Smurfing Plagues Overwatch 2: Community Calls for an End to Content Creators’ Disruptive Tactics

Smurfing occurs frequently in Overwatch 2. Since they complain, fans urge content makers to stop, but it keeps happening regularly. Smurfing, where a more experienced player creates a new account and quickly climbs to one of the game’s top ranks, if not the top rank, has become popular in recent years. Another online multiplayer game that this aggressive tactic has harmed is Overwatch 2.

Smurfing is a popular tool among content producers since it allows the viewers to follow their ascent to the top. However, it comes at the expense of less experienced players, who will suffer through frustrating matches against opponents they have no business sharing a lobby with. The player base of Overwatch 2 is sick of famous people taking advantage of newcomers. And the practice is despised in many other communities as well.

Smurfing is still widespread in Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 game

One OW2 Reddit post asked, “Why is smurfing so normalized in Overwatch?” and many players likely have the same thought. The quantity of YouTubers and streamers performing Unranked/Bronze to GM [Grandmaster] is absurd, they said. Competing with significantly more skilled or ranked opponents than I am could be more enjoyable. Despite the unfavorable circumstances, this is precisely what many YouTubers and streamers on Twitch and Kick do because their devoted fans like seeing their favorite individuals perform effectively.

As one user put it, the Overwatch 2 community dislikes it: “It’s always the same when you point it out. The guy is acting strange—5 hours in total. Smurf him up, please. “T500 is my main, bro,” Well done, my friend. Instead of making it difficult for us less skilled players that want to play f**king quickly, why not play on your T500 account? It’s painful to see the streamers and YouTubers who use the “road to T500” or some other objective as an excuse for their Smurf account. All you want to do is stomp—nothing coaching.

Unfortunately, the practice isn’t going away anytime soon because the content is driven by one clear incentive: money. “I don’t think you realize how much money these Unranked to Grandmaster (u2gm) hours-long videos make.

Overwatch 2 players have been duped into believing that playing against a GM as a Bronze player is a “learning experience,” according to one user who went so far as to criticize the streamer’s tactics. It’s interesting that the developers have charged streamers and video producers. Telling them to cease since it’s the “bane of their existence.” This would imply that Blizzard has no control over this, in which case the smurfing issue might never be solved.

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