According to a report from Dot Esports, over 40,000 cheaters were banned from Steam on July 6th, the day after the Summer Sale closed. This more than doubled the previous Valve Anti-Cheat ban record set by a ban wave of 15,227 in October of last year.

Given that the Steam Summer Sale offered many folks the chance to pick up games on the cheap, cheaters that were previously banned also view these lower prices as a good time to get back in and do some more aim botting.

Valve's VAC system obviously is working as intended and took notice. A VAC ban means that a player loses whatever inventory they had on hand related to that game - meaning they'll have to start all over again with a new account. The VAC system detects users that are using cheats through their cheat signatures. As the VAC FAQ states, any third-party mod designed to give users an advantage is classified as a cheat or hack and will trigger the VAC system. That includes modifications to executable files.

VAC bans are particularly of note in CS:GO, since players who are VAC banned can't compete professionally, and many players typically have valuable skins in their possession. According to Vac-Ban, the value of the inventories lost was around $9500. A controversial ruling by ESL three months ago will allow pro players who were VAC banned to return to ESL competitions two years after their initial ban.

About 4,972 players were also banned in game around the same time by the CS:GO Overwatch system (no relation to Blizzard's hit game). This means that players who were not detected by the VAC system were put to a trial by a jury of their peers and found to be guilty of griefing, throwing games, or cheating in another method.

There are 501 games in the Steam library that are currently VAC enabled, including CS:GO and Dota 2, but also some oddballs like Sega & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Posted: Jul 10, 2017 8:16 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum