Smurfing (online gaming)
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Smurfing, in the context of online gaming, refers to the practice of a well-known or highly-skilled player creating an unknown name, character or login, then using it to play against, defeat, and often humiliate low-skilled players.[citation needed] The unknown character/login is necessary to fool the low-skilled players into entering the game, particularly if the high-skilled player is known to have done this before. Often, the player utilizing this "smurfing" technique will intentionally lower their "rank" or "record" by intentionally losing many matches, to further enhance the appearance of his apparent ineptitude to the game in which he/she is playing.[citation needed] The oblivious opponent, seeing their low ranking, will see the match as an "easy win", which often leads to their further humiliation by being beaten by this apparent novice. In games with very small communities, in which the more skilled players have a hard time getting a game, they might go on a smurf account to get a game.
[edit] History and evolution
The term was popularized by Geoff Fraizer, then an Andrews University undergraduate, in 1996. He was playing Warcraft 2 with the Kali online service, when he and his partner were challenged to a 2 on 2 game by a pair of players named "Fatsmurf" and "Thinsmurf". Since Fraizer and his partner knew all of the highly skilled Warcraft 2 players on Kali, they accepted the challenge and expected an easy win. However, Fatsmurf and Thinsmurf turned out to be two highly skilled players using new names. Fraizer wrote a story about the incident on his Warcraft 2 web page and used the term smurfing to describe the practice.[citation needed]
Smurfing has also come to use in the online forum world. A smurf account is when you sign up on a forum with a new account other than your regular one. The smurf account is often used to get around a ban or use to post under a name that no one knows is you. They are usually used to flame other members or break rules and not suffer punishment.
