On May 1, the CS2 developers released an update that fixed several minor bugs. However, that's not what caught the community's attention, but the fact that the update was followed by a massive wave of bans. Valve has probably introduced a new way to detect cheaters, which came as a surprise to many players. The sharp rise in the number of locks can be seen on the graph.
Patch content
In the
patch
, the developers fixed several bugs that were discovered after the major update was released. In particular, in some cases the game stopped responding to keystrokes when the player accessed the purchase menu or pressed Tab. Also, improved viewing of demos – now they rewind faster since the game doesn't handle user commands. The correct icon for grenade kills was also displayed, and a new function for diagnosing performance slumps was added to the console.Mass wave of bans
Soon after the release of the new patch, players noticed a large number of bans. In one match, nine players were banned out of the ten players who participated. The decision of «Patrol»is cited as the reason for the ban.
Dataminer Gabe Follower notes that some other system is actually behind the bans. Judging by the information he found in the game's code, «Patrol», designed to monitor suspicious players, is still being finalized and the community has not been given access to the feature. Therefore, dataminer believes that the wave of bans is the result of a cheat detection procedure that was run on the server side.
«Patrol» same – is a tool that complements the work of the software anti-chit. Valve uses it to involve experienced players in evaluating suspicious actions of other users. By reviewing questionable demos, they can determine if a player is a cheater or not. This system has not yet appeared in the updated version of CS2: «Patrol» was added in the last major patch, but has not yet been fully implemented.
This is far from the first wave of bans recently. For example, at the end of April, another series of blocking was reported, primarily affecting accounts used for farming cases. Valve believes that such users can ruin the gaming experience for others, as well as put unnecessary strain on the servers. In the past, there have been other instances of mass blocking due to developers' attempts to identify cheaters and crack down on their actions.
