đŸ“” Solution to identify Smurfs

General Discussion
1

For long, one of the problems Blizzard has had was figuring out if a new account was a Smurf or not. The current state of the game has no way of figuring out early if someones smurfing, as a result, the matchmaker (MM), just drops smurfs against lower tier players. Here is an idea to at least figure out who the Smurfs are.

Get all accounts verified with a mobile number

The first step is to give players incentives to have their accounts verified using a mobile number. In order to verify an account, the user keys in his mobile number and an SMS code is sent to that number which needs to be keyed into the app.

Verified accounts get some reward or bonus, and verified accounts are only allowed to play ranked.

Now when someone creates a new account and verifies it using the same number, as their previous accounts, the MM would start placing their accounts against relatively higher levels, maybe 1 tier below his actual account. If he starts performing like a high-level player then the MM starts progressing him right away.

The Weakness

This solution can ofc be bypassed, by getting a second mobile number, of a person in the family, but at least it deters away most of the audience from doing it, simply because of the hassles it poses. This mobile number used for verification can also be used for password resets, so people don't start using some random friends mobile number for verification purposes.

The Popular argument ignoring Smurfing

The current system doesn't keep smurf players at the lower tiers for long. They are quickly moved to the higher tiers. It's what Jeff posted on the forums a while ago.

The system in place takes a few matches to raise you Smurfs up the ladder true, but that’s still damage done during those few matches. A lot of tiny water drops add up to form a sea.

When a lot of Smurfs are playing those few matches can end up being a huge number for the lower tiers. Say 10 smurfs playing it takes 3 - 4 games to get off the lower tiers that’s a total of 30 - 40 one-sided games for the lower tier.
Imagine if you were that player that had 30 - 40 stomped games, how would you feel?

If I was a bronze player and I had 30 - 40 one-sided stomped games, I would uninstall Overwatch and throw it into the bins for good. That’s suddenly a new player that was lost.

An Alternate Method

Another method to verify an account could be by using the Blizzard BattleNet Authenticator App for the iOS and Android platforms. This app once installed on the phone can be set up to enable two-step authentication against the account. An account set up with this is considered verified, and all alternate accounts using the same two-step authentication can also be considered verified and linked together.

This could be another verification method, for those that want to keep their mobile numbers private.

8 Likes
2

Fantastic Idea!

20 Characters

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:+1:   

4

What about the population of Overwatch that don’t have mobile phones?

5 Likes
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In the year 2018 even a teenager has a mobile phone :smiley: . If not he uses his dad’s mobile phone for verification.

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And if they don’t have the luxury of this?

4 Likes
7

Then they aren’t allowed into competitive mode. All accounts playing competitive Overwatch should be verified.

8

But smurfing is not an offense.

Must i use my moms or dads phone or ids?

3 Likes
9

It’s not but the MM just places them against high level players.
So only smurfs interested in farming the lower level players would try to verify their second account with a different number. The rest will just use the primary number, which is perfectly fine.

10

Stop crying about ‘Smurfing’, and git gud.

6 Likes
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I have 5 smurf accounts dude :slight_smile:

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https://cdn.dopl3r.com/memes_files/me-creating-new-accounts-to-get-one-month-free-trials-R3bRp.jpg

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Your allowed to create new accounts with new mobile numbers true. But that’s not something everyone can do that easily. Most kids don’t have access to the resources to register a sim card with most mobile subscribers.

14

Watch out folks we got a tough guy here with making 1 liners only, on the forums.

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:smiley:    

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If i was a kid Ill go ask my grandpa to use his Nokia 3310 to register.
Or ill just take it its not like blizzard sending him an sms will cost him.
And what, we are afraid of “kids” smurfing ?
Everyone who’s a “problematic smurf” will find a way to go around it.

17

Well like I said the mechanism posses a weakness, but it at least deters away most people. Most smurfs don’t create new accounts with the intention of farming lower level players, but just because they want to play a new hero at slightly lower levels to learn them.

There is a whole formality of getting a new SIM card which people won’t do just for smurfing. The idea of using mobile numbers in the family is a possibility.

18

Just sounds like a lot of hassle for something that wouldn’t be always used and will be easy to abuse.

19

Well lately people have been crying about an increased Smurf issue, if this system can reduce the smurfing problem in ranked then it might be worth it.

20

This won’t stop this kind of smurfs.
This smurf will be smart enough to easily go around it if they are so good that they are disturbing the game play of others.
And all of this for something that isn’t a real offence.