Disclaimer: This post addresses a general issue and is not intended to target a single accident or individual. The identity of any mentioned individual will be blurred, and screenshots will be taken in anonymous mode.
Bug: ‘GG’ can be called unconditionally and easily abused by smurfs.
Since the introduction of the 5-stack option, players are allowed to call ‘gg’ and surrender the match after it reaches the 30-minute mark. However, this feature has been widely abused for bullying and manipulating match outcomes.
The bug I would like to report is that ‘gg’ can be called unconditionally. To better illustrate what has happened, I will use one anonymous smurf player as an example.
As you can see from the picture, this smurf player is playing at the Herald rank despite having Legend-level skills. He/she is using 5-stack ranked matches to stay in the Herald rank and bully Herald players. The following are some examples of abusive matches: they simply form a 5-stack party, bully people, and call ‘gg’ to intentionally lose the match.
As shown in the above screenshots, it’s clear that they are bullying/smurfing and calling ‘gg’ to intentionally lose the match.
There are more manipulated matches played by this smurf. Smurfs are doing this to stay in the Herald rank and bully low-rank players. It is easy to manipulate the match outcome with the ‘gg’ option.
As a result, the MMR of the opponents is lifted up, and the smurf’s MMR is deboosted. The entire MMR system becomes a mess.
To further address the issue, I will refer to the typical ban message from the game.
A consistent pattern of user reports, negative conduct, and behavior
Smurfing and bullying are considered highly negative behaviors.
Deliberate actions to artificially boost MMR of an account
Smurf players mentioned above are intentionally reverse-boosting the MMR to bully low-rank players.
Buying, selling, or trading accounts
The ‘GG’ option can be easily abused to create customized accounts for selling or trading.
Creating an unfair competitive advantage through third-party programs
There is no clear evidence that smurf players have used a third-party program to gain an advantage in the game. They barely need it since they are playing in the Herald rank with much higher-level skills.
Manipulation of matchmaking or match outcomes
As mentioned above, smurf players have abused the ‘GG’ option to manipulate the match outcome and are playing Herald games with higher-level skill by manipulating the matchmaking.
In summary, the issue of unconditional ‘GG’ calls should be addressed, and smurf players abusing it should be banned from playing the game.
Additionally, the abusive process can be further accelerated by going AFK from the start of the match. In such cases, smurfs can skip the bullying phase and reverse boost their MMR much faster, often ending matches within 10 minutes.
good find. I hope valve does something to combat it.
I agree and hope they can find a solution to it. Players abusing it should, at the very least, be banned from playing ranked games.