Dota 2: Smurfing continues among pros despite Frostivus 2023 ban wave

The practice of smurfing, which involves experienced players creating secondary accounts to compete against less skilled opponents, persists in the Dota 2 professional community. This trend continues even after Valve, the game’s developer, enacted a ban wave targeting smurf accounts last Christmas.

Valve has made it clear that smurfing is prohibited under its policies, warning that players caught engaging in this practice will face a VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) ban. Despite this and the ban wave, smurfing remains a contentious issue within the Dota 2 community.

Smurfing remains rampant among Dota 2 pros

The larger player base mostly supports Valve’s stance against smurfing. However, many professional players have not been dissuaded from creating and using smurf accounts. Recent observations reveal that several high-ranking players, such as rostislav_999, ggwplanaya, aquazore, awedota, miragedotess, Lens, and ez25, who are boasting 10K MMR (Matchmaking Rating), continue to smurf in lower MMR brackets, ranging from 3K to 4K, and sometimes even in the 1K MMR range.

Community Outcry leads to bans

Valve, in response to the ongoing issue, has been actively banning players caught smurfing, often with the help of the community’s reports on Dota 2 Reddit which has taken to identifying and reporting professional players who publicly smurf during their streams. A notable case involved a professional player, rostislav_999, who received a swift VAC ban within 24 hours of streaming their smurfing activities in a 4K MMR game, where they also displayed toxic behavior towards other players.

The Debate over Smurfing for good

Some professional players argue that smurfing allows them to play with friends who have lower MMRs, as matchmaking on their main accounts would be impractical due to the vast skill gap. This situation was highlighted by two-time TI Champion Anathan “ana” Pham, who faced a dilemma in playing with friends without resorting to smurfing, which inevitably results in unbalanced matches.

how can we play dota 2 with friends if can’t find normal matches on a main acc and we can’t smurf❓

— Anathan Pham (@anadota99) December 19, 2023

Pro player’s return amidst the smurfing controversy

In another development, Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barqawi, a prominent midlaner for Nigma Galaxy, has been preparing for his return to professional Dota 2 in 2024. Miracle-, who took a break due to health issues, has been active on a smurf account, achieving a significant win rate in public matches. This has led to discussions about whether professionals returning from a hiatus or retirement should be allowed to practice via smurfing.

Yet, one greater good that many of us overlooked is the impact of such a stringent ban on smurf accounts. Smurf accounts can often be monetized as a product, whereby customers buy specific MMR accounts. There is a market for boosting accounts and buying accounts, at least until Valve’s recent strict actions on identifying smurf accounts. Hence, considering how the smurf account bans have led to the downfall of the boosting industry, we reckon it’s a decent price to pay.

The ethical dilemma surrounding smurfing, especially in the context of professional players using it as a tool for practice or social play, remains unresolved within the Dota 2 community.