Is Smurfing Bannable?

Megaweed·2/19/2019, 11:26:05 PM·1 votes·4,660 views

I am currently a level 28 account and was playing with a level 62 friend and we had a game against a level 39 who's name ( which was Yaaasssuo ) and clan were all themed around the in game character, Yasuo. He was , as you likely guessed, suspiciously good and we were stomped, and so we asked if he was smurfing. He openly said in game chat that he was on a second account and i added him to try persuade him to drop the account. He proceeded to tell me to look at the terms and conditions and that smurfing was fine, and essentially told me to get good. My friend and i also reported him. Looking around, it does seem as though smurfing is a banable offence but i would appreciate if anyone could confirm and even take action against this account.

18 Comments

FizCap2/20/2019, 12:13:48 AM2 votes

Smurfing is dishonorable but I see why it's done. For instance my normal mmr is high, so am I going to practice new roles against diamonds or would I rather do it against silvers. That's why I have a second account that I can practice on.

ModPrandine2/19/2019, 11:30:27 PM2 votes

Smurfing by itself is not punishable, as there are instances where people have non-malicious reasons for doing so, such as trying out a new champ to avoid tanking their mains mmr/rank or playing with lower skilled teammates. What is punishable however is using it for malicious purposes, such as circumventing punishments to troll others.

Important to note that people who use smurfs to try to stomp only less skilled players will soon find their mmr will eventually match them up with similarly skilled players, making it a pointless endeavor in the end.

GatekeeperTDS2/19/2019, 11:39:48 PM1 votes

Looking around, it does seem as though smurfing is a banable offence

No, it doesn't seem like that at all. Anyone can create an account, anyone can create multiple accounts, and anyone can play as long as they're not violating the rules. Let's say we have someone that picks up the game and is naturally good at it. They're quickly going to get placed in the MMR where they belong. Let's say someone new picks up the game and is terrible at it. They're quickly going to get placed in the MMR where they belong.

Playing with the intent to win is never against the rules. If the Yasuo who stomped your team started a new account and wants to get it to where he belongs, that's not a problem. If he ever loses on purpose to stay around in a lower MMR in order to harm other players, that would be a problem. It's all in the intent.

I'm very sorry you lost a single match to someone who was better. In the long run, it's not going to affect your MMR. I won't give you snarky advice like "Get Good," but my advice is this - play to get better and your MMR will adjust itself accordingly.

unbannedFoe2/21/2019, 11:35:30 AM1 votes

bro ur trash for reporting a smurf fr

Modi2/20/2019, 1:30:43 AM1 votes

Should be. Isn't.

SonicAF2/20/2019, 6:41:01 AM1 votes

Smurf can be banned if it's caught tanking his mmr. You can't have a really low elo smurf if you don't do it. Riot has no established system to track it for now, so only extreme cases are banned. Manually.

JarodDempsey2/19/2019, 11:31:22 PM1 votes

it should be, it completely defeats the purpose of the ban system and also ruins the game for new players who get rolled by high ranked smurfs