Smurfs in gaming: Definition and Impact
Let’s talk about smurfs! Not the movie, of course, but about one thing in gaming that is particularly annoying for most gamers and is getting a bigger and bigger problem in the gaming industry.
But what are smurfs, exactly? Smurfing in video games is when a high-ranked player creates a new account to play with low-rank players (more simply, a good player in a game creates a new account to play with gamers that are not so good and are starting to play a game). So picture this, you are grinding on the first days of your new video game and, all of a sudden, this player comes and completely destroys you, to a point that you can notice that he is way way better than you or everyone that is playing the game: that is a smurf.
But… Why. Do. People. Smurf. In. Video. Games? It is a tough question to answer and there’s no million-dollar answer to it, it changes quite a bit from case to case. I will count them in my text but they don’t come by the degree of importance or magnitude, note that. We can start with the gamers that smurf because they want to have a safer space to try new things, although in most games you have training rooms where you can train new abilities and items with bots (strong ones or not) or just with dummies, some players are not a fan of this training areas and they prefer to create a smurf for that because at the end of the day, they will be stronger than their opponents and they will have more room to try new things; other players create smurfs because they have their main accounts banned, picture League of Legends for example, the ban system of this game has been perfected in last years and toxic players or cheaters are getting way more banned if these players are high-level ones and they create new accounts they will be smurfing on lower ranks has they will be way better than the players that are just starting the game, apart from this there are another reason who is almost similar to this one: there are players out there that they are so toxic that they create smurfs just for the fun that they get from crushing new players, they do this to purposely disrupt games or ruin the experience for others, often without consequence due to the anonymity of these accounts.
Smurfing can be a real problem for new players trying to improve their skills, as they are matched up against much more experienced players, making it nearly impossible for them to win. The practice has become so widespread that many game developers are now taking measures to prevent smurfing, such as requiring players to link their accounts to a phone number or other identifying information.
Smurfing is a contentious issue in the gaming community, with arguments for and against the practice. While some players use smurfing as a way to improve their skills or play with friends, others use it to gain an unfair advantage or profit from it. Game developers are actively working to combat smurfing, but the practice continues to be a source of frustration for many players.
Identifying and deleting smurf accounts is essential for maintaining a fair and competitive gaming environment. Smurfing not only ruins the experience for new and less experienced players, but it also negatively impacts the matchmaking system. By matching high-skilled players with low-skilled players, the matchmaking system cannot provide fair and balanced matches, resulting in a less enjoyable gaming experience for everyone.
Furthermore, smurfing can result in a loss of revenue for video game studios. When players are consistently matched with opponents who are much better than them, they may become discouraged and stop playing the game altogether. This can lead to a decrease in active players and ultimately, a decrease in revenue for the studio.
In addition, smurfing can lead to a toxic community, with high-skilled players often taking advantage of lower-skilled players or engaging in other unsportsmanlike conduct. This behavior can drive away new players and create a negative image of the game in the wider gaming community.
Therefore, it is in the best interest of video game studios to take measures to identify and remove smurf accounts from their games. This can include implementing anti-smurfing measures such as phone number verification or IP tracking or implementing a solution based on a biometric profile like Anybrain’s. Our smurf detection has been around since July 2021 and we believe that “while using IP information, in-game data, and game results (or related information) can help understand and detect some smurfs accounts, it is a big challenge, yet without an effective and functional solution on a large scale. That is why we at Anybrain rely on our unique gaming profile-based approach to confirm the existence of smurf accounts effectively.
This way, we intend to add value to some of the techniques used and actually make the detection and validation of smurfs reliable, quick, and efficient.” — read the full blog article about our presentation of this feature here.
