It’s cheating.
Cheating should be bannable, because its cheating,
Makes sense, right?
So why is smurfing not bannable.
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It makes them a ton of money to sell accounts during these constant sales.
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Even if Blizzard wanted to, it’s unenforceable.
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Because there is no way to determine without a doubt someone is smurf, at least automatically, maybe a human could easily determine a smurf, but allocating people to “smurf detection” is financially unfeasible and the returns are miniscule
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I get what you’re saying but getting much happier and less frustrated playerbase is not miniscule imo.
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Money
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Its only bannable if the smurf is either boosting or cheating. Anything else is considered an alt account by Blizzard.
Which Blizzard is afraid to accidently ban.
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How does one get a smurf account I wonder? Either repeatedly intentionally throwing to place low or account sharing. Both of which are bannable offenses.
but they throw by just acting like there bad bad like healbot mercy or lucio or dps moira which you can’t really be banned for since the excuse is that their “just bad/a new player”
I am actually not the best person to ask since I lack an alterative account completely.
However that is correct, intentional throwing and account sharing are bannable offenses. Though account sharing can be considered boosting.
Yeah it’s not hard to tell when someone is really new and when they are throwing. Players get into habits while on their OG accounts. I’ve seen numerous “brand new” trolling mercy’s that ‘don’t know how to Rez’ but can do flawless superjumps.
‘Brand new’ moira players that ‘don’t know what they are doing’ but can 1 v 4 in the enemy backline and win.
'New" winston players that keep feeding but do the jump pack melee combo perfectly and juggle perfectly during primal.
‘New’ genji players that constantly feed but ghost dash perfectly from one target to another.
It really is not hard to tell if someone is new or not. You just need to spot those little habits/mechanics that only experienced players usually form/use.
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…because money.
Blizz could tighten how quickly MMR/SR is adjusted for smurf behavior but again, money… 
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Cause you cant prove one.
Unless all countries on the planet actually account and record every single person they have (Which they dont and never will in the near future for legal reasons), there is no reliable way to detect smurfs
In my region Im able to play only under my real name. And under my real name I cannot have two accounts at the same time. Smurfing defeated? Nah, I ask family like Mom or wife to make me more accs.
And nowadays you have access to unlimited pool of unrestricted USA accounts and this is how smurfing wins ha
its simple blizzard needs money. Also it take a very long time to get suspended and lets not even talk about getting banned.
I think when it’s something blatant like a streamer doing their 15th unranked to gm then that should be bannable because it’s clearly smurfing.
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Cheating is cheating
Buying a 2nd copy of a game isn’t cheating
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Money money money, moneyyyy
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If you compare cheats with an actual skill advantage, then you are just delusional and that is your individual problem. The game meant to be played competitively, competing requires improvement. You do not compete if you are hardstuck below GM. If you do not compete, playing casually - you do not complain about the skill advantages. Simple as that. Want to have a better experience - provide it for yourself.
How would you determine if someone is a smurf from a bot standard?
IP? well more than 1 person can play on the same computer or on the same connection.
Skill? some people are just naturally gifted
it would be nigh impossible for a bot to read up whose a smurf and who is not
Smurfing is an ambigious term which is perceived in many different ways by the community, ranging from someone simply playing on a second account to someone manipulating accounts to throw or boost games for their own advantage or service. Remember having an alternate account is NOT against the Blizzard Code of Conduct or the Blizzard End User License Agreement. What is against the rules is throwing games (which you can report as gameplay sabotage). The Overwatch Development Team have made multiple responses on this. Here is the most recent.
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