Every player in League of Legends has encountered a Smurf at some point during their experience. The game has hundreds of millions of players, and it is only natural that there be some of these players.
Sometimes, it gets a bit difficult to play, even for the high Elo players. They seek ways to make things easier on themselves, and bullying lower ranked players is just one.
To understand if Smurfing is a bannable offense, we need first to know what Smurfing is.
Smurfing is the act of playing at ranks lower than your own purposely. Of course, this doesn’t mean a few ranks down. No, Smurfing includes downranking multiple divisions below your own and playing at that skill level.
Smurfing as an act itself is not a bannable offense. Let me clarify.
You cannot ban a player for playing the game. Them being good at the game, or better in this regard, is not something they should be banned for. However, there are some instances where smurfing does indeed violate Riot’s policies.
First off, we have downranking. Downranking is the act of purposely losing/throwing games to decrease your division. People have been trolling and blatantly losing games for years now so they can get to a lower rank and abuse the players there. This behavior is a bannable act, and Riot does severely punish players who do this. It takes no more than a few reports to take down such “players.”
Secondly, there’s account boosting. Smurfing is sometimes even synonymous with boosting, which I think is not a good comparison. However, account boosting usually consists of multiple offenses, the primary of which is account purchasing/sharing. Riot is pretty adamant about them not allowing account sharing or buying. Boosting accounts for money is also not something that Riot encourages, and will usually punish these accounts if they’re discovered.
So, what is the verdict?
Smurfing is and isn’t a bannable offense. The mere act of being a skilled player playing among newbies is not honorable, but certainly not an offense either. However, the other acts connected to Smurfing that we’ve named above are definitely worth a ban in my book.
Final Thoughts
Smurfing is something that every player hates. We understand that you’re skilled, successful, and whatnot, but please don’t ruin our games. I’ve had the opportunity to do this years ago when I thought it was fun and saw what effect it could have on the players. It’s not a nice thing to do – abusing players that are trying their best to climb the ranks is dishonorable and disgraceful. But I am not your dad, so I can’t really tell you what to do.
I hope you’ve found this article informative and fun to read, and I wish you all the best on the Summoner’s Rift!
