Valve Bans Dota 2 Smurfs in Hilarious Frostivus Update

Valve banned another wave of Dota 2 smurfs in the recent Frostivus and 7.35 update as the developer continues to strive for a healthier competitive system.

Back in September, Valve permanently banned 90,000 smurf accounts. “Since then, we’ve continued to invest in player behavior monitoring, on both the manual and automatic analysis fronts. Over the last few weeks, we’ve engaged in an even more aggressive ban wave, including many tens of thousands of smurf account bans today alone,” Valve said in a news post. However, this time Valve put a hilarious twist on handing out bans via the Frostivus update.

Frostivus is the annual winter/holiday themed event in Dota 2. As part of the event, accounts receive free cosmetics based on their behavior score. Though, other accounts received something completely different that might’ve surprised them.

Valve Bans Dota 2 Smurfs in Hilarious Frostivus Update

Some Dota 2 players might’ve been surprised when they opened up their Frostivus Gift to find a lump of coal and a notification saying they’ve been banned from the game. Well, that’s one way for a developer to ban people. Players who received a lump of coal could be banned for account sharing, smurfing, or even more substantial a main account ban for those associated with banned smurf accounts.

Accounts who weren’t banned for the aforementioned reasons received free cosmetics based on their behavior score.

“At The International, some pro players reached out to us to talk about their smurf accounts. Those conversations have continued, and there’s broad agreement amongst pros that banning pro smurf accounts is a win for Dota as a community: The rules should apply to everybody, and from now on they will. And smurfing isn’t even the only naughty thing players are getting up to. Amongst other questionable choices, some bad actors are playing like jerks, ruining games and losing behavior score because of it, then hiring behavior score farmers to drive it back up. Regardless of how you’ve been naughty, we’ve been watching you (not while you’re sleeping, calm down) and we’re cracking down on all of it. Punishments will be handed out for all of the above, including behavior score penalties — and in serious cases, main account bannings,” Valve said.

Valve closed out the news post by wishing everyone a Happy Frostivus…”except smurf accounts, who we assume will not enjoy the update as they choke on their richly-deserved coal-flavored just desserts.”