League of Legends: Riot Games is targeting Smurfs more

When good players are in low ranks, it can quickly become frustrating. There are plenty of Smurfs like this in League of Legends and they are a thorn in the side of fans and Riot Games alike. So the studio wants to take tougher measures in the future.

In the world of online video games, smurf is the name given to accounts that are actually used by significantly better-ranked players to let off steam at lower ranks. This often causes frustration for users whose skills actually correspond to their classification.

There are tons of Smurfs in League of Legends and Riot Games doesn't want the bad guys anymore. In a new developer update, the studio now states that Smurfs will be fought even harder.

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First of all, Riot Games wants to counteract the frustration of good players who have to fight their way to the top. Therefore, the maximum achievable rank will be increased from Emerald I to Diamond III after the temporary games.

In general, the classification should be much better and more precise. The studio says: “We will continue to work on the technology for ranking and placing players in order to assign them to the correct ranks as quickly as possible. However, we are confident that the changes this season will help you with your Main account will end up where you belong faster than with a new account.”

In another paragraph, Riot Games directly addresses the Smurfs and threatens them with the infamous Banhammer. “So if you are a player who wants to create a new account to take down lower ranked players for fun, then we want to be able to detect this and ban your account. And if you are a high ranked player If you want to get accounts to high ranks in order to sell them, then we also want to detect this. We are experimenting with newly implemented tools that quickly and reliably identify who such accounts belong to. Finally, we want to identify manipulated accounts for normal players can clear the way.”