Apex Legends players denounce big streamers who ‘glorify’ smurfing

Some Apex Legends players are calling out high-profile players who smurf while streaming.

In a text post shared to the Apex subreddit, a Reddit user claimed that streamers who smurf are “glorifying” the activity for their viewers and other players.

“Personally I find that if [smurfing] is reportable in game then why are we glorifying big name streamers [who] do it?” they asked. They also gave the example of HisWattson, an Apex Predator-level professional player who they claim has smurfed on stream by playing in lobbies with platinum players.

Based on the high number of comments the post attracted, plenty of players agree. “Creating content by ruining other people’s matches,” one commenter said, referring to how smurfs play in lobbies filled with lower-level players, which makes it difficult for the latter to have a chance at winning a match or even a single fight.

Others took issue with some streamers’ communities, which sometimes encourage their actions. “I watched a bit of stream OP is referencing,” another commenter said. “What makes it even more annoying is [that] he’s running around solo 300 meters from his teammates taking on full teams, getting downed by some of them, then his brain dead chat proceeds to call his teammates useless.”

One comment claimed that some streamers who smurf have banned the use of the word “smurf” in stream chat. “I went into [HisWattson’s] stream and asked why he was smurfing and it was censored, I went into [ImperialHal’s] stream and it was censored,” said one fan. “They don’t want anyone to bring it up so they censor the word and have the mods time out anyone that asks.

Dot Esports was not able to verify whether the word “smurf” is truly banned in either streamer’s chat.