 votes

Revenue - alt accounts or smurfs are more tempted to buy champions and EXP boosts. Boosters are just here to exploit, and they consistently disrupt players rewards (higher ranks) whilst most smurfs just want to play games.

League's got a smurf detection for sure. I had 1 game on my smurf with legitimately new players - from there on all I saw were "smurfs". Of course most "smurfs" are just low elo alts for people who want to try off roles, silly picks or queue with lower elo friends, all goofing around on eachother. It's just really easy for the system to pick out low level + average/high skill players.

The fact a few higher elo players will have a few dozen stomps doesn't seem like a big impact. And the last diamond smurf I played against granted me a highly educational experience- I don't feel exploited in the least.

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