VALORANT players outraged as creator punished for giving away account while smurfs run rampant

Riot may announce new smurf detection algorithms for VALORANT every once in a while, but its nonchalant attitude toward the game’s top creators who blatantly smurf never painted an assuring picture. And now, it has landed in the crosshairs of several players for discouraging a particularly harmless case of an ‘account giveaway.’

After sharing his decision to quit VALORANT, on Sept. 8, WestJett—a popular YouTube creator—announced he’s planning to give away his “pretty beefed up” $5,000 account via a ruffle to a player who donates to a charity he’s working with. 

Interestingly, Riot Support took the chance to remind him that “transfer of account or login credentials goes against ToS and will result in an account ban,” and WestJett wasn’t going to have it. 

The creator uploaded a follow-up video on the matter, claiming that he doesn’t care if the account is banned. He also highlighted how Riot is interested in interrupting a charity cause, but won’t do anything about hundreds of account-selling websites on Google that blatantly sell Level 20 accounts to smurfs. 

“Riot Games, your hypocrisy is unimaginable…” WestJett said. “Let’s get this straight. My charity account ruffle that’s doing good is against your terms of service, valid. But you don’t seem to be targeting the goddamn websites that sell accounts. Look how easy it is to find one. Just search ‘Buy VALORANT account Immortal,’ and you’ll find it on the first page of Google.”

WestJett also accused Riot of protecting popular content creators who openly smurf in low Elo lobbies in their Twitch streams. And naturally, the community, tired of facing exhausting smurfs in their VALORANT games, is in full support.

In a Reddit post dated Sept. 13, a user named nipperkinmullins spoke of the WestJett controversy while keeping their name anonymous due to sub-Reddit rules, highlighting Riot’s biased attitude toward account buying and selling.

“Looks like Riot does not have the resources and technology to go after account sellers/sharers, given they are not being punished. Not the sellers nor the people using those accounts,” they said. “And apparently, a Radiant in Bronze is not raising any suspicion even though it’s most probable that they bought the account or they threw matches to get down into that elo – both deserving a ban in the end, either way.”

The user further threw some burning questions at Riot. “Is breaking the ToS okay as long as you are not making it obvious how you are doing it? Is breaking the ToS okay as long as it earns Riot money as well, despite it hurting the community? Would this mean they don’t care about the issue at hand and just let it happen?” they asked.

The post garnered a number of comments from players who are fed up with Riot’s alleged hypocrisy. 

“My assumption is plausible deniability. The content creators do not publish proof that these accounts are bought, and it’s not in Riot’s interests to check if they are. Both parties are better off if they whistle and avert their eyes.” one comment read, and it cannot get clearer than this.  

VALORANT’s ranked ladder is plagued with multiple issues that degrade a player’s experience, but smurfs are detested on a different level altogether. It’s difficult to eliminate and punish every player who practices smurfing or sells accounts. Riot’s partial treatment isn’t helping either.

Looks like smurfs in VALORANT aren’t going anywhere, not until Riot actually tries.