Smurfing is one of the biggest issues on Pokemon Showdown
you can even argue THE biggest issue on ladder.
Smurfing definition for those who don't know: Smurfing is making new accounts to play against lower rated players, broadly speaking. But the general sentiment is people in ELO ranges they aren't supposed to be in, via non natural ladder means (tilting isn't smurfing). An example would be an 1800 ELO OU player making a new account playing in 1000's.
Smurfing on ladder has become a huge issue in the community, partly because it's completely encouraged. Whether it be the current system of Suspect Test Req's, Ladder Tournaments, or just trying to get a high GXE smurfing is 100% encouraged in the community. This just doesn't make sense. For example the impact of a Suspect Test is community wide, and very bad for the new/casual userbase who are the majority of who plays Pokemon Showdown. Literally you are killing the games largest player base, by having a suspect test where hundreds of people who aren't supposed to be in low/mid ELO, are now trying to win as badly as possible. The effect is so awful, and I am not exaggerating. I mean for years it's been a general stigma for people in the low/mid ELO to 'not play during suspect test'. The amount of times in OU room I've seen "who are the OUZKFEFK and why do they keep beating me" for genuinely new/casual players or even people just trying to improve is not right. People don't have fun losing over and over and over again to other players who AREN'T supposed to be in that ELO range. This goes for far more than just Suspect Test as stated before, so this isn't a rare occurrence by any means.
This also extends to the player too, no I do not have fun beating 12 year olds because I know its not fair and not fun for the other party because I have empathy lmao. I also don't have fun having to guess the random ass sets I have to play against, knowing that if I get unlucky or bullshitted that's 30 minutes wasted for a Suspect Test account. It's not just unfun for the player, but its genuinely hurting the most sizeable userbase as well as preventing new players from enjoying the game. In fact Pokémon Showdown is the only video game I have ever seen in the last 10 years to ENCOURAGE smurfing, which is known across gaming as a whole to limit userbase growth. I'm frankly amazed this has not been talked about to my knowledge. There is literally 0 point in incentivizing smurfing for BOTH sides, nobody enjoys it flat out.
The solution?
Placements matchmaking for the first 10-15(20?) games
Yes, that's it, it's literally not breaking new grounds and has worked for several years in every game ever. Almost every game has some sort of system that does this whether it be direct placement games, hidden smart matchmaking systems that detect if you should be higher on a ladder, etc. Literally just have placement games for 10-15 games idrc the amount, that then use the data over those games to base what ELO/GXE you should start at. You win your first placement game vs a 1100 with 44% gxe, win it factors that data into next placement game then you play against a 1300 with 57% gxe, you get the idea. To clarify the ELO you start at should always be slightly lower than the predicted ELO, so that you still have to 'earn' the ranking. Valorant does this and it works well, if you would be a gold player you're probably starting in silver 2, and this is to avoid errors.
This would not only STOP SUSPECT/OLT SMURFING which is 1 of the biggest harms to the community overall, but also it would limit the effects of boosting since you can't accurately snipe during placements so you're starting gxe over 15 games would be at least real. Also the players time is DRASTICALLY SAVED, this encourages more voting in the community from qualified players which I think is a good thing. Right now several people don't bother (me included sometimes) because playing 30-50+ games is annoying, some people don't even have that time to do it period especially accounting for potential resets. This time save also helps ladder tournaments gain potentially more players, and a more competitive atmosphere can form earlier in the ladder cycle rather than towards the last two days. There is literally no downside to my knowledge by implement placement matchmaking not just during Suspect Test but in GENERAL in the community. Also just do you know how cool it would be to win all placement games, I mean that would be a challenge people would attempt at for years, and in general on other social media's people will glamor over this and really enjoy it.
If people want to debate the logistics aspect (how placement matchmatches would work) then go ahead, I'm especially am curious what any P.S dev's think about possible implementation of this. For me though personally the first thing I wanna get across is agreeing on if this is worthwhile a idea, since this would be a big change to the sim.
you can even argue THE biggest issue on ladder.
Smurfing definition for those who don't know: Smurfing is making new accounts to play against lower rated players, broadly speaking. But the general sentiment is people in ELO ranges they aren't supposed to be in, via non natural ladder means (tilting isn't smurfing). An example would be an 1800 ELO OU player making a new account playing in 1000's.
Smurfing on ladder has become a huge issue in the community, partly because it's completely encouraged. Whether it be the current system of Suspect Test Req's, Ladder Tournaments, or just trying to get a high GXE smurfing is 100% encouraged in the community. This just doesn't make sense. For example the impact of a Suspect Test is community wide, and very bad for the new/casual userbase who are the majority of who plays Pokemon Showdown. Literally you are killing the games largest player base, by having a suspect test where hundreds of people who aren't supposed to be in low/mid ELO, are now trying to win as badly as possible. The effect is so awful, and I am not exaggerating. I mean for years it's been a general stigma for people in the low/mid ELO to 'not play during suspect test'. The amount of times in OU room I've seen "who are the OUZKFEFK and why do they keep beating me" for genuinely new/casual players or even people just trying to improve is not right. People don't have fun losing over and over and over again to other players who AREN'T supposed to be in that ELO range. This goes for far more than just Suspect Test as stated before, so this isn't a rare occurrence by any means.
This also extends to the player too, no I do not have fun beating 12 year olds because I know its not fair and not fun for the other party because I have empathy lmao. I also don't have fun having to guess the random ass sets I have to play against, knowing that if I get unlucky or bullshitted that's 30 minutes wasted for a Suspect Test account. It's not just unfun for the player, but its genuinely hurting the most sizeable userbase as well as preventing new players from enjoying the game. In fact Pokémon Showdown is the only video game I have ever seen in the last 10 years to ENCOURAGE smurfing, which is known across gaming as a whole to limit userbase growth. I'm frankly amazed this has not been talked about to my knowledge. There is literally 0 point in incentivizing smurfing for BOTH sides, nobody enjoys it flat out.
The solution?
Placements matchmaking for the first 10-15(20?) games
Yes, that's it, it's literally not breaking new grounds and has worked for several years in every game ever. Almost every game has some sort of system that does this whether it be direct placement games, hidden smart matchmaking systems that detect if you should be higher on a ladder, etc. Literally just have placement games for 10-15 games idrc the amount, that then use the data over those games to base what ELO/GXE you should start at. You win your first placement game vs a 1100 with 44% gxe, win it factors that data into next placement game then you play against a 1300 with 57% gxe, you get the idea. To clarify the ELO you start at should always be slightly lower than the predicted ELO, so that you still have to 'earn' the ranking. Valorant does this and it works well, if you would be a gold player you're probably starting in silver 2, and this is to avoid errors.
This would not only STOP SUSPECT/OLT SMURFING which is 1 of the biggest harms to the community overall, but also it would limit the effects of boosting since you can't accurately snipe during placements so you're starting gxe over 15 games would be at least real. Also the players time is DRASTICALLY SAVED, this encourages more voting in the community from qualified players which I think is a good thing. Right now several people don't bother (me included sometimes) because playing 30-50+ games is annoying, some people don't even have that time to do it period especially accounting for potential resets. This time save also helps ladder tournaments gain potentially more players, and a more competitive atmosphere can form earlier in the ladder cycle rather than towards the last two days. There is literally no downside to my knowledge by implement placement matchmaking not just during Suspect Test but in GENERAL in the community. Also just do you know how cool it would be to win all placement games, I mean that would be a challenge people would attempt at for years, and in general on other social media's people will glamor over this and really enjoy it.
If people want to debate the logistics aspect (how placement matchmatches would work) then go ahead, I'm especially am curious what any P.S dev's think about possible implementation of this. For me though personally the first thing I wanna get across is agreeing on if this is worthwhile a idea, since this would be a big change to the sim.
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