In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, there are hundreds of thousands of players every day, and, of course, not all of them play fair. Cheaters can completely ruin your experience and discourage the desire to launch the game, so Valve has been trying to overcome these frauds for almost two decades. And Gabe’s main flagship of this fight is Valve Anti Cheat.
What is Valve Anti Cheat?
VAC is Valve’s software solution aimed at fighting cheaters. Since this sword-shield war is eternal, no one will even come close to sharing any specifics and know-how. Any piece of information Valve publishes can help cheat developers. Therefore, we will retell the general principle of the VAC, especially since the average player does not need more.
Valve Anti Cheat works similarly to antivirus programs. By logging into a server with VAC protection (for example, any server in matchmaking), the system calculates if there is interference in the gameplay.
- If the game client does not behave as intended by the developer, an additional check begins.
- If the system detects known cheats’ signatures, the account is flagged for the ban.
You won’t get it right away, and it may take a few days or even weeks. The reason for such delay is that the developers of cheats and cheaters did not immediately understand what provoked the ban.
How effective is Valve Anti Cheat?
There is no universally correct answer. The system proves its effectiveness by looking at the number of banned accounts. On the other hand, the fact that VAC bans the cheater not immediately but after some time (this is a good solution in the long run), cheaters can come across and ruin games for regular players.
VAC does not guarantee that you will play an absolutely fair match where all players do not use cheats. This fact alone provokes a large amount of negativity towards Valve’s anti-cheat, and, among other things, for this reason, there are third-party anti-cheat programs that react more quickly.
Can I get VAC-banned for using a skinchanger?
The short answer is yes. You can argue a lot about whether the skinchanger gives an advantage during the game, but the fact remains: this is a modification of the game that Valve does not approve of. Therefore, you should not take such a risk, especially since in CS:GO, there are many cool skins for a reasonable price. You can buy them on our Market — you will not be banned for trading there!
