Counter-Strike 2 players divided over intrusive anti-cheat to stop cheaters running wild

Cheating is an unfortunate reality in online multiplayer games, and Counter-Strike 2 is already facing an uphill battle against cheaters. Yet, for some players, intrusive anti-cheat is simply not an acceptable solution.

As the old saying goes, cheaters never prosper. However, in Counter-Strike 2, they get away with it all too often. That is, according to many of the players on the popular r/GlobalOffensive subreddit. While united in their disdain for cheating, they are not quite in agreement on how Valve should confront the problem.

One Redditor’s “petition addressed to Valve” has sparked debate, as it cries out for the introduction of intrusive anti-cheat to Counter-Strike 2. For reference, an example of an intrusive anti-cheat is Valorant’s ‘Vanguard’ system, which maintains kernel-level access to your PC both when in and out of game.

Given the thread has 1.6k upvotes at time of writing, it’s clear there is some degree of support for the idea. That said, the backlash to this suggestion has been just as impassioned. Beyond mocking OP’s assertion that they “speak for everyone” in the Counter-Strike community, users raised a host of privacy and logistical issues.

Counter-Strike 2 players clash over intrusive anti-cheat

Foremost, many responses posited that intrusive anti-cheat is an unnecessary security breach. Not only do they doubt the effectiveness of the system to start with, they also disagree with its applicability outside of high-level competitive spaces.

With such limited perceived value, this group of players are not keen to opt into what they consider tantamount to “spyware”.

Other replies were quick to point out that having intrusive anti-cheat on Counter-Strike 2’s first-party servers would render the game incompatible with Linux systems.

While usually a more niche concern, Valve have very intentionally displayed staunch support for the operating system throughout their history. The company’s handheld even operates on Linux natively. As one commenter called attention to, the adoption of intrusive anti-cheat would mean “Valve wouldn’t support one of its flagship games on their Steam Deck”.

Secondarily, the original poster called for an increase in the game’s tick rate from 64 to 128. They’re far from alone in this request.

Upon Counter-Strike 2’s release, Valve made claims of being able to bypass the consideration of tick rate by introducing ‘sub-ticks’, which they proposed could calculate “precise actions between ticks”.

However, while this might be true, it has resulted in bizarre moments of gameplay where players are consistently killed around corners, at least from their point of view.

While fan response to the sub-tick system has been underwhelming, up until recently, dissatisfied players had the option of accessing 128 tick third-party servers via FACEIT. However, Valve later locked all servers to 64 tick, so this is no longer possible.

It remains to be seen if Valve has any plans to implement an official increase to server tick rate or to beef up Counter-Strike 2’s anti-cheat systems. In the meantime, the debate rages on.