Valve released CS:GO Fair Play Guidelines. These simple Valve’s new guidelines of just a couple of bullet points contain some pitfalls. The CS.MONEY blog is going to tell you everything you need to know if you’re an honest player.
Guidelines
The list of rules is very brief. The company limited it to five points.
It is prohibited to:
- Cheat;
- Grief and insult anyone;
- Use any automation;
The mandatory requirements are:
- Playing to win;
- Playing the full match.
Those are obvious things that didn’t need repeating. Despite such self-evidentness, these recommendations lead to certain questions. The items are not very specific. As a result, the line that separates “good play” from anarchy, mayhem, and bans is rather blurred.
The possible penalties for violating these rules include not only communication restrictions but cooldowns and even Game Bans. These are serious consequences. More importantly, they can come unexpectedly.
A controversial item
The most controversial item on the list is the one about automation. Due to its brevity, it’s very vague. This category includes not only harmless things like full one-button buy but also some tougher tricks like grenade binds or automatic bhop.
Technically, all of these fall under the ban. This conflicts with the current state of affairs. Right now, binds for nade throws are allowed even at Majors. Whether Valve will change the rules to prevent the turmoil characteristic of a “conflict of interest” is a crucial question that has, so far, no answer. However, making huge changes in terms of the esports aspect of CS:GO in return for implementing Valve’s new guidelines just a few months before Major seems very unlikely.
Hunting unscrupulous players
The guidelines statement itself could’ve gone unnoticed if it weren’t for the events that preceded it. By changing the rules for Prime accounts, Valve started a crusade against players who spoil the gameplay in matchmaking.
The measures were extremely decisive. Although the company itself doesn’t confirm it, many connect the online stats declined by 16% since the beginning of the summer with the changes in the Prime status. This is the biggest drop in the average online number in absolute terms and the third-biggest drop in percentage terms.
Perhaps the release of the Fair Play Guidelines is the next step in cleaning up matchmaking. It’s exactly the likelihood of this scenario, along with the vagueness of the wording, that’s troubling.
VACnet & good behavior
Different companies employ different methods to catch cheaters in their games. For example, in the Battlefield series, the anti-cheat tries to detect cheaters based on stats. You made a hundred frags and didn’t get killed once? Then there’s definitely something wrong, and you can expect all sorts of curious emails in your inbox.
Valve uses a whole range of measures to deal with disruptive players. Toxic and unscrupulous ones are weeded out with Trust Factor, VACnet, and Prime. A strong combo. But here’s another interesting thing: Trust Factor already monitors player behavior. The algorithm of this system remains a mystery, so no one can say for sure what exactly it takes into account.
But we know full well that Valve has enough computing power and talented developers to effortlessly check whether every single player follows the play guidelines.
Using a bind means an inevitable ban?
Let’s leave the domain of speculation. Since the publication of the guidelines, we haven’t heard of a single implemented penalty for breaking them. No one has been banned for a throw bind. The number of people banned for swearing in the chat currently amounts to zero too. While this doesn’t mean Valve’s new guidelines can be ignored, it does mean that the company hasn’t yet begun to apply them in full force.
However, the rules themselves look pretty logical. Play to win, don’t be rude to your teammates and don’t ruin the game with cheats — if everyone in matchmaking behaves like that, the experience will be much better.
Until this utopia is achieved, we can suggest an alternative method to improve your experience in the game. Of course, we’re talking skins. A couple of cool items like AK-47 Redline or USP-S Cyrex will help you get more pleasure from the process. So if you want to bring new emotions into the game, try upgrading your inventory. The best way to do that is with CS.MONEY.
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