Do you see it as a difference or do they mean the same thing to you?
smurf accounts are alt accounts, but not all alt accounts are smurf accounts.
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All accounts past your initial one are alts
Until the point at which the person deliberately throws to derank, then they become smurfs and a problem
It’s gotten to the point where they seem to be one and the same. The sheer volume of low ranked accounts that just obliterate their way through games makes it feel like people are buying new accounts for the initial MMR reset to stomp their way through the initial matches.
Here’s a proposed venn diagram.
https://i.imgur.com/3o3spDS.jpg
Pink (Alts) would be people playing to win on an account that isn’t their main. They will rank up as they get better. They are probably playing heroes they aren’t good at, or hiding from friends, or playing with real-world friends who aren’t good at the game, or whatever, so that they do not hurt the SR of their main account. They may be ruining lower-ranked games, but that isn’t the intent.
Smurfs are playing to win on an alt account for the purpose of playing against weaker, less experienced players, or they are doing unranked-to-GM streams, or they are ranking up a new account to sell, or they are boosting a friend’s account. Until they rank up, they are ruining lower-ranked games, and they don’t care, or it may even be the objective.
De-rankers on alt accounts are sometimes playing to win, sometimes throwing to stay low-ranked. They are in it for the LOLs. They are ruining games and they don’t care, and they will always be ruining games because they will not rank up.
De-rankers on main accounts have given up on Overwatch and are ruining games for the fun of it. They’ll throw games if that’s what they’re in the mood for, or they’ll pwn all the noobs if that’s what they’re in the mood for.
Alt is extra account, smurfing is throwing on an alt to purposefully rank higher.