Valorant's Game Producer announces a strong step towards breaking down the number of Smurf IDs in the game. The change will be effective from the next patch.
Valorant being a free-to-play competitive game naturally brings in a problem of Smurf IDs. For people unaware of the term 'Smurf', it refers to those players who choose to play on a lower ranked account than what they're supposed to play on. This brings in a muddle for the low ranked player, as they have to face opponents with a much higher skill level.
This is usually done by players who reach Radiant, the highest rank, and want to continue grinding. Another reason for which it is done is the criteria of creating a lobby with rank difference only upto 3, which was previously 6. Thus players create Smurf accounts to play with their lower ranked buddies.
Previously Riot had taken initiative to do the same, and changed their criteria of getting a rank from "Play 10 unrated games" to "Play 20 unrated games". But that wasn't enough. The players faced teammates or opponents who would stay AFK the whole match, as they are just focused on moving past the "20 unrated games" condition.
The Reddit community thus suggested a change to make the condition to "WIN 20 unrated games". This would prevent the AFK players in unrated mode, and also lengthen the process of getting the opening rank. This would also cut down the selling of accounts where players open a high rank and sell it to others, which quite an open business, allowing many to earn from it. This suggestion from the community was addressed by Valorant Game Developer 'npcSara' in a Reddit reply:
Hopefully from the next patch update arriving on December 8, you will experience less Smurfs in the opponent and have a game equal to your true skill level.
Read about the current patch here: