A common issue with online games is smurfing, especially for free-to-play titles likeMarvel Rivals, which allow players full access to all its modes and characters without needing to pay a single dime. Smurfing is when experienced players, usually at a high rank, create a secondary account to compete against lower-level opposition, named after two exceptionalWarcraft 2players called PapaSmurf and Smurfette, whom other players would avoid. The name eventually stuck, applying to basically any online game with ranks, and smurfs have been an issue that has proved near unsolvable, butMarvel Rivalsis starting to clamp down.
It’s not always clear why players smurf. It could be to climb the ranks again after being hard stuck on their main account, help boost a lower-ranked friend, or simply because they want an ego boost with an easy victory. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter,since smurfing makes the experience for those in these ranks worse, pitting them against players who are far above their skill level and shouldn’t be in these ranks. NetEase now allows for smurfing as a reason to report someone for a potential ban, but more can be done to reduce smurfing further.
Marvel Rivals Lets Players Ban Smurfs Now
Although Banning Alone Could Present Issues
The ban system forMarvel Rivalshas been reliable, with NetEase’s customer support proving its worth in this regard.Adding smurfing as an additional reason for a ban is a good move, as shown byIntoTheRain78on Reddit, although it might not be entirely fool-proof in its approach. It requires players to know how to look for a smurf, searching through another’s account to see how many hours they have. Lower hours usually correlate to smurfing, especially if they don’t have any hours in Quick Match (leveling with vs AI) and have hoped straight into Competitive.
Strangely, players don’t need to win most of their games to climb the ranks. Players can still climb with a less than 50% win rate, especially if they get MVP in winning matches.
The problem with this is that players need to identify a smurf before reporting them, andit could end up being a way for angry players to report someone on the enemy team who did exceptionally, rather than being a smurf. It won’t lead to a ban if properly checked, but reports do lead to investigations. It also won’t discourage too many from smurfing, since players can just create a new account and hop straight back into Competitive, being a minor convenience for those who go out of their way to ruin other people’s days.
Adding Extra Obstacles Could Stop Smurfs From Flooding Ranked
A Minimum Level To Play Ranked Or Account Locking To Numbers
Making smurfing inconvenient should be the goal, and there are plenty of ways to do this while not affecting the average player too much. One would be to tie aMarvel Rivalsaccount to either an email or phone number,meaning that one email or phone number can only have one account. Both can also be used for two-factor authentication for account protection, and although a phone number would be more effective in preventing new accounts being made, adding an extra step with an email would still help.
While Season 2 kicked off with Emma Frost,Ultron is being addednext, likely on May 30.
Still, this would reduce the number of players forMarvel Rivals, and likely isn’t something NetEase wants to do. An easier method would be toincrease the minimum level requirement to play ranked. Almost all players brand-new to the game will spend some time in Quick Match before hopping into ranked matches anyway, and making smurfs grind to join Competitive will inconvenience them, possibly weeding some out. The level requirement has already increased from 10 to 15 for Season 2, but 20 might be ideal, considering how easily many smurfs can level up by putting in MVP performances against AI.
A third option is adding placement matches,preventing those who should be in higher ranks from going to the lower ones, although this prevents the up and down nature of the current Competitive system.Marvel Rivalsencourages players to climb as high as they can beforetheir rank is reset. This makes it feel like players are constantly moving in the ranks, rather than being stagnant like in other hero shooters and MOBAs, and placement matches could lead smurfs to throwing them to get into lower ranks, ruining them for others.
Marvel Rivals' F2P Model Inevitably Invites Smurfing
It’s The Price For Making The Game Free
Reporting smurfs for a ban, placement matches,increasing Competitive Mode’s level requirements, and connecting accounts to emails/ phone numbers will all help make surfing less common, but it isn’t going to stop it.Players don’t need to spend money to playMarvel Rivals, so there isn’t any financial reason to not do it. The reasons are purely moral, which smurfs evidently don’t care about, and the only way to make them stop is to make the smurfing experience as time-wasting as possible. Pairing bans with other methods is only going to help in this regard.
Smurfing will always be an issue, but actively taking a stand against it inMarvel Rivalssends a very strong message. The game has been built around the idea of fun, and while smurfs enjoy themselves, they tend to ruin a game for everyone else. Preventing people from smurfing won’t affect their main accounts, and taking such a strong stance against it shows that NetEase is listening to the majority of its fan base, rather than trying to cater to the vocal few. It won’t eliminate smurfing, but it will make it less evident.
