Valve Cracks Down on DOTA 2 Misconduct with Holiday-Themed Ban Campaign

Over 100,000 players banned in 2023, with 'smurf' accounts and behavior score boosting among the targeted violations.

Valve, the company behind DOTA 2, has launched a holiday-themed campaign to ban players who violate the game's terms of service, particularly those who create 'smurf' accounts to exploit new players.
During the game's 'Frostivus' event, banned players receive a digital 'lump of coal' as a notification of their ban, with one high-profile case being the streamer 'Masondota', who was banned for 'smurfing' and other violations.
Masondota admitted to paying for a service to boost his behavior score, a practice that Valve is cracking down on, alongside cheating and other forms of misconduct.
Valve has been aggressive in its ban campaigns, having banned over 100,000 players in 2023, including 90,000 smurf accounts in September and tens of thousands more recently.
Discussions with professional players about their smurf accounts are ongoing, with Valve stating that there is broad agreement among pros that smurfing harms the game.