Dear Lumia Island Survivors,

We’d like to share more details about the process and plans for the introduction of our policy to restrict smurfing (malicious use of secondary accounts) in Eternal Return.

For a long time, the use of alternate accounts has been a controversial topic in gaming communities. While there is a shared understanding that smurfing negatively impacts the ecosystem of PvP games, including Eternal Return, some still argue it to be a necessary evil.

We’ve studied many games in an effort to have a better approach. However, very few games have fully banned smurfing outright. That said, due to the nature of Eternal Return’s battle royale genre structure, we believe the negative consequences of smurfing are even more severe compared to other games. For that reason, we are taking the official step of addressing this issue openly and working with our players to find solutions.

This is just our first step. We know this won’t be a one-time fix, so we sincerely ask for your continued feedback as we move forward together.

Step 1: Smurfing (Malicious Use of Secondary Accounts) Will Be Penalized Starting July 10th

Beginning July 10th, following the update to our Rules of Conduct, the malicious use of secondary accounts will be officially subject to penalties. The following behaviors will be classified as “malicious” use:

• Disrupting matches or intentionally causing losses using a secondary account

• Explicitly mentioning or boasting about your secondary account through in-game chat or other means

• Operating and owning an excessive number of accounts

• Engaging in any other actions that create discomfort or unease for other players through smurfing

• If a player is found to have engaged in abnormal or disruptive behavior, all accounts owned by that player may be penalized simultaneously.

Why do we plan to restrict “the malicious use of secondary accounts” instead of all accounts?

Rather than enforcing a blanket ban on all secondary accounts, we are beginning by targeting malicious use due to several practical challenges:

① Legal Concerns
Suddenly banning all secondary accounts, without prior regulations, could be seen as an unfair infringement on players’ account usage rights. This may lead to legal complications, including the possibility of the updated terms being rendered unenforceable.

② Technical Limitations
Identifying secondary accounts requires analyzing various gameplay and technical data. However, it’s extremely difficult to definitively disprove claims like “it was not me, it was a family member who was playing” from a purely technical standpoint.

For these reasons, we are revising our Rules of Conduct on July 10 to begin by penalizing the most clear-cut and harmful cases of malicious use, rather than banning all secondary accounts outright.

The Significance of the New Terms

One of the most important updates to the Rules of Conduct is the explicit inclusion of a ban on smurfing, which now allows us to apply penalties “across all accounts owned by a player” when abnormal gameplay is detected.

Previously, since penalties were applied in the form of temporary suspensions, players could evade enforcement simply by switching to another account.

With this update, penalties will be applied across all associated accounts at once, making evasion much more difficult. Additionally, the severity of penalties will now accumulate across all accounts, rather than separately by account—meaning that repeated offenses will escalate far more quickly.

Furthermore, if a player attempts to evade penalties by creating new accounts after being sanctioned, they may also be penalized under the rule prohibiting “excessive use of multiple accounts.”

Future Plans

This revision of our Rules of Conduct marks the first step in our ongoing efforts to address the issue of secondary accounts. We plan to continue refining our policies through further updates.

For example, during Season 9, we plan to revise the terms again when phone verification is introduced for specific regions. With stronger technical methods for identifying individuals, we will be able to implement stricter measures, such as requiring phone verification to participate in Ranked matches. However, we recognize the importance of transparency in this process. For instance, we recognize that while phone verification is common in some regions in Asia, that may not be the case in other regions. As a result, we may initially roll out this feature only on the Asia 1 server.

Legal concerns may also be addressed through a period of open communication. Our long-term goal is to establish Eternal Return as a game where smurfing is clearly discouraged and not part of the norm. If we were to abruptly enforce a strict ban on secondary accounts without player consensus, it would lack legal legitimacy. However, by clearly sharing our intentions over time and fostering community discussion, we can gradually build the foundation for stronger and more enforceable policies.

As this is only the first step, we ask for your patience and understanding. We will continue to expand our enforcement criteria, strengthen our technical measures, and prepare our legal groundwork to build a robust response to smurfing. While some may be disappointed that a full ban isn’t being implemented immediately, we hope you understand that this is a careful and phased approach to an issue without many existing precedents.

An additional message to our global players:
In regions like Korea, local laws require advance notice for Terms of Service/Rules of Conduct updates. As a result, the update was partially announced earlier in certain regions.

Starting today, the updated rules regarding smurfing will apply equally across all regions where Eternal Return is available, so please make sure to read them carefully.

Thank you!