Editorial: CS2’s open qualifier problem

The first CS2 RMR Open qualifiers for the PGL Copenhagen Major have been convoluted in a variety of ways. We look at how to move forward in this new era of open brackets and anonymous identity.

Counter-Strike esports organically thrives as an open circuit type competition. This is sad to say considering the state of the current scene, with the utter domination of the seasonal circuits that are ESL Pro League and BLAST Premier running year-round, and only a handful of other tournament organizers (TOs) on standby to pick up the crumbs. But this is the éminence grise of the 2024 tournament world we must contend with, where cutthroat deals are cast in back rooms with betting companies and orgs fight to keep head over water and cast off the snowy slough of esports winter. It’s been a fight to survive.

In this regard, Valve’s decision to hand off the first CS2 major to Romanian tournament organizer PGL is a subtle shot across the bow to the corporate titans of ESL/BLAST and their various franchising and league consolidation attempts over the years. The game will be open to all, Valve have thus engraved across every aqueduct of their empire. Despite their reclusive nature, more content to fiddle with VR gizmos and Alyx Vance bobbleheads like a sort of petulant video game Commodus, Valve do occasionally see fit to impart their libertarian, decentralized, and any-player-can-rise approach to the game’s philosophy, both casually and competitively.

Valve also apply their stoic approach to communication, eschewing direct involvement or wading into drama lest they upset the fragile nature of their inner meditative state, nestled within the cushy suburbs of Bellevue, Washington. "Are the mortals attempting to communicate with us again?" they at times wonder while floating on Zen clouds of three-ounce Portland-based microbrewery coffee; they then drop the occasional The Office gif on Twitter and call it a day. And we are left standing in the muddy trenches of the 1943 Soviet winter counter-offensive, at a loss for words as the casualties of game design are stacked door-high.

Valve may have the luxury of cloud nine west coasting, but the rest of us live on Planet Earth, in the known Universe, where thermodynamics abide and no known system is without its drawbacks and eventual entropy.

This entropy was on full display with the mess that has been the RMR Open Qualifiers for the PGL Copenhagen Major, especially in the European and Asian regions. This article cannot cover all the headaches these qualifiers generated, but to briefly suffice a summary:

1. Akros Anti-Cheat, developed in a crucible of chaos, was deployed by Challengermode for the qualifiers. The program caused plenty of PC issues and hiccups and led to lots of delays.

2. There were delays aplenty, and qualifier games across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania continually bled into each others’ time zones, making the HLTV front page look like a Matisse painting.

3. The ghoulish specter that is BO1 continued to rear its ugly head, made doubly ugly by the new MR12 format.

4. Cheating accusations for several teams and players in the European and Asian qualifiers.

This was a bad look for the first online qualifiers for the first CS2 Major, but undoubtedly the worst aspect was the flurry of cheating accusations, which culminated in numerous manual bans of various players and teams, such as Anton "⁠pyke⁠" Andersson in this game versus RUSH B (ironically another team that faced cheating accusations during the qualifier). Other instances have survived purely off of speculation until now, such as against the Kyrgyzstani team Trouble makers in the Asia RMR Closed Qualifier by their opponents. The timing of this was not helped by The Prodigies' Alvar "⁠consss⁠" Rämman being removed from EPL Division 9 in the same week over perceived cheating.

This generated large amounts of commentary among fans and public figures on the major questions of how pervasive cheating had been across the qualifiers. And although their Tweet has now been deleted, even Akros themselves waded into the fray and claimed that cheating in CS2 was completely "out of control." Even the most incompetent PR publicist would have called this a nightmare for a game looking to retain its crown as the most elite of esports.

Cheating, and the perception of it, in CS2 is High Heresy and rightfully so. It destroys the fabric of competitive integrity, ruining careers and dreams in the process. Many are on high alert for such a scenario, especially since the shock revelations of the Hovik "⁠KQLY⁠" Tovmassian days.

This article is not written to explore whether X or Y player cheated, however. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately at times given the emotional and illogical tendencies of crowd dynamics and witch-hunts, especially online, the only rock-solid proof of a player cheating can be gauged by detection via Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) or alternatively via a third-party program like FACEIT’s anti-cheat or Akros. The former is of course comically known as riddled with enough holes to allow rocketship-sized code payloads to pass through undetected, but this is our reality.

Valve’s lack of impetus for fixing the cheating problem or upgrading VAC to be more aggressive is a matter of conjecture as the few snippets of information we have from them are not enough to get the full picture. Whether it is because of lack of promotional and bonus opportunities for free-wheeling employees to attach themselves to VAC as opposed to some other big-ticket project, or if it really is a giant VACSucks-integrated conspiracy where cheaters are allowed to flourish to keep game numbers inflated (this is a joke by the way), we may simply never know.

In this uncertain environment, where paranoia over cheating runs rife, and online open qualifiers allow any to enter and give a sliver of a chance to get to the RMRs (and then by extension make a run towards the Major, where hundreds of thousands of dollars of guaranteed sticker money are assured), players and pundits have been left to dream up their own solutions. One such solution was floated by Spaniard Alejandro "⁠mopoz⁠" Fernández-Quejo Cano of KOI, who ran the idea that online esports needs to feature a much more restrictive structure going forward similar to real sports.

When translated, his idea breaks down into two main points:

1. National identity document to play

The first idea is like crossing the Tiber to this author. The allure of online anonymity, freed from the snooping eyes of governments and NGOs and their persecutorial desires, harkens back to the original purpose of the internet. Even if some may have no issue immediately handing over their documents (the “I’ve done nothing wrong so what do I have to fear?” fallacy), it’s always important to take a step back and notice when central control is being increasingly asserted. Freedom is speaking up for the minority, whomever they may be. Additionally, many privacy-minded individuals would prefer to not hand over national identity documents to third-party service providers as well. The potential for misuse and bad actors is rife.

But like crossing the Tiber, the idealism of past internet days has fallen to the specter of money. There is so much cash and glory on the line for any no-namer to easily attain if they could just make it to the Closed Qualifiers and RMRs. As such, plenty of dodgy players will appear out of the woodwork and use all the tools at their disposal to progress through the bracket: ESP, radar hack, stream-sniping, coach abuse, and perhaps even more nefarious means one day.

So unfortunately it appears we are at one of those historical and liminal moments where the open bracket/circuit dream will take a blow. And by blow, we simply mean that you have to be someone known to play, and your current actions will damn you in the future should you decide to cheat. For the sad reality is that just as serial trolls love multiaccounting and dwelling behind sock puppet accounts, there are instances of online players "nick swapping" in the old days, particularly if their Government name isn’t known.

While none of the disputed moments of cheating, shown here in a video from British YouTuber Sparkles, were tied to the finality of a VAC ban, there was too much suspicion and too many strange players in the air. That kind of dodginess leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth and one of the quickest ways to sanitize future open brackets is to go the identity documents route. This will tie one player to one identity, and likely disincentivize overtly suspect playing, but it will not eliminate the boldest and most duplicitous of cheaters.

We give this one a yes.

2. "Screened" brackets for professional teams

mopoz’s idea here will certainly never happen, and we are almost certain Valve agree. While the concept of screening to filter out completely unknown teams makes sense from a security perspective and to discourage random cheaters, the core of the idea absolutely goes against Valve’s philosophy of anyone being able to go professional through their games. This is revealed in the entire structure of open/closed qualifiers, and Valve continually narrowing the ability for "Legends" type teams to ride out Major slots, both via team composition rules and ever-changing RMR/Minor rules over the years. The Washington developers are simply not interested in forming "buddy-buddy" relationships with only a certain amount of federated teams and continually feeding them entrances into the Majors.

This idea is also yet another paved road to Hell for franchising and sports federations, and a move away from the open circuit. With the Counter-Strike community having somewhat successfully fought against the encroaching behemoth of franchising for many years, it is unlikely to hold muster to have a separate bracket for known vs. unknown teams. The potential to engender favoritism and corruption somewhere within the bracket process runs strongly in the river of money.

And while mopoz’s concept is a nice-to-have that clubs and orgs that invest in the scene contribute to the health of the scene by removing the possibility of them getting demolished by "no-namers," it is all too easy to see how this can be seen as yet another version of "pay to play" in esports that appears to spawn eternally.

We give this one a no.

3. Concluding thoughts

At the end of the day, the state of the open qualifiers is a messy affair. This unhappy reality was best summed up by Frenchman Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon sadposting about the crushed dreams and hard work of numerous players by purported cheaters. Nobody wishes to see such a thing; yet the complex nature of computers, networking, and online qualifiers will never quash the suspicions from the minds of the community.

Clearly, some steps have to be taken; requiring the submission of national identity documents to take part in a more "professional" part of CS2 seems like the lesser evil here. It’s not that legit players can say they have nothing to hide; it’s that the current system almost disproportionately benefits lawless actors. Metaphorically, we are living in a ramshackle Wild West town where every Joe Shmoe has access to nukes.

The frustration nearly everyone is feeling in the CS2 community was well summed up by Petar "⁠HOLMES⁠" Dimitrijević in a series of Tweets. And ultimately the state of the qualifiers, the ease in which cheating is possible in Counter-Strike, and the cold recalcitrance of Valve (like a new stepfather freshly revealed to a family of down-on-their-luck children) are all part of the same issue of neglect from the billion-dollar games developer.

We can no longer stare at the rain-parched sky, lips cracking in anticipation of a holy rain of VAC bans to coat the land like manna dew. With no relief in sight from this desert exile that is modern CS2, the community and TOs have to take more drastic measures to survive. If open qualifiers continue to be the norm, then having players more on the hook publicly is a sure move to discourage naughty behavior.