we live in a time where plats and golds think they’re better than masters and gms anyway
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Ultimately, it depends on how you define smurfing. If we’re talking an alt account where you play off heroes or whatever, then yeah, that’s fine.
If we’re talking about deliberately losing games by playing characters you’re awful with or throwing to get down to a lower rank so that you can swap to your main and ruin a bunch of games… that’s not cool.
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thats totally cool btw, not like they have enough game sense to know how good the player is anyway.
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Not sure I agree with the title, but I definitely agree with the comment, you can add gold, bronze and silver to that, considering the amount of times I’ve seen people in gold give advice or debate a Master or GM smurf.
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smurfs will always ruin games that’s why people don’t play these type of team games anymore even if a smurf is playing a diff hero they have way better game sens than any other players making the game anti fun for others trying to win.
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Having game sense and poor mechanics on heroes you aren’t great at just leads to an accurate, but lower, ranking on the alt account. Some people have the opposite skillset, where their mechanics are on point, but their game sense leaves a lot to be desired. There’s nothing wrong with that, and those people aren’t ruining any games. The ranking system sorts that all out on its own over time.
What the system can’t handle is when someone is lower than they can easily achieve at any point in time, and that can lead to games being ruined. It’s a type of SR manipulation that isn’t good for anyone other than the person doing it on their own for kicks and giggles. That’s a big part of why smurfing is such a contentious topic, 'cause when someone makes an alt account to practice other heroes, we’re forced to trust that they won’t just swap to their main periodically to stomp on people for fun… and we know how well the average anonymous gamer handles that kind of power/responsibility. 
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That isn’t just it. A smurf doesn’t have any skin in the game they don’t care if the SR goes up or down. That is the problem.
Sure the system can eventually figure it out if they are always trying but they don’t and that is what throws it off. One game you do really well and the next you do nothing because someone sad something mean.
Silver’s for sure. I had a game on my dps account that I use to play with lower level friends and both teams were trying to tell me that Bastion isn’t a thing on Junkertown and that the pirate ship is a made up strat. At the time I was in masters on my support account and when I told them that it was a strat in diamond and masters this one dude started talking about how amazing he is at the game because he beat a masters lol, ignoring the fact that it’s a team game. Good times
^what this guy said. low-mid elo people have no clue whos smurfing and whos not. their frustration on the issue is merely perception. they do not have the right to complain about smurfing being a problem.
that said identifying a smurf isn’t easy for anyone. someone saying they don’t care cuz they’re smurfing might as well be lying. someone performing out of their minds might simply be luck.
A portion of your player base already doesn’t care about SR on a match-to-match basis.
This isn’t different than someone that is naturally inconsistent in the first place.
In all likelihood, we all play against smurfs on a fairly routine basis without realizing it, because those with alt accounts and good behavior are indistinguishable from regular players. Most of the opinions and topics that get thrown around on smurfs are from people with bad behavior, and those that pull the excuse of being a smurf without it actually even being an alt account.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with smurfs, and outside of the argument that it is more likely that someone will misbehave if they don’t feel like their primary experience is in jeopardy, I’ve never seen anything reasonable to suggest it shouldn’t be allowed. Furthermore, if misbehavior is punished more consistently, the entire argument that does exist simply falls apart.
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lol you are not wrong.
Sheevah! back at it again! 
Do you play on console at all?
On PC this isn’t a big deal, it happens and its not that bad. Honestly I feel like it is a wash.
On console tho this is a huge issue because accounts are free so you can make something new whenever you want.
Smurfs on console are easy to spot, they have almost no gamer score, the Quick Play heroes are not the competitive ones and the name is something like “dumbfistonetrick”.
ALT accounts are totally okay I have 2 on xbox and 1 on PC. They are accounts I play true flex. Practice on heroes and help friends get better. (actually coaching them not carrying)
I still think be playing on them is scummy sometimes and I tone it down when I feel like I am doing really well because I shouldn’t be.
why tf would skins matter?
C’mon it’s easy to tell when someone is smurfing. You see it in silver all the time, some guy with a super low level, like 30, with a character he’s got all of 2 hours with, just completely curb stomping the entire match. Honestly most people I point out as a smurf don’t even deny it.
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Skin in the game. Reading is fun
I dont know, dude. I’m fairly attuned to the smurfs who will happily carry a round, but because of an off comment from a 12 year old they decide to throw the next round…
I’ve been playing since release and I’m a mid plat player, I’m happy with that. My game sense is decent, I track ults, call out cooldowns, but I acknowledge that my mechanical skill doesn’t warrant me being any higher.
With that said, why don’t I have a right to complain about smurfs that purposely ruin my games? I don’t think you can answer that question with a logical or reasonable response. Jog on.
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smurfs are kind of part of the problem along with this misguided matchmaking system
I just reported a master’s player in my gold placements.
He has deranked to gold 9 seasons in a row and yet he is still here ruining SEASON 10 as well.
I expect my report to end up in the abyss never to be seen again.
I’m low diamond and was playing with an account that’s low gold-silver earlier. It was pretty funny because we actually had a kid on the other team talking trash in the chat because he is apparently a diamond player stuck in silver. So I decided to take him into the arena for a 1v1 and absolutely smashed his dreams. Feels good my dude.
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you gave an example that’s at the far end of the spectrum. people in higher ranks are given free accounts to boost, and these accounts are usually over lvl 100. doubt anyone can tell if they’re smurfs. nice meme dude.
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