Smurfing is a big issue! Just read it

Ok

Listen

If you are in gm or masters don’t comment some bs like ‘‘I don’t get smurfs in my games, therefore, they don’t exist’’ because I’ve already heard that before.

If you don’t get smurfs in your games you can’t really say much when it comes to this topic

So just to make sure everyone is on the same page here…

‘‘In multiplayer online gaming, the term " Smurf " (noun) is used to refer to an experienced player who creates a new account for the purposes of being matched against inexperienced players for easy wins’’

…there’s the definition

Smurfing is bad and there is nothing you can say that will change that, ok
it is an issue in overwatch and it needs to be fixed, and it’s so easy to fix

Just make it bannable

People can still buy and use several accounts but if they do it in comp and they are doing much better than everyone else you can report them just like you would report a person using aimbot or wallhack because smurfing is also cheating. You are giving yourself an unfair advantage to win matches, that is cheating. And if you were going to say something like ‘‘But lower-ranked players can learn from smurfs and get better at the game’’ you are wrong, just plain out wrong, Because it’s not like that at all, you don’t learn anything if you just get popped in the noggin 20 times a game by a masters widow ok.

I played a match a while back and there was a tracer who was flanking and only killing me, And now you might think ‘‘That’s what a tracer is supposed to do idiot’’

Well she kept writing in chat stuff like ‘‘don’t try to counter me noob’’ and ‘‘you are so bad lol’’ ‘‘you are a hard-stuck silver border in plat LOL’’ she even stuck me with a pulse bomb and instead of blinking away she just waved at me and killed herself (she killed herself on purpose it was obvious if you saw it, she had blinks and recall and there was 2 min left and there was an Ana and a zen right by me)

And don’t say S**t like ‘‘just focus on getting better and ranking up instead of whining on the forums’’ I am trying my best to get better ok but having smurfs in half of my matches isn’t making anything better

If Blizzard cares about Overwatch they should make smurfing bannable they won’t lose anything by doing it because people are still going to buy accounts just as much the accounts will just get banned more.

Oh yeah don’t say stuff like ‘‘smurfing is good for the game since people can just get better at the game and avoid smurfs’’

Why don’t we just allow aimbotting since people can just git gud and kill the cheater and some low ranked players might get better at aiming if they see how that aimbot aims

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Indeed, also allow aim bots, because, just practice more, it’s your own damn fault your can’t aim or don’t understand the game. Al the comments that don’t care about smurfing are ridiculous. Because if you allow smurfing in comp you should allow cheating too. Because how would anyone from the lower ranks beat a gm player at bronze, silver or gold ? Practice more ? Understanding the game better ? lmao !
Smurfing is indeed a big problem in comp.
Those famous youtube streamers, I love too watch them flexing from bronze to top 500, but in the back of my head I also think, wtf “this person has just ruined 30 or more comp games” And that is just only one streamer or smurf.

I am glad the hear Jeff saying OW has updated their cheating detection system and more is coming. But still, I really want this of my chest.

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Yes, thank you, finally someone that actualy understands the problem with smurfing

The system only works if everyone participates in it. What can blizzard do against smurf other than go after reports? Its not like they can “detect” if a new account is a smurf and just instantly ban them. You have to report them and if they are really throwing games to get to that low SR they will get banned NO DOUBT. Countless people get banned or suspended EVERY DAY.

Im a GM/Top500 player and i have multiple accounts but they are all in GM. If im not throwing I will always get placed at least in diamond if not even masters and climb to GM in less than 50 games. So the only reason I would ever be in anything lower than Masters, would be if i ruined my own games, for which people can report me.

If someone is buying another accounts and throwing games to get placed on low SR and then trolls there or ruins game then just report them. Just write into the report exactly what you experienced. Blizzard does not support Smurfing in any way and WILL ban people that actively throw games. The more people report smurfs the faster they get banned!

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But the problem will still be there since people are reporting smurfs and there is still a problem

We can’t just expect our problems to just go away if we report them since that obviously isn’t working. If what you are saying would work we wouldn’t have a smurfing problem at all.

All I want from Blizzard is for them to add a option to report for smurfing on the report menu that simple

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Well its already there its called Gameplay Sabotage.

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We still have a smurfing problem so it doesn’t work

I’ve met a lot of people that don’t know that they can report someone for smurfing or they think that smurfing isn’t bad (which it is)

Blizzard needs to say that smurfing is bad and that it is bannable or else people won’t always report them

That’s the problem, Blizzard won’t do that because they might risk earning less money of smurf accounts. But they have to

Any wise person uses only the “abusive chat” category thou for reports.

Well I think a lot of people make a bigger deal out of smurfing than it actually is to be honest.

Scenario 1: The person on YOUR team is a smurf and is actively throwing to get to a lower SR. You report them and they get banned. Smurf gone.

Scenario 2: The person on the ENEMY team is a smurf and is playing really well and carrying the enemy team. This is not illegal and not bannable since they are just “playing the game”. The good side is that they will climb very fast and you wont see them again.

Also I believe that a lot of people often overreact and think that everyone and everything nowadays is a smurf. Sure smurfs exists but I think there are way less than everyone thinks there are especially in low SR games since its really hard to stay on lower SR without throwing and getting banned.

So again, all you can do is report people that are throwing games and encourage people to do the same. The more people do it the better it works.

And I mean there is no difference really to add a report button for “Smurfing” since a lot of people think an alternate account (which is allowed) is also a smurf and there are a lot of misconceptions to what the word smurf means.

A smurf does not have to throw to get a low rank they just need to… you know… not play their best

We. still. have. a. smurf. problem.

whats in the game now is not working obviously

The way you are smurfing is totaly fine. Because you want to be at youre own skill level. But, there are a lot of smurfs, you can’t deny it, even I have been thinking about buying a new account, because it’s so damn cheap. If the game was 50 euro’s I would have to think about it a lot before buying a new account.
But the bigger problem is I think, Leavers. Leavers are even a bigger problem in the game.

Yeah leavers are also a big problem but unlike smurfs, a leaver will almost always be punished (almost always)

I’ve met a lot of people that think that smurfs are just something we have to deal with because Blizzard won’t ban a player for playing (or some s**t like that)

Blizzard needs to come out and say that smurfing is bad

Every single player right now knows that leaving a match is bad but I’m willing to bet that around 70% of players think that smurfing is ok or atleast not bannable

Here’s how I deal with smurfs. Remember, your attitude is basically just as important as everything else. If you see a smurf and immediately get all mopey, it won’t do you any good.

  1. If you are playing competitive, a smurf thats a higher rank than you should be treated like a test. If you are platinum with hopes of reaching masters, you should be able to beat a masters player.

  2. If someone is genuinely hardcarrying that hard, just force 6v1s on them. Treat them like a turreted bastion.

  3. Improve your skills. I understand that this only goes so far, but if you are a good player, some smurf won’t be any different than the other enemies.

I get it, smurfs are annoying. However, if someone wants a fresh start, I don’t believe it’s fair to ban them for that (smurfs who intentionally throw are a different story).

CAKEsup said it best, also, it’s a very frequent occurrence that we get Smurfs in gm/masters but we don’t complain, why? Because we all aim to get better and be as good as them anyways. People complain about ELO hell but yet complain about Smurfs ruining their game, what a forum…

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not everybody functions at the level of GM / Masters, I just started gaming since last year. Stop saying that we should not complain. The higher your skill level is the less annoying it becomes because the higher your skill level is, the easier it becomes too deal with it (that is the real reason why you guys dont have to complain). I am just a simple silver player, and it’s a big deal for me.

It is always nice, if people could actually read and understand their own posted definition.

This basically means, that only people, who deliberately do something to get to the lower ranked players and stomp them repeatedly is smurfing.

making a new account and fairly playing and trying to rank up, with whether it was your main heroes or other heroes is all fair and okay, quoted from Blizzard. It is when they deliberately throw games, do horrible on other heroes and roles etc, that they are able for punishments under your own definition.

Nothing can spot the difference from a good or better than average player or a smurf etc. So there is no way to combat it, neither is there a reason to, since by your definition everyone is smurfing. Many people of all ranks have alt accounts and few are at exactly or even close to their main accounts rank.

Pro players “Smurf, with the wrong definition of smurfing btw, where peole abuse the word to mean stomp on lesser skilled players, without the intent to do so.” on top 500/GM players. They do it to masters and diamond players. Diamond and Masters do it to plat and gold players, meanwhile they do it to silver and bronze players.

what would you do exactly. The only thing you can do , is make people link their accounts and have better identification linked to an account, so that you can get in trouble for doing stuff on a smurf, since you “Don´t care”, that wouldn´t change the ladder system though. You have to rank up from the bottom. Unless you want players to choose their own appropriate rank ? I can easily tell you how badly, that would go.

Except the smurfs you deal with, are not very high ranked players. Next to no actual GM+ player would have an account in that rank and not rank up, with how much they dominate. It is slightly higer ranked players (Gold/diamond).

The funny thing is, that you so wrongly assume, that the difference between a smurf at your rank and GM is lower, in fact it is much much higher.

A person smurfing against so good players, litterally have 1000s hours and practice to his name, meanwhile for anyone at that level to climb to his, they would have to put far more hours and dedication in, than any bronze would have to reach GM.

It is quite simple, the difference looks small on paper, but in practice equalling that skill, would take years of experience and hard work.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/64ru7u/jeff_kaplan_talks_about_smurfing/
Anyone reporting smurfs are false reporting. Throwing to get ranked down, that’s a problem. But that isn’t directly related to smurfing. That’s just throwing, and is reportable.

I’m barely hanging onto gold, and it isn’t a big deal.

  1. Players smurf to destroy lower ranks? What? I dont know anyone who does it. Maybe 1% of them.
  2. If someone smurf they wont tell you they’re smurfing. If someone say, he is a 1% smurf and he is playing on smurf because he is too bad to play on his main.
  3. You get so many smurfs in silver? I bet they are just good at your rank and you cant accept you got destroyed.
  4. 90% smurfs are in masters, usually they get 3300+ after placements and rank up very fast.
  5. How do you know someone is smurfing? Maybe its just game of his life? I agree when you see 26lvl in 3900 its obvious, but 26lvl in gold? 99% its new player.
  6. A lot of cs/apex etc. players starting playig ow will clap you in their first season.
  7. You get as many smurf in enemy as in your team, you just blame everything but you.
  8. Smurfs are usually over confident, yesterday i clapped 4150 26lvl ashe with 93% wr, because i wasnt crying he is smurf and was doing my job. If you show them you are not so bad they will not be so confident.
  9. You cant rank up because of smurfs? If u want rank up you must be better than people in your rank and smurfs can only slow you for 1-2 games.
  10. Stop complaining and writing on forums, start improving.

Ok so I read all the new comments on this and a few say that I should try my best instead of whining on the forums

When I started playing OW I immediately leveled up to 25 and started playing comp I got placed at around 900 sr and now I’m in low diamond

I have tried my best to rank up for over a year now and smurfing is something that is very annoying when trying to rank up. And I don’t blame smurfs for my current rank because I know that that is where I belong at the moment, I just think that smurf is getting in the way of having fun and keeping a good attitude.

A smurf can ruin a match in more ways than just pop heads they can make people throw and/or leave (I have had teammates that have done that)

You don’t play in those ranks, right? You don’t know what it’s like to play against people that are much better than yourself because you are in GM. A top 500 is not gonna be much better than you may be just a bit better, it’s different for you to play against a top 500 and a diamond player playing against a GM.

I don’t instantly judge if someone is a smurf based on their level when I see it for the first time but if someone is lvl 26 at 3000 sr and is owning everyone else the whole match then I at least have a reason to think that they are a smurf

Again I climbed from bronze to diamond I am trying my best, do some research (aka press on my name and then View profile) and you will see that I am improving.

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