A suggestion regarding smurfs - What could Riot do about them?

PandaIicious·11/5/2015, 1:16:45 PM·2 votes·787 views

TABLE OF CONTEXT:

Introduction My own view Looking at the survey Suggestions and repercussions
Epilogue and TL'DR

DISCLAIMER - I made a survey to get some data I can use as basis for my suggestion. The sample size is relatively small (81 people) but it contains people of all rankings. Link to the summary

Before you throw rocks at me and call it shit, please keep in mind that it's my first work like this, go easy on me. Keep also in mind that I don't have the knowledge and statistics Riot has. It'll also be a long read since I enjoy talking but don't worry, there will be a TL'DR at the very end for the lazy ones. So if you don't feel like dealing with my gibberish, just scroll to the end. I highly recommend reading all of it though. Numbers are also rounded for convenience, you can look at the exact numbers in the link above. Don't get worked up if something adds up to over 100%.

Also I don't believe it's the answer for everything, solving every issue there is. There will always be asshats who try to ruin games BUT I do believe that it will improve the situation.

As for the "why?" - I've been on both ends of the stick, I think they are an issue worth solving and I want to work for Riot and this is somewhat of a way to show my determination. Also because I can :3

Please keep in mind that this was written after a sleepless night (insomnia can be quite unpleasant) so there might be spelling errors and grammar mistakes, especially since English isn't my native language. I'll get some sleep once this is finished~ Which is now at 2 pm.

Smurfs - We all have most likely faced them at some point in our League career, be it getting carried or getting crushed by one, we might even have one ourselves for various reasons. But are they problematic for the game? For who? Are they a neccessary evil?

To give you some context, I'll post my own view on the matter first (I'm not part of the poll): Keep in mind that I made my smurf when teambuilder hasn't been a thing yet.

I have a smurf and I made it to play with lower ranked friends and to practice/pick up roles or champions in a lower MMR environment since me trying to learn ADC at my MMR was... unpleasant and frustrating. Both for me and my team. My smurf helped me to pick up a role in a more pleasant way but I was and am aware that I bought that comfort with the blood and tears of lower MMR players.

Since I've been on both ends of the stick, carrying as a smurf but also getting stomped by them, it's one of the topics I've been thinking about a lot and tried to come up a suggestion that should reduce the amount of smurfs. Hopefully drastically. So yes, I consider them a problem, ESPECIALLY for newer players. Several of my friends that started playing League fairly recently (this year) dropped it pretty early since they were just getting curbstomped and had no fun at all. They are still an issue in ranked - duo queue on smurfs - but I consider them a bigger problem for newer players. Keep that in mind when reading my suggestions.

I also don't think that "MMR will take care of it" is good enough of a reason to downplay the issue that smurfs are. Yes, their MMR should skyrocket BUT they are still ruining games, causing aweful experiences.

Looking at the poll we see that about 73% of the people asked have a smurf account - quite a lot if you ask me.

But why do those people have a smurf and do they think it's a problem?

About 11% want to stomp newer/lower MMR players and about a third admit that it's still one of the reasons, even if it's hardly a reason, it's still one of them. I'd say that the 11% are the malicious ones while the rest of the third is still bad for the experience but are not malicious players. I imagine them as bored teenagers who decide to beat up some fourth-graders.

47% of the people have wanting to play with less skilled friends as one of the biggest reason why they have their smurf while an extra 14% still have it as reason. 40% are NOT playing with lower MMR friends, hence playing Solo queue for one of the other reasons.

Now we get to something more interesting - Riot doesn't consider Duo Queueing with a smurf as MMR boosting. I do. That's also why the next point is very worrying since 42% want to help friends to a higher rating via duo queue, messing with the integrity of matchmaking and I'm honestly baffled that a challenger players can massacre their way through let's say silver players while dragging a bronze friend along and getting them to a ranked they don't deserve as long as the smurf of the challenger player is legit. Yes, they are technically within the rules but should they really be allowed to do that?

The next point is probably a bit skewed as most of the answers are from plat+ players, it was more of a curiosity thing.

Wanting to challenge myself with restrictions was one of the reasons I created a third account since I wanted to play only play Sona there so I can understand why about 51% have it as reason but I'd go so far and say that it's mainly a side effect of being "bored" with League and looking for something else to do while still playing League.

Selling accounts on eBay is a thing but it should be only a few players doing it. I don't know abou the market but I really hope it's not big.

For the last reason - It's understandable. It's more relaxing to play at lower MMR since I don't have to play at the peak of my performance without negatively affecting my team.

Looking at the reasons as a whole, most want to pick up and practice a role, play with lower MMR friends or want to "relax" in lower MMR.

Now do those people consider themselves as problem? The short answer is yes, they do. So while they know that they are a problem, they are doing it because in most cases, they "have" to as their reasons are at least understandable. People may have "good" reasons to have a smurf but the end doesn't justify the means.

Now to the juicy part, the suggestions. To reinforce what I said in the beginning - in my opinion, smurfs are mainly a problem for the newer players but still an issue in ranked. I'll just post my suggestion(s) now and the repercussions afterwards.

I think that being able to have an alternate account that is

a) linked to the main account (meaning you need a level 30 account first), b) not able to duo queue or play teamranked, c) has increased MMR right off the bat (I think a soft reset of the MMR like at the start of a season is a good starting point) but d) getting benefits*

should be enough incentive to not smurf anymore but have one of these... Let's call them prestige accounts.

*benefits are not having to level the account, being able to use stuff unlocked on the main account (champs, skins, runes), an icon, a skin or a ribbon (the thing you get when you have enough honors - make it purple since I like purple) for example. Or stuff for the Hextech Crafting. (http://na.leagueoflegends.com/na/site/2016-season-update/champion-mastery.html in case you haven't seen it yet, I got your back) Or being able to be made on a different server, I'd love being able to play on EUNE or NA without having to level an account there.

Now what does this mean for the players?

Legit low level players are left alone since the prestige account doesn't have to be leveled.
they can't be abused for messing around with the MMR since they can't be used for duo queue/team ranked
the soft MMR reset leaves player way below alone and it's not as unbalanced as a hard reset. It still gives the prestige player the chance to play in lower MMR than usual. I think around one tier lower should do just fine, resulting in a diamond player starting with a platinum prestige account instead of an unranked smurf starting in silver/gold. I'd also say that it's low enough of a start to pick up a role and practice it from there.
the benefits are mostly a treat for the prestige player to convice them to get one of these accounts instead of a fresh account.
linking them with the main account should make it pretty easy to spot if the account has been sold (purely speculation, I don't know how good Riot is at finding bought accounts)
it also makes it easy to punish the players who go onto their smurf to vent or troll ala "it's just a smurf, I don't give a fuck"
together with team builder/new draft pick it could let the prestige accounts face each other while the rest of the group face player at their skill level (granted it could do that with the normal accounts too).

Whether those accounts should be marked in a visible way, be it for their or the opponent team, is up for discussion, gut feeling says no but it limits the possible treats. Showing it could lead to the team having higher expectations since it's a smurf and/or result in "let's gang up on the smurf" if the enemy team is able to see it BUT it could also act as a "warning" that they're playing against a prestige account, letting them play with more caution and it could be seen as "fair". Undecided on what would be more beneficial.

If we're looking at "I want to help friends get into the game" we have to look at the situation of the newer player. With how many level 30 players are they playing? One? Four? I think an adjustment of the Party IP Reward is a good idea as it helps out the new player but shouldn't be (ab)used by smurfs if the "Prestige account" is appealing enough and since it will only benefit the new player. Let the new player say that they've been referred by X players and give them benefits for playing with them in form of increased EXP and IP to speed up the leveling. Riot should be careful about this one though but I think getting a prestige account is better than getting a second account this way unless you want to be an asshat.

What I've also been thinking about is something like the upcoming Archon Mode in Starcraft 2 (at least it inspired me). Imagine it as live spectator mode where the spectator sees the game only from the point of view of the player but is able to give him live advice, imagine using a unique ping. Live backseat gaming so to say :) The player still has to play by themselves but the spectator can comment on it without delay but isn't able to say stuff the player can't see as they share the same POV. I hope you get what I'm trying to describe and can imagine it, it sounded good in my head. Riot could also try out voicechat that way, giving the archon pair means of communicating (even if they'd probably use Skype or Teamspeak anyway). Call it "Legend" mode or so and make it only available for normal games.

Now how could Riot benefit from this?

They should have, at least in my opinion, an easier time tracking down and punishing malicious asshats, same with people trying to abuse my suggestions.
They could sell those prestige accounts for RP
It hopefully solves the smurf problem
happier playerbase?

Epilogue - to reinforce it: I don't think that my suggestion solves everything and is the perfect answer but I think it's appealing enough for the majority of the players who use a smurf. There will always be asshats trying to ruin games and abusing the system but Riot could consider taking a harder stance on second accounts that are not prestige accounts then, forbidding them if they want to bring out the big guns ;p

TL'DR - I think that being able to have an alternate account that is

should be enough incentive to not smurf anymore but have one of these... Let's call them prestige accounts.

A suggestion regarding smurfs - What could Riot do about them?

I also don't think that "MMR will take care of it" is good enough of a reason to downplay the issue that smurfs are. Yes, their MMR should skyrocket BUT they are still ruining games, causing aweful experiences.

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