‘Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’ community to police cheaters


Experienced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, dubbed “investigators,” can now issue temporary bans to players they determine to be cheating through a new system called “Overwatch.” Valve launched the initial beta test for Overwatch this week; the program is named after the authoritarian police squads in the company’s dystopian first-person shooter, Half-Life 2.

Investigators receive notifications when there are pending cases (i.e. when players are reported for alleged acts of cheating) and can then watch around 10 minutes of gameplay before issuing a verdict. Multiple investigators review each claim, and if a consensus is reached that cheating occurred, a temporary ban is sent off to Valve for review before being enforced.

Investigators are selected based on how old their accounts are, how much time they’ve spent playing, and how many reports have been made against them. The more they participate in Overwatch and the more often their verdicts agree with the consensus, the more weight their decisions carry.

Valve promises that the plan is to make Overwatch entirely community-driven once it moves out of beta.

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