Jeff Kaplan: Smurfing "isn't really that big of an issue"

Smurfing, the practice of creating a new account to get matched with players of a lower skill level, is disliked by many, especially in the Overwatch community, with some players describing it as cheating. Overwatch's game director Jeff Kaplan has recently spoken out about the issue on the Battle.net forums, and he doesn't really see it as a problem.

"Smurfing, and I know this isn't what you want to hear, isn't really that big of an issue. For example, a few weeks ago one of the Pro Overwatch players created a smurf account and was streaming from it. We were able to watch his MMR internally and compare it against his "main" account. Within 15 games, the MMR's were equal. I know there is a very bad perception of Smurfing. But the reality is, skilled players are moved rapidly out of lower skill situations."

"I've also personally witnessed a few cases of players assuming someone is smurfing when they are not. One of the people I play with is highly skilled. He played a ton in the beta. He works on the Heroes of the Storm team and plays Heroes most nights. But occasionally he comes and plays OW with us because he really enjoys the game. As a result, he is way lower level than we are. Most of us are 3-5 stars... and he is about level 30. Every time we group with him, someone accuses him of being a smurf. But he's not."

In some lighter Overwatch news, we now know all the details of the Uprising event for the game, which is live now. Do you think smurfing should be taken more seriously?