Overwatch: Jeff Kaplan Doesn't Think Smurfing Poses A Problem

Certain members of the Overwatch community consider smurfing to be a plague worthy of Egypt, and Jeff Kaplan explained his position on the official forums. He writes, "Smurfing -- and I know this isn't what you want to hear -- isn't really that big of an issue." And before you jump to the comments section let's read the rest of Kaplan's argument:

For example, a few weeks ago one of the Pro Overwatch players created a smurf account and was streaming from it. We were able to watch his MMR internally and compare it against his "main" account. Within 15 games, the MMR's were equal. I know there is a very bad perception of Smurfing. But the reality is, skilled players are moved rapidly out of lower skill situations.

Remember, it's possible that the player with a lower level that you who's playing well may just be a naturally good player, and not a smurf account. Ever consider that one? I can't help but think of a dozen memes showing how someone better than you is a hacker, and someone worse than you is a noob.

The typical cynical response is to say, "Blizzard loves money so of course they don't care." While I'm sure Blizzard does love money, I doubt the number of purchased smurfing accounts show up as anything more than a rounding error for their accountants.

Kaplan does draw a line between Boosting and Smurfing, and defines each. He goes on to say that "Boosting is bad and we are very actively working on preventing and punishing this behavior." The Overwatch team is actively watching for boosting to put a stop to it, and that's a good thing.

Seems fair to me. Kaplan ends his explanation by saying "Anyway, we will always monitor deviant behavior and if we feel like there is behavior occurring that hurts honest, fair players, we will take action. We are definitely working on the boosting issue."

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