If someone on your video game team is calling an enemy a smurf, there’s a good chance you’re losing pretty hard.
Smurfing in video games is the act of intentionally playing in a skill bracket below a player’s actual rank. People who do this are called smurfs. The idea is that playing against lower-skilled players can be a good source of training or way to boost a wounded ego.
It’s also one of the biggest problems in modern gaming across all genres. The battle against smurfing is a four-way arms race between smurfs, developers, account sellers, and the average player.
Smurfs ruin the game for several reasons. They create unfair situations for normal players who want to play against those of a similar skill level. Smurfs also tend to be more toxic. The consequences don’t affect their main account, so they don’t care as…
