Steam adds smurfing to Online Conduct restrictions

Steam has updated its Online Conduct policy to include broader definitions of cheating on the platform. This new definition includes restricting smurfing on new accounts in games.

Previously, Steam didn't have any policy against cheating in their official platform rules. These have been instated by individual developers but now that Steam has added their own, it will be in force in any game that is hosted in the Steam client.

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The old wording of the Conduct policy was a bit vague. Instead of outright saying that cheating was against the rules, Steam previously governed when players: "Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying Steam services."

Now, the breakdown of what is and isn't above board is more black and white. The new Online Conduct policy corrects this to make it completely certain that smurfing and other forms of cheating is against the rules.

"Examples of such prohibited behavior include: running cheat programs; smurfing; and artificially boosting your match-making rank," the new policy says.

All of the other aspects of the Steam Online Conduct policy have remained pretty similar with just small changes to wording.

You can see the entire new Steam Online Conduct policy here.

The new policy will have the biggest effect in some of Steam's largest games. In particular two with some of the largest player bases on the platform. Both CS:GO and Dota 2 run through Steam and have had issues with smurf accounts for years.

These games that are made and run by Valve will be integrated into the new rules with authority more strict than games not part of Valve.

Smurfing is against the terms of service of Dota, and whilst actions could be taken against users in-game, they will now risk action against their entire Steam account.

Even games that have only just come to or returned to Steam have issues with smurfs. Call of Duty has players finding accounts in lower ranks to avoid the cheating going on at the top.

Whilst they may be doing it to avoid issues, that will still be against the rules now. These new rules will also apply to CS2 when that releases this summer.

A smurf account is an account that players of high skill will use to play at a rank lower than their true skill. Players use smurf accounts for a variety of reasons, including playing with friends who aren't as good or even just to play easier games.

Smurf accounts exist in almost every competitive game, with very few developers and platforms regulating them.

Smurfing really does fall into the old wording of the Steam Online Conduct rules. If a high-skill player smurfs, it severely limits a regular player's level of enjoyment in a game.

Valve has several different mechanisms for dealing with accounts that have broken the rules in any of the games on the Steam platform.

The restrictions that are put in place vary from account locks to individual game bans. Smurfing runs the risk of being banned in the game that you are smurfing in and can even result in your entire Steam account being suspended.

That's all for now on the new Steam Online Conduct Policy. Be sure to stick with esports.gg for all the latest Steam and Gaming news.