- Riot’s senior competitive designer EvrMoar spoke about measures against smurfing accounts
- He shared that action is currently being taken and the ranked play should soon be relieved
- EvrMoar revealed that the game’s matchmaking system is designed to quickly spot smurfs and put them in their respective league
Riot’s senior competitive designer EvrMoar spoke about VALORANT’s investigation on smurfing and actions that the company is taking to limit their impact.
Smurfing: A Serious Problem in Competitive Gaming
VALORANT, like any competitive game, has seen a rise in people exploiting or straight up cheating its mechanics. One of the most notorious frauds in online gaming is the so-called smurfing. And this is exactly what has been plaguing Riot’s shooter recently.
Smurfing is when an experienced player makes a new account and starts playing competitively. This is sometimes used in a harmless way when an experienced player tries to introduce a friend of theirs to the game. But more often than not, smurfing is a malicious way for experienced players to match up against less-experienced competitors in order to crush them and feel powerful.
Needless to say, smurfing causes a disturbance in a game’s power balance. It oftentimes may discourage newer players from sticking with a game or prevent casual players from achieving higher ranks. Because of this, most game developers are keen on eliminating smurfs from their games. VALORANT isn’t an exception.
EvrMoar Reassures Players That Smurfing is Being Tackled
EvrMoar, Riot’s senior competitive designer, responded to Reddit concerns about smurfing, assuring players that action is being taken against smurfing accounts. He explained that Riot is leading an investigation to determine how serious the problem is but has already taken action against such accounts.
According to EvrMoar, VALORANT currently has a matchmaking system that quickly determines a player’s actual ranking within 5 to 10 games and starts ranking them appropriately. This is also the explanation why it’s a common occurrence to see a Bronze-ranking player in Diamond-ranked matches, EvrMoar pointed out.
EvrMoar continued that once Riot’s investigation on smurfing is complete and the company understands better the severity of the problem, it will devise further plans on how to tackle the problem.
EvrMoar concluded that it isn’t really possible to eliminate each and every instance of smurfing, but it’s definitely possible to limit its impact on the game and its ranked scene. He promised that Riot will be taking action very soon and that lower-ranking players should rest easy that soon enough they will start encountering smurfs much less frequently.
