Why are Smurfs allowed?

CrystalBeard·Jul 16, 2019·2 votes·2,385 views

I've been debating making a post on this for a while, but it just bothers me too much.

Smurfs aren't fun, and I don't understand them. I'm Silver IV, I have no issue admitting that. What I do have an issue with is when I'm playing my lane and my opponent is just better than me. It sounds like complaining, and it kind of is, but I don't mean they're just beating me, they're dominating me. They've won every single game of the last 30 or 40 and I'm just sitting there flailing around trying to figure what I'm doing wrong. But the thing is... the only thing I'm doing wrong is challenging a superior, one who appears to be an equal.

The question is, what do you do? Why is this dude just allowed to come in here and ruin my game? I'm silver, I shouldn't be fighting people in Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. So... why are Smurfs allowed at all?

Thanks for reading, let me know what y'all's thoughts are.

9 Comments

Unker139Jul 16, 20193 votes

How do you stop it in a free game? The good news is that they will move up quickly and you won't have to deal with them again.

CrystalBeardJul 16, 20191 votes

But then comes another one and another, and I get flamed for losing against an opponent who is leagues better than me.

Unker139Jul 16, 20191 votes

{quoted}

But then comes another one and another, and I get flamed for losing against an opponent who is leagues better than me.

I don't run into many smurfs, but I'm iron and at the time I play there aren't many other iron players. As a result, I'm the only iron in an all bronze game about half the time and I'm usually the weakest player in the game. As a result I'm usually outplayed.... but man it feels great when you pull off an "A" game or better.

Sona PingJul 16, 20192 votes

{quoted}

I've been debating making a post on this for a while, but it just bothers me too much.

Smurfs aren't fun, and I don't understand them. I'm Silver IV, I have no issue admitting that. What I do have an issue with is when I'm playing my lane and my opponent is just better than me. It sounds like complaining, and it kind of is, but I don't mean they're just beating me, they're dominating me. They've won every single game of the last 30 or 40 and I'm just sitting there flailing around trying to figure what I'm doing wrong. But the thing is... the only thing I'm doing wrong is challenging a superior, one who appears to be an equal.

The question is, what do you do? Why is this dude just allowed to come in here and ruin my game? I'm silver, I shouldn't be fighting people in Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. So... why are Smurfs allowed at all?

Thanks for reading, let me know what y'all's thoughts are.

Because the vast majority of smurfs, aren't. Because how are you going to make playing the game against the rules? Because, what then, you make smurfs illegal and then you ban entire colleges?

CrystalBeardJul 16, 20191 votes

What am I supposed to do against a gold/platinum player? Who I don't even know is gold/platinum? I asked for y'all's thoughts on it. I know it's not realistic to just stop people from smurfing but it's just so gosh darn annoying.

Sona PingJul 16, 20195 votes

{quoted}

What am I supposed to do against a gold/platinum player? Who I don't even know is gold/platinum? I asked for y'all's thoughts on it. I know it's not realistic to just stop people from smurfing but it's just so gosh darn annoying.

You asked for thoughts while asking why is it just allowed twice. Those are the thoughts. And why are they Gold/Platinum when you don't know that? Again, the vast majority of smurfs, aren't. Sometimes the opponent is going to be better that match at something. If you are looking for the answer as what to do about playing against better players when playing the game to get to a rank with better players in it, what general answer for the general question is there other than to learn the game and improve yourself?

Tuition FeeJul 16, 20192 votes

Not to trivialize your issue, but...

Gold and silver really isn't that much of a jump, and Riot seems to often be throwing S3s~S1s in low to mid gold games.
According to https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/rankings/rank-distribution, only around 16% of the playerbase is plat+.
The odds that every single player of this 16% has a smurf account that they frequently rank on is next to zero.
Being generous here and assuming half of these players are constantly, 24/7 ranking on a smurf, that's a whopping 8% of the playerbase.
You'd have to be extremely (un)lucky to snipe one of these players as your opposing laner for 40 games in a row. Especially without a smurf on your team to even out the odds.
Smurfs rank up much faster than regular players. It is incredibly difficult for a diamond smurf to remain hardstuck low silver.

That being said, smurfs are very irritating, and definitely unbalance the game.

General Esdeath Jul 16, 20191 votes

Because Riot fucked up high elo and they just want shorter queue times without people wintrading

Telephone BoothJul 18, 20191 votes

I made a smurf years ago just to start fresh ELO-wise, as this account is from when i was a newb. The longer you play on an account, the more games it takes to affect your MMR. So i played ranked on a smurf and was immediately placed silver 2, as opposed to this account where I have to stomp players from bronze every season (literally stomping them, like 20-5 type of games). I also made an account specifically for ARAM where I would only buy champs that are good on ARAM. Im not looking to stomp newbs. Just a couple non-malicious reasons to make a smurf account.