It's been nearly 8 years Rito, this needs to stop...

I am beyond sick of running into smurfs/elo boosters/account sharers/etc. Basically any high elo player who comes down into low silver (or wherever) for any reason. I don't care if it's their account, a friends account, if they bought the account, or they're selling rank. None of that matters. What does matter is that they ruin both the fun and the competitive atmosphere ranked play is supposed to provide.

Running into smurfs is bad enough, but then you get the special cases where they're smurfs and then they're also assholes. Take the game I just came out of for example. They had a 'support Kha'zix,' who more or less dumpstered our entire team. What's more curious is that he had almost the exact same name as their midlaner. Please see posted screenshots below (names have been partially obscured to protect the not-so-innocent). Now, their mid laner, Corki in this case, did have the better game stats wise, but during the match the midlaner's stats were the last thing on anyone's mind. It was this 'support Kha'zix' who was running around the map killing everyone. Then, he and his mid laner get into post game and start throwing shade at my team. They deserved to be banned for their behavior in game. Their parents should remove their computer privileges until their children's children are old enough to drive for their behavior in post game.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from post game:

Kha: was gonna troll this game ..[but].. went into discord on naut's [their top laner] ... and he was too nice so Kha: holy **** u guys suck too much Kha: my dad works for riot Kha: its fine corki was gold ... and im plat 1 Kha: i only play with him on this acc to troll

Again, please see the below screenshots for context and the complete conversation.

https://i.imgur.com/rZAJcnH.png https://i.imgur.com/ij6myBM.png https://i.imgur.com/kv9pXLf.png

If this were an isolated incident, it'd be one thing. But it's not. Just last week I had a Vayne adc who I played against who single handedly hard carried the game for his team despite being afk for so much of the early match we nearly ended up with a remake. Our bott lane literally hit level 2 before he even got to lane.

Again, in post game, said player was a total jerk. He said, and I quote, "It's (the account he was playing) been bronze every season? Keep it in bronze for a reason. To get games like this. Where I can roll kids like you..." By the by, I have screenshots from that conversation too (I would have to go through and blur at least part of his name before posting it here, though).

He also said it was ok for him to 'smurf' (after looking at op.gg there's no way he wasn't account sharing, but I digrees) because he had to play against Doublelift's smurfs on his main account. He also seemed to think that going in and rofl stomping significantly lower elo players was an acceptable way to blow off steam when he got frustrated with his own elo (I suppose it never occurred to him to wonder where the bronze and silver players are supposed to go). He also seemed to indicate he kept his elo low by occasionally going afk in a match just like some high elo 1 trick Yasuo main he seemed to know who did the exact same thing for his smurf bronze account. According to him, the game seemed to know he didn't belong in that elo so he'd lose a ton of LP just for one loss. ie if he just trolled or went afk once in a while, he could keep abusing the system.

Elo boosting/account sharing/trolling or going afk to purposely keep your elo much lower than it should be so you can "roll kids," just to sooth their own ego are all behaviors that make for a very negative and frustrating experiences in League of Legends. I'd argue it's more frustrating to encounter a high elo player just dicking around while you're trying to climb the ladder then it is to deal with flamers or afk'ers. We've had a mute feature for ages and now there's even a new shiny remake feature. But I'd rather deal with someone flaming or going afk than I would being forced to play against someone who is supposed to be playing several divisions above me. I've won in 4v5's and, even when I don't, I still feel like I have some agency. When I get into a game against a smurf or elo booster, I just feel powerless. I could have the best game of my life and it wouldn't matter. The whole match lays in the hands of the smurf regardless of what team he's on. And how is that supposed to be fun? Or how is that supposed to contribute to the competitive play of ranked.

We're coming up on season 8, Rito. SEASON 8. That's 7 full years of this being an issue and it hasn't improved at all. It feels every bit as bad now as it did when I started playing all those years ago. For the love of God stop pussy footing around this issue and get it fixed. It's currently far and away the biggest pain point in ranked.