Smurf account problem

[Buckshot-11649]

So its getting really obvious. Players are creating too many smurf accounts. Though as harmless as it seems, it does cause a slight game imbalance. Examples would be Diamond players getting a level 1 game placement and wiping the entire enemy team consisting of mostly new players and or casual players. Is it considered cheating in a sense? In my opinion it is. Its like driving a thumb tack with a 10lb sledge hammer. Its not fair to the people that just play casually or to the new players just learning how to play. Is there anything that the team could do to help stop these smurf accounts? My idea was to have the game monitor your hardware and detect if you have more that 1 account and delete the new one and give a warning to the original one that its not allowed, if it continues then your account will be punished. The only downside to this is family’s with multiple users using the same PC or console. Is there a way to implement a system that does this without causing this type of conflict? What is everyone else’s thoughts on this?

[Kaedi-11739]

There are many points of view that has to be considered when it comes to the legitimate use of alternate accounts. Principal Scott Mercer detailed a lot of this during the Reddit AMA last year.

@Scott Mercer

We’re definitely looking to combat what I will refer to as “abusive” alt accounts, ie players who repeatedly create new accounts just so they can play against lesser skilled opponents. Part of this is improving the matchmaker’s ability to determine your skill even faster, detecting those that repeatedly abuse alt accounts and taking action against them, and looking at ways to limit access to additional accounts. We can’t go into all the details here, but it’s something that’s being actively worked on.

Do remember that many “smurfs” are just friends who want to play together but aren’t of the same skill. The matchmaker doesn’t just simply average their SR together when considering how to matchmake them, and its also good to remember that the other player might not be a smurf at all. They might just have gotten a lucky streak of head shots. Skill is not a static thing, it ebbs and flows, and we all have our moments we feel like gods of Overwatch and other moments I can’t hit a player to save my life.

There’s also legitimate reasons to have alternate accounts, many people have them for different social circles, etc. So we have to be careful here.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/nk6uis/ask_us_anything_join_the_overwatch_development/gzbmt5o/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

As a reminder, as the rules currently stand, the use of Alternate Accounts is NOT against the End User License Agreement or the Blizzard In-Game Code of Conduct. Throwing games, account trading/buying/selling, or account boosting (grouping up with another player to carry them or accessing another player’s account to level up its MMR) are all against the rules and will be subject to account actions including permanent bans.

[BLAZEnskin-1507]

Smurfs on their way to tell a player who got the game two days ago to “Just Get Gud”

[SewerBait-1193]

@Scott Mercer

Do remember that many “smurfs” are just friends who want to play together but aren’t of the same skill.

I’ve seen this argument used alot but isn’t that boosting? What’s the line between friends of a different skill level playing conl together and boosting?

[CuddlyCactus-11172]

This is ridiculous. Smurfing isn’t real. No one is so sad and pathetic they’d spend money on a videogame over & over and sell accounts that placed high at lv30. People have jobs and are too busy raising families. grindset. smurfing isn’t real.

[Drakko-21742]

@CuddlyCactus-11172

People have jobs and are too busy raising families.

some people’s jobs is to create a ton of smurf accounts to resell them and make more money. you are very delusional.

[WIGǃ-1289]

I think that you would be incredibly surprised. I’ve known plenty of smurfs who are either kids failing their classes or NEETs who have no obligations. I’m pretty sure those are the only people who do smurf though, I’ve never come across one who had their life together on any level.