people make Overwatch alt accounts in order to get punching bag matches.
They have to inflate their ego by making a new account in order to stomp people below their MMR.
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Because people who are banned because of report abuses need to be able to play the game
Because why not…You can have several different people using the same computer…Because there are no real hard reset of MMR in the game so if you wanty to know where you really belong,you need to create a new account…
Etc,etc…
- I think report abuses are vastly overestimated. Most people who get reported deserve it. AFAIK, you get warnings before you get suspended or banned. So if you are suspended or banned, the likelihood that there’s a good reason behind it is higher than the likelihood that someone just didn’t like you and managed to get you banned.
- Why not is not an argument. I explained why : it allows for smurfing and / or dominating in QP, none of which are justifiable in any way.
- Sure, several people use the same computer. Ok. That’s gotta be an extremely rare number of cases, and in any case, these people are not outside of their rank or dominating in QP. They’re where they belong, since they each use their own account.
- The ranking system is already in place to tell you where you belong. No need to create a new account. And even if that is the case, it probably accounts for a tiny number of cases of using an alt account anyway.
The vast majority of people who use alt accounts just want to roll over the enemy team by not having to play where they belong. Your “arguments” have not convinced me otherwise, at all.
Not really. Someone can easily de-rank or throw to stay at a low rank on their main account. As long as they’re subtle enough not to get reported and banned.
I dont get it either - they want to play new heroes - go to quickplay? why do you need to try the new heroes in comp on your main? practice until you get good in quickplay and bring it into comp then?
Seems like a lame excuse to have an account where you ruin games for everyone, and probably don’t even do placements - just switch accounts when you are sick of losing on your main and stomp for a while at the expense of others.
Zero tolerance is the only solution
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Its allowed because Blizz fraudulently reports every alt as a different player, which inflates the number of players they report to shareholders and others.
People do it cause they have fragile egos
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Smurf protection is wild also. Guy was in my master/GM game with 49 minutes in ranked, plus his 10 or whatever hours in QP
highly likely - it’s clear they love to announce player numbers, zero data is available about how long these players play, if they are even active - i just don’t believe anything they say. I think the game is super dead and thats why stadium launched with zero matchmaking.
That’s easy! Alts in their nature remove the penalty for being a bad actor, AND crash the match maker.
If I have 100 alts, if I decide to be rude and get muted or banned… eh, I’ve got 99 more. I’d hardly notice the penalty. AND it only takes 1% of players to smurf to ruin the game for everyone, statistically speaking.
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Because it’s free to create new accounts. The only people who should need an alt account are content creators. Because when they play games some players act different and play different. So when they play casually with friends I don’t think having an alt account is an issue. Otherwise their is no reason for them.
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That’s not an alt account, that’s a smurf, which has been said to you multiple times now, but you don’t seem to be understanding.
And alt accounts are good for practicing heroes that you aren’t good with, without tanking your MMR.
You have MMR in quickplay also, you just can’t see it.
And this also. Most players aren’t trying very hard to win QP games. Or at the least, not as hard as they would be if it was comp.
Because detecting alt accounts would be hard, and/or, restricting account creation behind some stricter auth methods has its problems especially in a global environment.
Alt accounts in itself also should not be a big problem, compared to ‘real’ smurf accounts. With which players would intentionally derank to lower rank lobbies to troll around.
If you just have an alt account that you also play ‘as well as you can’ or normally, i dont see much of an issue. Or if you play on it only when youre drunk, thats fine as well, since your rank will probably be in the Drunk-ranks.
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I understand very well, I just think that 90% of alt accounts are for smurfing (even in QP, where I know you’re not supposed to call it smurfing, but it still is).
So is QP.
Sure, but losing won’t affect your rank, so where’s the problem ?
Sure, but if you’re just testing a hero, or trying to get better at it, it doesn’t matter too much. You can still practice, test things, improvise, see what works, etc… before jumping into ranked.
I have not been convinced by a single argument anyone has given this far to justify the existence of alt accounts. The only “argument” is : “Blizz can’t / doesn’t want to do much about it”. Which is not justification, just an acknowledgment of failure from Blizz.
Well that may be true, but smurfing is against the rules, alts are not.
…losing affects your QP “rank.” You don’t understand why that is a problem?
How do you “see what works,” when you are playing against people that aren’t even trying? You can’t.
For instance, most players in QP will not swap to counter you. In comp, that will happen every game.
It is a fine justification that preventing alt accounts would be too hard of a problem and take too much resources for the benefit it would bring.
What are the problems that alt accounts create?
Arguably the simplest solution to preventing alt accounts, or reducing them, would be to have the game cost money. Either as one time payment or as a monthly fee.
That would also reduce player numbers in total, though, but it is a value judgement to do.
Would it be worth it from business pov?
Which is, again, not an answer, just an assessment of a sad reality. And since there is nothing preventing smurfing in QP, it’s basically useless.
No, since it’s not competitive. Even if you lower your “rank” in QP, what’s the big deal ? Play a few games with your favorite hero and go back up in no time.
That’s obviously not true. QP is often just as much competitive in mindset than comp. Most people play to win, believe it or not. And swapping to counter is very, very much a thing in QP, I assure you.
I see what you mean. “Justification” doesn’t seem an appropriate term to me. Explanation, yes. But I get your point.
Probably not worth it, no. Though it’s clear that making it a free game has not improved the quality of it, nor the quality of the player base.
I don’t think there’s an easy fix to alts but I also think we’d be better off without them and their utility is overblown. Any positives are outweighed by negatives but not much point in stressing over them.
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I mean, to be fair, for a second account, you have to have a second phone number, which is more than most f2p games require.
Right, so when I switch back to my “favorite hero,” it’s going to look like I’m one of those alt accounts that you are complaining so much about, rofl.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to just let me use an alt account, and be at the MMR that I’m supposed to be at? Instead of tanking my MMR then stomping players when I switch back?
Not in my experience. You must not play much comp.
Sure they play to win, but not to the degree that they do in comp.
Well, you’re gonna do the exact same thing anyway on your alt account : maybe you’re masters with your favorite hero. You switch to your alt account, plat, to test a new one. You won’t stay plat very long, unless you’re throwing (since, you have the game sense, map knowledge, etc… of a masters, all things that make you rank up much more than aiming and mechanics anyway), and you will affect the rank of that second account. So it’s exactly the same thing. This alt account will not remain plat, and then what ? You create another alt account ?
I play both, but more QP than comp. And this competitive mindset is very much present in QP.
Maybe not. Does that really prevent you from “testing” a new hero ? I don’t think so. I think it’s just a way for you to justify something that cannot be rationally justified anyway.
So I can practice heroes in competitive without butchering my main account’s elo?