In a surprising development within the CS2 community, players have found themselves on the receiving end of wrongful bans by Valve’s Anti-Cheat (VAC) system. The culprit? A simple adjustment in mouse settings to achieve higher DPIs.
This unusual scenario unfolded as the VAC system erroneously interpreted rapid mouse movements, a result of high DPI settings, as ‘spin-botting’ – a form of cheating that was common in CS:GO.
The issue became widely recognized when players, upon tweaking their mouse DPI settings, were hit with VAC bans for seemingly innocuous in-game actions. For instance, one player received an immediate VAC ban simply for hitting a teammate in Casual mode after increasing their mouse DPI.
This bizarre situation led to discussions across platforms like Reddit and Steam’s forums, with numerous players echoing similar experiences.
False Game Bans in CS2
Adding to the confusion, many CS2 players reported receiving false game bans, which differ from VAC bans as they don’t completely lock accounts or prevent trading. However, upon loading CS2, players noticed messages indicating these were VAC-related. This discrepancy added to the mounting frustration within the community as genuine players got VAC banned for no reason.
Notable players like M80 Guatemalan rifler Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa were among those affected, highlighting the widespread nature of the issue.
Speculations arose that these bans might be linked to recent updates for NVIDIA GPUs or issues with AMD processors, both known to have caused problems previously. Despite attempts to pinpoint the exact cause, there remained a lack of clarity on what triggered these bans, leaving the community seeking answers and updates from Valve.
Valve’s Response
In response to the outcry, Valve confirmed that a fix was in progress. The gaming giant acknowledged the slew of false bans, promising corrective action. This announcement brought relief to many players, particularly those with valuable inventories of CS2 skins, which had been rendered effectively worthless by the bans.
The situation underscored the delicate balance between maintaining robust anti-cheat systems and ensuring fair play for all gamers.
Valve’s move to rectify the false bans was seen as a step towards restoring the community’s trust, especially considering the company’s history of addressing similar issues, like the previous incidents with Windows 7 and AMD graphics cards.
For an in-depth understanding of the ranks system in CS2, a key aspect of the game’s competitive scene, refer to our detailed editorial on the Counter-Strike 2 ranks system explained.