Thought: Smurfing

A large number of players in the LoL community have secondary accounts, commonly referred to as "Smurfs". The primary purpose of these accounts is to play with or against players far below one's skill level. The reasons leading players to make these accounts vary, but more often than not smurfing undermines the player's ability to improve and can even cause a player to regress.

In some cases the player is being benevolent. A player introducing a friend to the game will often create a smurf account to play with them, as using the player's primary account would cause their friend to be matched against far more skilled and experienced opponents. Similarly, a player whose Elo is far, far higher than their friends' will use a second account in order to play ranked matches with them. Because the goal is to play with friends and help them improve, and teaching itself can lead to new perspectives and understanding, this type of smurfing is not detrimental to the player or to the community.

In other cases the player is selfishly looking to crush inexperienced players. For a veteran it's a trivial matter to slaughter newbies, and unfortunately a number of veterans find enjoyment in one-sided massacres. This type of smurfing is nothing but destructive because it encourages bad habits and deters new players from continuing to play.

While most players aren't so malevolent there's a dangerously alluring middle ground between the ends of the spectrum. Players tired of exerting themselves in the interest of victory will sometimes make smurf accounts in order to play more relaxing games. That seems reasonable enough, but often players take it too far, continuously creating new smurf accounts whenever they encounter adversity. By essentially fleeing whenever the going gets tough, the player stymies their ability to grow.

For these reasons I heavily discourage the use of smurf accounts. If you wish to have relaxing games I recommend you grab friends who won't care about victory or defeat and play with some other goal in mind, mess around in games versus bots, or even play Dominion (HERESY!). Smurf accounts, save for when you use them to instruct and help others, are simply a quick path to stunted growth.