VALORANT and smurfing go hand-in-hand, leaving behind an unpleasant debate prevailing all year round. The discussion to end smurfing continues each day, but with many enjoying the guilty pleasure, it’s going nowhere.
Despite Riot’s solutions, the problem persists, as if there’s an immune factor fueling it—and players have discovered something that fits into this theory perfectly.
In a Reddit post from Aug. 27, a player named nipperkinmullins pulled the community’s attention to an experience they had. It wasn’t anything players hadn’t seen before: just YouTube videos featuring Radiant speedruns. But soon after, the post culminated in a significant call out to those fueling smurfing by engaging with such content, a.k.a “the hypocrites” of the community.
“I was wondering: if people are really this upset about smurfing (or more importantly, supposed influencers and ‘role models’ encouraging smurfing by promoting the idea, as I’ve heard this argument way too many times), how come they won’t band together to show how much they dislike such content?” the player questioned, and it isn’t an unreasonable query.
The player talked about how creators live off positive feedback, adding that fans could easily stop them from dishing out such content. They believe the current resistance just isn’t enough to convince YouTube’s algorithm.
Several comments under the post only proved the player’s point further. “People typically only care when it affects them,” one player said. “So yes, hypocritical, but majority of human beings are fine with a spectacle until they are a part of it.”
Related: VALORANT Competitive is in dire state despite Riot’s efforts
I’ve come across multiple VALORANT players who passionately revolt when a smurf is matched against them, but they don’t seem to bat an eyelid when a smurf plays for them. It’s the same for when they get a thrower in the opposing team—they refuse to report and enjoy a free win. Well, they aren’t the same “pleasant” teammates to play with when the roles switch.
Unfortunately, while Riot has announced several features built to combat smurfing over the years, it hasn’t tried curbing one of the major factors driving the problem, which is smurfing content uploaded by popular creators.
Players believe that Riot has a lot to benefit from it, so all it does is announce “improved” algorithms to bump up the smurfing player’s MMR, depending on their play, to reduce smurfing in VALORANT—not eliminate it. While this argument seems apt, the developers will never acknowledge it. After all, smurfing is a permanent “known issue” in every competitive shooter game.
Will the player base’s hypocrisy and Riot’s nonchalance continue to feed one of VALORANT’s biggest competitive woes? At the moment, it doesn’t seem any true fix for the issue is in sight.
