List of player actions in CSGO that are considered violations

While I can’t provide an exhaustive list of all possible violations in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO), as it’s up to the individual game servers, tournament rules, and Valve’s terms of service to define them, I can provide a general list of actions that are often considered violations or unacceptable behavior.

Please note that this list is subject to change and may not cover every potential infraction.

Cheating/Hacking: Using any software or program to gain an unfair advantage over other players. This includes, but is not limited to, aimbots, wallhacks, speedhacks, and triggerbots.
Smurfing: A player creating an additional account to play against less skilled opponents, often disrupting the game’s balance.
Boosting: When a player gets help from a higher-ranked player to increase their own rank unfairly.
Griefing/Team Killing: Deliberately killing or harming teammates, blocking their movement, or otherwise disrupting their gameplay.
Exploiting Glitches/Bugs: Using known or unknown game glitches or bugs to gain an unfair advantage.
Abuse of Voice/Text Chat: This includes spamming, harassment, use of hate speech, or any other form of verbal abuse.
Ghosting: When dead, revealing information about the enemy team’s position or strategies to living teammates, usually through external communication methods.
Scripting: Using scripts to automate actions that would normally require manual input, like bunny hopping or recoil control.
Account Trading/Selling: Selling or trading CSGO accounts, particularly those with high ranks or rare skins, is against the game’s terms of service.
Skin Gambling: Betting in-game skins on third-party websites has been a contentious issue in the CSGO community, and many consider it a violation due to its potential to facilitate underage gambling.
Match Fixing: Deliberately losing a match in organized competitive play, often to benefit from bets placed on the outcome.

Breaking these rules can result in various punishments, from temporary or permanent bans to disqualification from competitive play and legal consequences. It’s always recommended to play fairly and respect other players to ensure a fun and fair gaming environment for everyone.

Cheating/Hacking

Cheating or hacking in any online game, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO), refers to the act of players using unauthorized third-party software or programs to gain an unfair advantage over other players.

These are some common types of cheats/hacks that players might use in CS: GO:

Aimbots: These programs automatically aim and fire weapons for the player, making it easier to get kills. The cheat can sometimes be tuned to make it less obvious, like only aiming for body shots instead of headshots, or having a delay before shooting.
Wallhacks: These cheats allow players to see through walls and other obstacles, giving them a significant advantage as they can see the positions of the enemy team without them knowing.
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception): Similar to wallhacks, ESP allows players to see enemy locations, but it may also show additional information like enemy health, the weapons they’re carrying, and their distance from the player.
Triggerbots: Triggerbots automatically fire the player’s weapon when their crosshair is over an enemy. This can make it easier to get kills, especially with high-precision weapons like sniper rifles.
Radar Hacks: These cheats give the player an expanded or more detailed radar, showing the locations of all players, not just those seen by teammates.
Speedhacks: Speedhacks allow players to move faster than the game normally allows, making them harder to hit and letting them reach important positions more quickly.
Spinbots: A type of aimbot used to spin the player’s character model extremely quickly, making them very difficult to hit. It’s very noticeable and often used to troll other players more than for a competitive advantage.

Cheating or hacking not only disrupts the fair play environment but also is against the game’s terms of service. Valve, the developer of CS: GO, uses a system called VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) to automatically detect cheats and ban players using them. Players can also be reported for suspected cheating by other players, which can lead to their gameplay being reviewed in the Overwatch system.

Penalties for cheating can include being banned from official servers, having your account VAC-banned (which prevents you from playing on any VAC-secured server in any game), and having your account’s Trust Factor lowered, which makes it more likely you’ll be matched with other cheaters or disruptive players in the future.

Smurfing

“Smurfing” is a term used in online gaming to describe a situation where a highly skilled player creates a secondary account to play against less-skilled opponents. The term originated in the 1990s from the game “Warcraft II” when certain well-known players made up new pseudonyms inspired by the Smurfs cartoon characters to be able to play games without being recognized.

In the context of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO), a smurf account is a lower-ranked account owned by a player who has a much higher rank on their main account. This is done to play against less skilled players for easy wins, for practice, or just to troll or grief lower-ranked players.

Smurfing is generally frowned upon in the gaming community for several reasons:

It disrupts matchmaking: Matchmaking systems in games like CS: GO are designed to pit players of similar skill levels against each other. When a player smurfs, it disrupts this system and can create a frustrating experience for less-skilled players who are suddenly matched against a far superior opponent.
It prevents fair competition: Part of the appeal of online games is the spirit of competition. When a highly skilled player competes against novices, it undermines the competitiveness of the game.
It inhibits skill development: Being repeatedly defeated by significantly better players can be discouraging for newbies who are trying to improve their skills.
It creates a toxic environment: Smurfing can lead to a hostile gaming environment, where the lower-skilled players feel mocked or belittled.

It’s important to note that smurfing isn’t officially against the rules in CS: GO. Valve does discourage it and has made attempts to limit it by introducing measures like Prime matchmaking, where players have to reach a certain account level and either have a valid phone number linked to their account or make a purchase to access it. This can help to limit the impact of smurfing, but it doesn’t completely eliminate it.

Boosting

Boosting in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and other online games involves a more skilled player helping a less skilled player improve their rank or stats in a game.

This can happen in several ways:

Account Boosting: The skilled player logs into the less skilled player’s account and plays games on their behalf, winning matches to increase the account’s rank. This is generally against most games’ terms of service, as account sharing can lead to a variety of problems, including potential security risks.
Party Boosting: The skilled player and the less skilled player party up and play together. The skilled player “carries” the matches, effectively winning games for the less skilled player and helping them to rank up.
Paid Boosting Services: These are services where players can pay a fee to have their account boosted to a higher rank. This is typically done through account boosting, and thus is also generally against the game’s terms of service.

Boosting is frowned upon for several reasons. Firstly, it disrupts the matchmaking system by placing players at ranks they don’t deserve, which can lead to unbalanced matches. Players who’ve been boosted often perform poorly at their new rank, which can frustrate their teammates.

Secondly, it undermines the competitive nature of games like CS:GO. The ranking system is intended to reflect a player’s individual skill and progress. Boosting sidesteps this, devaluing the accomplishment of reaching a high rank.

Lastly, from a security perspective, giving your account details to another person or a boosting service can lead to your account being stolen or compromised.

While boosting isn’t illegal, it’s generally considered to be against the spirit of the game and may be against a game’s terms of service, which could lead to penalties such as a ban. Valve has made efforts to limit boosting in CS:GO, with measures such as Prime Matchmaking and the Trust Factor system designed to provide a better matchmaking experience.

Griefing/Team Killing

Griefing in online games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) refers to the act of intentionally disrupting or ruining the gaming experience for other players. This can involve a variety of actions, from verbal harassment to actual in-game activities designed to disadvantage or irritate teammates.

Team killing, a form of griefing, specifically involves deliberately killing one’s own teammates during a game. In a game like CS:GO, where team play is crucial, team killing can significantly affect the outcome of a match and is generally heavily penalized.

Other forms of griefing in CS:GO could include:

Team Flashing: Deliberately blinding your teammates using flash grenades.
Blocking: Intentionally standing in narrow passages or doorways to block teammates’ paths or movement.
Sabotaging: Purposely playing poorly to cause your team to lose, such as giving away teammates’ positions, intentionally losing the bomb in unreachable places, etc.
Harassment: Verbally harassing or bullying other players via chat or voice communication.
AFKing or Idling: Going ‘Away From Keyboard’ or staying idle during matches.

Valve takes griefing quite seriously, and players can report griefers in their games. If a player is reported multiple times for disruptive behavior, their case can end up in CS:GO’s Overwatch system, where experienced players review evidence and make judgments about whether the reported player was griefing.

If found guilty, the griefer can face penalties such as temporary or permanent bans from competitive matches, or a lowered ‘Trust Factor’, which can result in being matched more often with other players who have been reported for negative behavior.

Exploiting Glitches/Bugs

Exploiting glitches or bugs in a video game refers to a player using a software flaw to gain an advantage during gameplay. These actions are usually against the game’s rules and community guidelines due to their impact on game balance and the overall player experience.

In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), exploiting glitches or bugs could include actions like:

Map Glitches: This involves finding and exploiting areas of the map that give an unfair advantage. For example, players might find ways to move outside the intended play area, go through walls, or access places that provide an unfair tactical advantage (like ‘god spots’ where they can see or shoot enemies without being seen or shot at).
Item Duplication: Though not common in CS:GO, this would involve exploiting a glitch to duplicate items, especially those that could provide an advantage in gameplay.
Movement Glitches: Exploiting a bug that allows the player to move in ways not intended by the developers. For example, “bunny hopping” was originally a movement bug in the original Counter-Strike, though in later iterations, it has been embraced and incorporated into the gameplay.
Invisibility or Immortality Glitches: Again, while not common in CS:GO, these would involve exploiting bugs that make a player’s character invisible or invincible.
Texture Glitches: Exploiting a bug that allows the player to see through walls, floors, or other map features.

Exploiting these types of glitches or bugs can lead to temporary or permanent bans, especially in competitive games like CS:GO where fairness is crucial. It’s also worth noting that knowingly using a glitch can ruin the game experience for others, leading to a more toxic and less enjoyable community.

Developers like Valve, the creator of CS:GO, continuously work to patch these glitches or bugs to maintain game balance and fairness. Reporting these glitches when they’re found, instead of exploiting them, is generally the best course of action.

Abuse of Voice/Text Chat

The abuse of voice or text chat in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), as in any online game, refers to using the game’s communication features to harass, offend, or otherwise negatively impact other players.

This can take many forms, including but not limited to:

Harassment: Using the chat to verbally abuse other players, either through direct insults, offensive language, or persistent, unwelcome interaction.
Hate Speech: Using discriminatory or offensive language based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, or other personal attributes.
Spamming: Repeatedly sending the same message or meaningless strings of characters to disrupt communication.
Flaming: Engaging in heated arguments that often devolve into personal attacks and distract from the game.
Revealing Personal Information: Sharing another player’s personal information without their consent, also known as doxxing.
Trolling: Deliberately provoking others with the aim of causing disruption, argument, or annoyance.
Encouraging Cheating or Rule Breaking: Using chat to promote hacks, cheats, or other forms of rule-breaking behavior.

These kinds of behavior not only ruin the game for others but also often violate the terms of service of the game. CS:GO has systems in place to handle chat abuse, including reporting systems and options to mute offending players. In severe or repeated cases, players who abuse the chat can face penalties including temporary or permanent bans.

Promoting a positive in-game culture and reporting abusive behavior when you see it can contribute to making the gaming environment more enjoyable for everyone.

Ghosting

“Ghosting” in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), or any other online multiplayer game, refers to the practice of providing information to living players while you are dead. This is typically done by someone who is spectating the game after their player character has died, and then communicates important information about the opposing team’s positions, strategies, or other details to their living teammates. This can be done through various means, such as voice chat, text messages, or third-party communication tools like Discord.

Ghosting provides an unfair advantage as it effectively allows the living players to “see” information they normally wouldn’t have access to, thus disrupting the balance of the game. It’s generally considered bad sportsmanship and is discouraged or outright prohibited in many gaming communities and competitions.

In CS:GO, Valve has implemented certain measures to discourage ghosting. For example, dead players are usually restricted to only spectate their own teammates, and there is a delay in what they can see to prevent real-time information from being conveyed. Nevertheless, in informal settings or private servers where these restrictions can be bypassed, it’s up to the players to play fairly and refrain from ghosting.

Scripting

“Scripting” in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and in gaming in general, refers to the practice of using scripts, which are essentially small programs, to automate certain actions or sequences of actions. These can be simple tasks like buying specific items at the beginning of each round (which is generally accepted in the community), to more complex and game-changing actions that can provide an unfair advantage, such as automatically dodging, firing, or moving in certain patterns.

Scripting becomes problematic when it’s used to gain an unfair advantage over other players, effectively bordering on cheating.

Some problematic forms of scripting include:

Aim Scripts: These are scripts that improve a player’s aim or even aim for them, effectively acting as an aimbot. They can give players an unfair advantage in gunfights.
Anti-Recoil Scripts: These scripts are designed to automatically control a gun’s recoil, making it easier to hit targets accurately.
Bhop Scripts: Bunny hopping, or “bhopping”, is a technique players use to move around the map quickly. Scripts can automate this process to execute it perfectly every time, allowing players to move much faster than they normally would.
Rate of Fire Scripts: These are scripts that can manipulate a weapon’s rate of fire, essentially making semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic ones, or making fully automatic weapons fire faster.

These types of scripts are generally against the rules in CS:GO and are treated as cheats. Valve’s Anti-Cheat system (VAC) can detect many forms of scripting and can lead to penalties including temporary or permanent bans from the game.

While there are certain scripts that are allowed in CS:GO, such as those for selecting weapons or other items, scripts that are designed to give players an unfair advantage over others are typically against the game’s rules and can result in punitive actions.

Account Trading/Selling

Account trading or selling refers to the practice where a player sells their game account to another player. This typically occurs when the account has something of value, such as high ranks, rare skins, or unlocked achievements.

In the context of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), a player might want to buy an account that has a high competitive rank, has a Prime status, or comes with valuable or rare skins. The purchaser can then use this account as if they achieved these ranks or acquired these skins themselves.

However, account trading or selling is against the terms of service of Valve and most other game developers for several reasons:

Security Risks: Trading account details can lead to accounts being stolen or compromised, and can open up the potential for scamming.
Unfair Matchmaking: An account’s rank is supposed to represent the skill level of the player. When a less skilled player buys a high-ranked account, it disrupts the matchmaking system, leading to unbalanced games.
Economic Disruption: The sale of in-game items, currencies, and accounts can disrupt the game’s economy. In CS:GO’s case, it could disrupt the skin economy.
Support Issues: It can cause complications for customer support, as the original owner of an account is typically the one who has the right to receive support.

Penalties for violating these rules can range from restrictions on trading in-game items, to permanent bans from the game. It’s strongly recommended that players do not engage in account trading or selling, not only to avoid potential penalties, but also to ensure the security of their personal information and maintain the integrity of the game.

Skin Gambling

“Skin gambling” is a term used to describe the use of virtual goods, often cosmetic items known as “skins,” as virtual currency to bet on the outcome of professional matches or on other games of chance. This practice has become particularly prevalent in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), where players can earn, buy, and trade cosmetic weapon skins.

Many websites have been created to facilitate skin gambling, offering games like roulette, coinflip, jackpot, and even slots, where instead of betting with real money or coins, players bet with skins. The value of the skin in the marketplace (often determined by rarity, demand, and exclusivity) decides how much it’s worth in bets.

However, skin gambling is fraught with legal and ethical issues, including but not limited to:

Underage Gambling: Many of the players of games like CS:GO are underage, and skin gambling sites often lack the necessary regulation and verification processes to prevent minors from gambling.
Regulatory Oversight: Skin gambling operates in a gray area of gambling laws because it’s relatively new and involves digital goods rather than real money directly. This has led to situations where unregulated gambling sites can operate, leading to problems such as fraud, scams, and lack of protection for users.
Addiction: As with any form of gambling, there’s a risk of players becoming addicted, leading to significant financial losses and other related issues.

In response to these problems and the controversy surrounding skin gambling, Valve, the developer of CS:GO, has taken measures to distance itself from these websites and has issued cease and desist letters to several prominent skin gambling sites. Many countries and states have also started to examine and regulate digital and skin gambling to protect users.