Has a Redditor revealed the secret? Or is the analysis not that conclusive after all?
The Smurf debate continues. One Redditor is trying to shed light on the issue through an analysis, but even that isn't all that easy.
The Problem
The smurfing problem in League of Legends has been a hotly debated topic for years. It makes sense - it just feels unfair when you feel like you don’t have a realistic chance of winning from the very start of the game. If you believe experienced players, this problem is most acute in Emerald. That would make sense since it used to be common knowledge that high-elo players parked their smurfs in lower Diamond divisions. To combat this issue, Riot introduced Emerald.
The Project
One Redditor set out to prove exactly that. Using an algorithm, he attempted to show that up to 47% of all accounts in Emerald are smurfs - based on win rate, level, and games played. But if we’re being honest, the general smurfing problem outside of Emerald is highlighted here once again: a 40% smurf rate in Iron 1 is just plain sad. Ultimately, what the Redditor is criticizing is Riot’s general inaction when it comes to smurfs.
I scraped 2.27 million EUW accounts from op.gg to quantify the Emerald smurf problem - because Riot won't
by u/jack37512 in leagueoflegends
The Feedback
Comments criticize the approach, especially since the OP changes his method right before Emerald. Regardless, people respect the effort the Redditor has put in. But much of the criticism is also constructive: data analysts offer tips on how to make the analysis more meaningful, for example by using the Riot API. Aside from that, there are quite a few comments calling for a version of League without smurfs and reiterating the view that Riot simply doesn’t care.
An Ongoing Issue
While Riot Games is trying to reduce the impact of smurfs, for many players, it’s simply not enough. Botted accounts - that is, accounts that are leveled up to level 30 by a bot and then put up for sale - have recently been banned more frequently by Riot. But the problem for many is that "alt accounts", or "alternative accounts", are allowed by Riot, for example, to play a different role in Ranked. To many players who suffer from smurfs, this makes no sense because a Challenger ADC doesn’t suddenly play like a Silver player just because they’re now playing mid. This is a sore point for many players, especially when it feels like pro players and content creators are sometimes simply getting a pass.