Vac not working against cheaters has become a very important matter of discussion for Counter Strike: GO players. Before we dive into that, let’s understand what VAC is and how it works. Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is an anti-cheat software program developed by Valve. It was originally introduced in 2002 with Counter-Strike as part of the Steam platform.
With VAC, a player’s account will be banned if a cheat is detected on their system. This can happen days or weeks after the first detection. If it identifies faults in a player’s system’s memory or hardware, it may remove them from the game. The player is not informed of the date or type of cheat that was discovered. The cheater is permanently revoked after notification. Furthermore, additional restrictions are applied to the player’s Steam account as a result of that notification
As of February 2017, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s cheat detection system is using machine learning. Through the “Overwatch” system, an initial version of VAC was put in place where players were automatically marked cheaters. So, have things changed in 2021?
Does VAC not work against cheaters?
Many players have taken to social media to share their thoughts. These thoughts center around whether VAC still works in 2021 as it did in the formative years. According to discussions on Steam, one player clarifies that VAC not working is indeed a myth. The player expresses that as far as VAC is concerned, it does work. Even community-measured measures suggest that the number of cheat bans has also increased significantly. This figure is made in comparison to the expansion of Steam and popular titles.
What do other players say?
While other players agree to the statement, another player also explains why they feel that VAC does work but there is a reason why some feel differently. Firstly, according to him, there is a lot of misinformation or just general awareness about the topic. Due to the fact that it is a detection-based system, something has to happen before it can be taken action.
Secondly, overwatch compensates for these constraints by not focusing on WHAT someone is cheating with. However, if someone is cheating, it empowers the community to have offenders banned by simply reporting and peer-reviewing.
Thirdly, they’ve made steps to limit the possibility to hack. this is done because cheating is just a matter of reading the data that the server delivers to the client that enables the game to run. He believes that Valve has limited how much data can be transmitted, as well as how much data can be processed on the server. Finally, he feels that rather than focusing on the precise cheat utilized, Valve is teaching computers to distinguish between what is possible and what is not.
Adding to the list of frustrated fans who do not believe that VAC is effective is @FlintX on Steam who comments suggest that “Cheater Strike: Global Outbreak” could be an alternative title for the game.
A player shared on Twitter expressing that the overwatch system should be fixed because VAC is a lost cause. This is what they said;
fix overwatch. not entirely sure how i would do it but i'd spend the entire 24 hours learning the ins and outs of the system and fix the glaring problems that it has.
not bothering with VAC it's a lost cause unless i make it intrusive but it'll get cracked inevitably.
— MrDeltoric (@MrDeltoric) August 28, 2021
