The following article will discuss what smurfing is and why players do it. Players will learn the pros and cons to smurfing and how it affects the League community. Finally, solutions will be presented to help resolve issues regarding balanced matchmaking and game integrity.
Smurfing is a concept in games that refers to when higher rated players use lower rated accounts to play at a lower rank. These players will oftentimes create new accounts to play in low rankings and play versus less skilled opponents. Players are usually several ratings above the rank they are playing in and thus the games are much easier for them. Smurfing is a common strategy in most games with ranked or skill-based matchmaking systems and is present in League of Legends.
People will smurf for several different reasons. The first is to be able to play with their friends. Players will create new accounts to play with friends who are lower rank but still want to play together. Another reason could be to create a second account for when they get angry and tilt on their main account. Players can then swap accounts to be in lower-level games and get their confidence and mental back in check. Some players also smurf to boost their ego if they lose too many games in high elo. Other reasons include players trying to learn a new role or to avoid long queue times in higher ranks. Instead of having to wait twenty minutes for a game, players usually find games within minutes in lower ranks.
Although smurfing is often seen as unfair to the general player base, they are a few positives. Experienced players are able to practice new Champions and roles without tanking their main rank. This could be seen as only benefiting the individual; however, they are also helping other high elo teammates through not ruining team balancing, as the player is not on their main role. For example, if a diamond-level support main was playing top lane, they likely would be playing at a much lower level than diamond because the roles are so different.
Another pro of smurfing is for educational content purposes. A high rated player will play in gold and silver to highlight the mistakes made from a high-level POV and help players learn proper macro. The in-game scenarios they face are more relatable to players trying to climb out of lower ranked games. The mistakes are more obvious and easier to explain versus mistakes that occur in Master+.
The cons of smurfing heavily outweigh the pros. The most important reason is that smurfing creates a significant advantage for one team over another, and ruins the experience for new players trying to climb. Players are often several divisions higher than the games they’re playing in, and can easily win on their own.
It creates a toxic environment where new players are turned away from the game because smurfing is such a common strategy. It’s an extremely frustrating experience for new or low rated players, who represent a huge population within the league community. New players are extremely important to League’s growth, and smurfing destroys the fairness of these games.
Riot Games has attempted to address smurfing issues throughout the years; however it’s still a huge problem. The best and most obvious solution would be to fix matchmaking through putting an equal number of smurfs on each team. This could be implemented through checking winrates, account level, and match history. Each team would have an equal number of players smurfing and thus the game would feel more balanced. Additionally adding a smurfs queue where Riot detects smurf accounts and then places them in higher elo to prevent them from stomping games.
Usage of data and analytics could help improve the matchmaking software to create higher quality matches. An extreme solution could be to just completely remove smurfing. For example, in other regions such as China, players have to link their government information to their account, which prevents players from having multiple accounts. Each player only has one account which represents their true ranking. Implementing a similar account verification or two-factor authentication software would also reduce other problems with the game involving toxicity and account sharing. I believe this strategy would create a ton of more issues and also upset the high ranked community; however, it’s been proven to be successful in other countries.
The system-level tradeoffs with smurfing make it difficult to both identify and then punish. It’s also difficult to identify smurfing versus boosting versus account sharing. Boosting is when players are paying to have someone else play on their account. Account sharing is when multiple players use the same account to play on. Both strategies are bannable and hard to recognize. Although smurfing is not a bannable offense, it ends up ruining more games than toxicity and other punishable offenses.
As previously mentioned, League grows its community through having new players. However, the cycle of new players getting stomped by smurfs, getting frustrated, and then quitting is extremely common. The game already has an extremely steep learning curve and then combining that with players having to face higher ranked players leads to an aggravating experience. In order to keep retention of new players, the competitive environment must feel fair and balanced. When matches are dominated by smurfs, new players are denied the opportunity to learn fundamentals of the game, which reduces their confidence and enjoyment. Over time, this discourages continued engagement and ultimately harms the long-term health of League’s player base.
Smurfing will always be prevalent within the League community. Most veteran players have multiple different accounts across ranks for a variety of reasons. Although smurfing is common, there are ways to allow players to play with friends, while still keeping the integrity of the game. Methods of creating an equal number of smurfs on each team and using data and analytics to place accounts within the correct elo can help reduce issues of new player retention and enjoyment. I hope readers understand that smurfing is not a bad thing; however, it’s important to recognize how it is implemented and regulated in order to minimize harm to competitive integrity and the new player experience.
