Boards›Player Behavior

How is elo boosting a banable offense but smurfing is not?

excelsheet1·2/21/2019, 1:53:58 PM·2 votes·2,366 views

First, I don't think either should be bannable. But, if higher elo players are allowed, if not encouraged, to play in games that are inappropriate for their skill, I don't think it elo boosting should be discouraged either. If anything it should be encouraged to let plays get a chance to access higher quality games. I think it would be a great benefit to the community to let players experience higher level games. It could serve as a quality check on your MMR/ranked system and allow players to learn the game at a deeper level. However, smurfing simply ruins games for people. There is no benefit to anyone. No one learns anything and a person gets to ruin 5 people's gameplay experience without ever facing consequences.

Just seems kind of ridiculous that one is allowed but the other one is discouraged.

Edit: I see a lot of people missing the point, some intentionally so. I was hoping for a fun conversation. I understand what the ToS says, but i was asking about a broader point. Disclaimer: i'm having fun this season. But, I would also like to see what its like at higher elos. I think its kind of unfair that some people get to pick and choice what elo they get to play at while others don't. This was an attempt at a what could be vs what is conversation. I'm sorry if this offended anyone. I hope all your games are matched with people of appropriate skill levels. However, while smurfing is encouraged, I have zero problem with boosting. It's stlll people playing at the wrong elo. I should have started the coversation differently with a more fun take. Oh well. I hope all you plats never have to deal the world ending event of someone from a different elo being in your game.

42 Comments

FOR JUSTICE2/21/2019, 2:01:41 PM4 votes

elo boosting is me logging into your account and carrying you to higher rank just for the rewards, hence why its shameful. its not representative of your skill, nor have you earned that right. at least with duo boosting (which is allowed) you have to still be able to outmatch your opponent.

smurfing can have legitimate uses, but is only discouraged if you purposely keep it at a lower elo. but its allowed provided the account owner is the one playing.

does that explain it?

Myrmiron2/21/2019, 2:36:20 PM3 votes

You're suffering from a severe case of "I'm only hardstuck because X is holding me back". Realize that nothing is holding you back but yourself and maybe with that mindset you'll be able to improve and climb to an elo where you'll find "higher quality games".

Dr Dog2/21/2019, 6:24:52 PM2 votes

you know what ruins more games? boosted monkeys not only making the lower matches their getting boosted out of not fair but after that they ruin matches for their own teams in higher elo because now they have ti deal with having a bronze brainlet with likely a shitty mental on their team hard feeding because they dont belong

Jo0o2/21/2019, 2:13:48 PM1 votes

Smurfing is less "acceptable" to Riot and more just not something they can effectively prevent. To really prevent smurfing, individual players would need to be restricted to a single account, and that's not something that can happen without a huge restructuring of Riot's profit structure. I'm all for that, by the way, but it'll never happen.

Hiring somebody to play my account and artificially inflate my rank is clearly unfair, and I don't understand your defense of it. My experience of those higher levels of play may be nice, but the four players on my Diamond 1 team don't deserve to be dragged down by my Gold 4 ass.

Voldymort2/21/2019, 2:02:58 PM1 votes

I think it would be a great benefit to the community to let players experience higher level games.

if only there was a way they could experience high elo play and not damage their teammates who would have to deal with having a handicap on their team... something like a twitch stream or a youtube video featuring high elo plays...

[slayer-jinx-unamused]

However, smurfing simply ruins games for people. There is no benefit to anyone. No one learns anything and a person gets to ruin 5 people's gameplay experience without ever facing consequences.

so let me get this straight: you have a problem with 1 high elo player playing in low elo but at the same time see no problem with a low elo player playing in high elo.

there's a 9 letter word that describes what your problem is. It begins with "H" and ends with "ipocrosy"

Just seems kind of ridiculous that one is allowed but the other one is discouraged.

that's because one of them breaks one of riot's rules and the other doesn't, despite technically representing the same thing. which rule? account sharing

GatekeeperTDS2/21/2019, 2:13:05 PM1 votes

Boosting is covered under the umbrella of account sharing, which is one of the top overall rules (not just behavior-related) explicitly laid out in the ToS. Shared accounts are going to get banned if they're discovered.

This whole smurfing circlejerk here lately is getting really tired. Anyone can make any number of accounts as they want. If they play ranked, they're quickly going to get to the MMR that's appropriate for their skill level unless they purposely lose games - which is against the rules.

Personally, back when I was very new at this game, I subscribed to the "my team is holding me back" garbage...and then I learned better. I got way more insight into how to be better at this game from getting shit on by people who were better than me.

The Highest Noon2/21/2019, 5:21:37 PM1 votes

Boosting is letting someone use your account to get you wins as commonly defined in this game. Letting someone use your account is against the rules. Smurfing is just using a lower-level account. EVERYONE at some point in time will be using a lower level account. There's nothing wrong with that.

deathgod52/22/2019, 10:10:00 AM1 votes

Because of multiple reasons.

Smurfs climb relatively fast moving to a ranking where they are not a problem anymore, boosted people get to the rank they are boosted to(unfairly) and then proceed to lose games for their team there.
Smurfing is using your own skill to get to a better game level. Banning it could have the risk of just banning players that are good or players that try to learn new champs or roles. Boosting has none of these.
People that get boosted don't deserve to be in these higher games and boosted players literally drag down the quality of the games they are playing solo. Would it be fun for them? maybe. Would it ruin the games for their teammates? yes.
Intentionally losing games as a smurfing account to stay low elo is actually not allowed(if often ignored). A smurf is still expected to climb to the best of his ability.

So no, I respectfully disagree with your opinion op

The Highest Noon2/21/2019, 5:08:38 PM1 votes

"Why is [Someone else using your account which is against terms of service] bannable but [making a new account] isn't?"

I hope that clears it up for you.