Is Blizzard aware smurfs are a huge problem?

[Kaedi-11739]

Here is the precise statements from Game Director Jeff Kaplan regarding boosters, throwers, smurfs, and alternate accounts

@Game Director Jeff Kaplan | April 11 2017

Apologies. I have been gone so I have not read every post in this thread. But I will give you some thoughts.

I think there are two separate concepts:

1) Smurfing. I would define this as an experienced player buying a second account to reset their account progress and internal matchmaking rating (MMR)

2) Boosting. This is behavior some players engage in in Competitive Play where one player is more skilled than their partner and attempts to “carry” the lower skilled player to a higher skill tier.

Boosting is bad and we are very actively working on preventing and punishing this behavior. Rules like the 500 SR differential in Comp above Diamond exist because of Boosting. There is nothing about Boosting that is acceptable and we want you to know that we are taking great efforts to minimize the impact on “fair” players.

Smurfing – and I know this isn’t what you want to hear – isn’t really that big of an issue. For example, a few weeks ago one of the Pro Overwatch players created a smurf account and was streaming from it. We were able to watch his MMR internally and compare it against his “main” account. Within 15 games, the MMR’s were equal. I know there is a very bad perception of Smurfing. But the reality is, skilled players are moved rapidly out of lower skill situations.

I’ve also personally witnessed a few cases of players assuming someone is smurfing when they are not. One of the people I play with is highly skilled. He played a ton in the beta. He works on the Heroes of the Storm team and plays Heroes most nights. But occasionally he comes and plays OW with us because he really enjoys the game. As a result, he is way lower level than we are. Most of us are 3-5 stars… and he is about level 30. Every time we group with him, someone accuses him of being a smurf. But he’s not.

Anyway, we will always monitor deviant behavior and if we feel like there is behavior occurring that hurts honest, fair players, we will take action. We are definitely working on the boosting issue.

Source: Overwatch Forums

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@Game Director Jeff Kaplan | June 14 2017

Having a second account you play on is fine. New accounts very rapidly adjust to play at the proper skill level.

Doing anything to manipulate your internal MMR or Skill Rating (i.e. Boosting or Throwing) is not fine.

Source: Overwatch Forums

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@JeffreyKaplan

Starting a new account is not against the rules. Boosting or throwing is against the rules.

If you start a new account and play normally, the matchmaker determines your skill level very quickly and matches you with similar players.

Source: Serious question: Is smurfing cheating? - #5 by JeffreyKaplan

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@Kaedi-11739

A great update to this thanks. Can you please provide any tips or advice on how players should recognize and report players they believe to be boosting?

@JeffreyKaplan

We don’t actually need this behavior reported. We have a whole crew here doing some pretty significant analysis to determine this behavior.

Source: Serious question: Is smurfing cheating? - #18 by JeffreyKaplan

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This being said, I personally believe, the behavior of starting new accounts regardless if the player is trying their best or not is beginning to run rampant. Unlike MOBAs (which requires you to purchase or earn heroes to play overtime, then level a certain number of them up to a minimum level before they can even be used in a rank ladder), there is no investment of time or money to deter new accounts on Overwatch (especially on console). I play only on one account (I own a second one but only use it for testing purposes, never has seen a game of quick play), so I am level 1700+. I have played mostly in mid-gold to low platinum most of my career in Overwatch. This unfortunately leaves me to be abused by toxic players (for as far as we know run an alternate account) and it feels really bad. My last two nights of Competitive Overwatch have become so bad, I have seriously considered quitting. I want to think though I can still make a difference both in the game and in our community.

That being said, the problems of alternate accounts or those who are truly smurfing is not easily solved. I have seen ideas of Phone Authentication for all players or raise the minimum competitive level, but I am not sure how effective they would be and if they would harm new players from joining the game to begin with. I do think changing the competitive rule set to enforce 2-2-2/role queue for all players (in both Quick Play and Competitive) will be a key starting step to making Overwatch a little better for everyone though, as the biggest problem is fighting with other players on heroes we want to play.