In Riot Games’ free-to-play title Valorant, the word smurf no longer evokes fond memories of small blue humanoids who live in mushrooms. In the 5-v-5 tactical shooter, where ranked matches and teamwork form the core of the game, a smurf now has a much more negative connotation.
Players across all levels of Valorant, in both ranked and unranked matches, have complained that smurfing negatively impacts the game for everybody else. And Riot Games has recently released a blog post entitled “Ask Valorant” in order to address this growing problem. The first step to hampering a smurf’s ability to ruin the game for others will come in Patch 1.14, when the requirement for unlocking ranked mode will hinge on the number of games won rather than games played.
The developer is also currently working on better ways to detect this type of behavior in Valorant and implementing harsher punishments for smurfs. These could come in the form of rank penalties, experience reductions, longer queue time restrictions, and even bans. Other players can also report people they suspect of smurfing, and Riot Games has stated that it may even consider allowing players to block smurfs so that they won’t have to queue up with them again.
In Valorant, a smurf takes a couple of different forms, both of which dampen the enjoyment of the game for other players. One variant of the smurf is a high-ranked player who intentionally plays in lower ranked matches in order to face off against less experienced gamers. These players climb their way up the ladder and then, when the going gets tough and queue times become longer, the player will surrender or sit AFK through 20 matches, thereby getting tossed back into games with lower ranked players.
Another type of smurf wants to just play the game without having to wait in Valorant's queue system or enjoys dominating lower level players. So this person will play the game until they hit a high enough rank that wait times become inconveniently long and then, because the game is free, the smurf will simply create a new account and start over.
This is unfair to other players for obvious reasons. First, in a team-based game like Valorant where nine other people are relying on a person’s full participation, sitting AFK or surrendering through 20 matches is not ideal, especially for the smurf’s squad mates who now have to play 4-v-5.
Secondly, as with most multiplayer shooter games, it takes a lot of skill to work your way up the ranks in Valorant. A player inevitably acquires a lot of useful knowledge about accuracy, the best weapons to use, and Valorant's map layouts as they battle their way to the top. To then turn that experience on new players or those with less skill inevitably means the higher ranked player will own the battlefield, making it a less than enjoyable experience for everybody else.
Valorant is available now on PC.