The only issue is that SMS requires a cell phone, and even in today’s age not everyone has one. 
Especially considering OW is a global game.
Exactly. I have a few non-malicious accounts that I use for random things. I don’t smurf (nor could I - I suck lol). Like the worst I have is a Tracer one-trick that’s somehow 500+ SR above my main account for whatever reason. (Or, rather, was back when I actually played comp.)
Anyway, I would be fine with the system acknowledging I was the owner of all my accounts, though, and taking that into consideration and limiting my comp experience in some way to make sure I wasn’t up to no good. Because I do hate actual smurfs, so I’d be willing to sacrifice some freedom in favor of limiting their activity.
But they’d have to make sure it was something fair for everyone. There’s so many loopholes, and it’s very possible innocent people could get screwed over.
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It literally says that google voice numbers are not valid when you try to register your GV number 
I’ll give it a test when I get a chance with my cell phone. If it doesn’t work I’ll be calling and complaining to them.
ya know… i kinda see your point
but like smurfs still deserve to exist
I wasn’t saying to ban them, if you check the original post.
nah. smurfing is awesome.
But my number isn’t VoIP.
I had Google voice years ago. Google announced they were starting their own phone service. I signed up for the service. They stated that I could either lose my Google voice # and port my current cell # OR keep my Google voice #. I choose to keep the Google voice #. So my Google voice # was moved over to my cell phone.
In short, if Blizzard just banned the entire Google phone number pool then they are blocking real cell phone users as well.
There is no way to detect if a phone number is a VoIP number or a standard phone service number. In fact a lot of phone services are VoIP now. The ISP I use to work for also had a phone switch that could take a VoIP call and convert it to standard land line and vice versa live during a call. It’s the only way someone with VoIP can talk to other people that don’t have VoIP.
So I tried my cell phone and it tells me the number is invalid. I’ll be contacting support to complain. I tried a VoIP number from the ISP I use to work for and it does work.
Banning phone number pools like this is no better than banning IP address. It doesn’t work. You will ban innocent people while not stopping the trouble makers.
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I would agree that the VOIP phone number bans aren’t productive and they need a better way to secure and authenticate unique users.
ALL phone calls are packet switched these days, and are functionally identical to using the internet to voice chat. The only major difference is barrier to entry to get a phone number versus calling someone up on Discord. But that is fraught with peril, as it likely isn’t possible to blacklist EVERY place you can get a burner phone number from.
I’d like to see Blizzard integrate hardware authenticators (Yubi-Key, et al) for account security purposes as SMS is weak protection… UNLESS you have a GOOGLE VOICE account SECURED by a hardware authenticator! Which would just be a round-about way of using a hardware authenticator to secure your account
REAL ID, a hardware token, ISP checks (your IP may change, but the IP pool that ISPs use are known and people don’t typically change ISPs all that much), SMS authentication, hardware fingerprints, CC# verification… A LOT can be done to verify someone is a unique user.
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noone said about banning
Yet you want a report catagory
Yeah, it’s a special category that just sets the player’s MMR to the highest associated with their location and delays their access to comp.
Thats dumb. What if they really are a new person and people mistaken skill for smurfing
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Well, in that case they probably wouldn’t have an MMR associated with their key details and the system wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.
What key details are we talking about here?
IP address? Cause if so, thats a complete breach of security
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Can you just like, read the post at this point?
Tracking CCs is a breach of Data Laws
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I think they can use it internally.
A lot of people are going to come to this and poke holes in any system we come up with to handle smurfs. All of it sidesteps the fact that smurfing is a problem. Not to mention, just because a system won’t be perfect means that the solution is to “do nothing”.
It also shouldn’t be up to us to find the proper solution. The devs should just be paying attention to us instead of ignoring the problem because it lines the pockets of their company.
I’m just tired of feeling robbed of a game because they have some level 6 tracer wipe my team when she shouldn’t even be playing with me in the first place.
At the end of the day, people need to always be with their skill level. It’s not right that you can choose not to play against higher SR because it’s hard, but because you get a smurf account, now I gotta deal with someone of a higher SR.
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I gotta agree that the Alt Account (SMURFF) 
+ 
needs to end.
"Great, Another blizzard Sale. Fine, just keep them OUT of my games until they want to invest time into their account and not just use it to Abuse people in chat. With the “icing to the cake” of Throw Competitive games for the sake of playing the game with their “friends”.
I get it. Playing with friends in an online game is fun. But dealing with the added toxic + that comes with it. is very annoying.
Quote: “I get the same, (lesser mature players) in matches, that want me to carry their team or help them level up their friends wants me to play better yet, just to cater to their whim. But how about just PLAY the game normal and use the ranking system and MMR system the way it was intended. Instead of buying ANOTHER account”.
You are at the SR you deserve!!
“Until players stop trying to circumvent the system, landing themselves CHAT bans and act civilized towards one another. Your Overwatch experience is NEVER going to be enjoyable and eventually each and every Blizzard-Overwatch sale drags the game down even more.”
I have to agree that Blizzard has lots of Merchandise potential for this game and really believe that they CAN make their paychecks with Cosmetics, avoiding the usage of RANDOM LOOT BOXES and be able to maintain proffit margins IF they so chose to do so.
" The Mercy Player base was the most UN-Tapped market for sales. Leaving mass rez alone, focusing on this player base would have earned the company top levels of MONEY. vs shallow sponsorships from outside companies. (Overwatch League)".
lolz… Im just re-iterating OLD quotes from 2017, 2018, and 2019 forums in a partial context to the issues of where players disrupt this game for everyone. Yeesh. gg wp.
Jeff has said that…because like MOST of the major issues overwatch has…Jeff doesn’t know how to solve them.