VALORANT Redditors attempt to solve the smurfing problem by suggesting adding SMS verification to accounts to play competitive.
Riot Games has tried to combat its smurfing problems in VALORANT over the years with different solutions. They have adjusted the gains and losses from 5-stacks while requiring new accounts to grind to level 20 before getting to play competitive. Even still, problems with smurfs or people who purposefully try to throw games to get a certain rank are still rampant in VALORANT.
Redditors came together to suggest yet another measure for Riot Games to take to help the competitive ladder in VALORANT by adding SMS verification. The verification process would require players to attach a phone number to their account, which they would have to verify as theirs, before playing competitive. The original poster, Insanityy7 recognized the problem with requiring phone numbers by saying that burner numbers could easily be purchased and used for multiple accounts. But, some services detect these burner numbers which would reduce the number of burner numbers that players could use.
League of Legends, another title by Riot Games, requires players to complete an SMS verification to participate in their Clash tournaments to prevent players from using lower-ranked accounts with friends. They could use a similar strategy in VALORANT to prevent players from making or purchasing multiple accounts and ruining the ranked experience for others. Additionally, Riot Games has teased a Clash-like game mode coming to VALORANT in the future, where players may see the SMS verification come into play first.
