Multiplayer games can often be frustrating, especially in titles like Dota 2, where prestige is high, and the skill required to win a match is demanding. Therefore, it’s entirely understandable that smurfing is something that can push many players to their limits.

Smurfing involves experienced players (and often, troublemakers) creating new accounts to disrupt the experience for new players by pretending to be beginners. However, Valve has had enough of this behavior and has taken decisive action by permanently banning nearly 100,000 players. In a recent blog post on the Dota 2 website, they stated:

“Today, we permanently banned 90,000 smurf accounts that have been active over the last few months. Dota is a game best enjoyed when played on an even field. The quality of the people in a given match is what makes a match good. We’re invested in making sure your matches are as good as possible, and smurfing makes matches worse. As always, if you suspect someone of smurfing in your game, use the in-game reporting options to flag them. This will help us continue to track offenders and gather data used to inform our anti-smurf efforts moving forward.”

Valve has already made significant efforts to combat cheating in the game, previously making smurfing more difficult by requiring players to have 100 hours of gameplay in Dota 2 before even being allowed to play ranked matches. However, even this was insufficient to prevent the wave of smurfing from spoiling the experience for newcomers.

Source: Dota 2