CS2’s release last month was highly anticipated, but it failed to live up to fans’ expectations. Server issues and bugs caused frustration, and the game also inherited one of the franchise’s biggest flaws: cheating. However, is the problem really as severe as it’s made out to be?
In a Reddit post on Oct. 24, a user named u/sks502 argued that the community has exaggerated CS2’s cheating problem, although they acknowledged its existence. They claimed that in over 50% of their games, hackusations were thrown around, but they never agreed with them. As a Counter-Strike player of 15 years, sks502 believed that the way the cheating problem is portrayed is exaggerated. They criticized the effectiveness of Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) and expressed frustration with constantly hearing hackusations.
Accusing opponents of cheating is not unique to CS2; it happens in every free-to-play shooter. Players often forget that impressive plays can be made by legitimate players with good reaction time and flicking skills. However, Valve’s anti-cheating policies have been far from successful. While VAC does ban some cheaters, it fails to address the vast number of them. Additionally, cheaters continuously find ways to develop undetectable cheating programs.
Under sks502’s post, several players shared their experiences of encountering cheaters since CS2’s beta release. Many agreed that experienced players can usually differentiate between legitimate players and abusers. One player, with over 20 years of CS experience, mentioned encountering blatant cheaters in consecutive games and emphasized the ability to recognize when someone is simply too good.
Some players prefer to err on the side of caution and report suspicious accounts. Whether they are smurfs or hackers, they believe it is Valve’s responsibility to investigate. The absence of a replay system in CS2 further complicates the issue.
CS2 undeniably faces a significant cheating problem, but some players choose to give others the benefit of the doubt rather than immediately accusing them. It is important to address the issue seriously, but also to avoid jumping to conclusions.
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Source: DOTESPORTS
