Valve Brings Back Overwatch to CS2 to Train VACnet Anti-Cheat System

Selected players will be able to review match replays and help identify rulebreakers.

Gabe Follower, a well-known dataminer and content creator in the Half-Life and Counter-Strike 2 communities, recently reminded players about the Overwatch system. In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, certain players had the ability to watch match replays and decide whether a suspect was cheating or playing fairly.

Judging by traces found in the code, Valve is preparing a separate CS2 Video Review portal connected to the VACnet system. Eligible players will be able to view match recordings and render a verdict, or skip cases if the evidence is inconclusive.

An evaluator’s decision will not directly lead to a ban for the suspected cheater. The primary goal of this system is to collect data that will be used to train VACnet so the system can better detect cheaters.

Gabe Follower published the text of a warning message from this portal. The developers explain how the system works and urge users not to broadcast or record video footage from CS2 Video Review to avoid helping malicious actors figure out better ways to hide cheats:

On this page, you will be shown gameplay clips from Counter-Strike matches. Please watch the clips with sound and answer the presented questions. Your verdict will not directly affect the player you are observing. Instead, the labels may be used to train future VACNet models. It is acceptable (and expected) that you will often select “Unknown” […]

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