<p>I’m curious. Wikipedia refers to them as sock puppets, but I hear the word smurf mentioned elsewhere.</p>
<p>It seems that the word “smurf” is used more in gaming communities and “sock puppet” more in forum communities (that are independent of games). The motivations for creating alternate accounts in games are different from those for creating alternate accounts on forums. On forums, it’s usually for a personality change (either to flame others or to leave one’s previous account behind), whereas in games, the gaming style usually doesn’t seem to change (it seems to be more used by people who play people who otherwise wouldn’t play against their main account => often by people who want to “pwn n00bs.”). Indeed, the word “sock puppet” seems more appropriate for creating an alternate personality, while “smurf” seems more appropriate for hiding behind some other name.</p>
<p>Sometime ago, I found this interesting article about the word “smurf:”
<a href=“History of Smurfing - Age of Kings Heaven Forums”>History of Smurfing - Age of Kings Heaven Forums;