Comment by jagrsw | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jagrsw | Hacker News Reader

I experienced the trust factor (banning, w/o banning officially) issues on my Linux CS:GO account in 2021, dropping to yellow and then red. This made it difficult to find teammates, as I was constantly matched with cheaters.

I discovered I wasn't alone, as many other Linux users with Radeon GPUs and 16GB+ VRAM were experiencing similar problems. We created a GitHub issue to track the problem and try to find a solution: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/csgo-osx-linux/issues/2630

After some investigation, we found that Valve was punishing Linux users with certain hardware configurations (radeon cards with >=16GB of VRAM, which were quite new at this time).

Eventually, after a user reached out to gaben directly, the issue was fixed: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/csgo-osx-linux/issues/2630#...

I suspect this was because Valve was preparing to launch the Steam Deck, and gaben wanted to ensure that Linux users had better experience with the device (just a guess).

Could it be that Gabe Newell is a nice guy?

It's possible, but it's also important to be aware of the business side of things.

Valve makes a significant amount of money from in-game transactions, and some of their practices around this are shady. Issues like kids using their parents' CCs, gambling industry built around in-game items, and the potentially addictive nature of colorful virtual items marketed towards kids are valid concerns.

So, while gaben might be nice, it's unlikely that this gets in the way of Valve's drive to maximize profits in every way they can legally get away with.

That email address goes to a team of people, but if you send something substantial and well-meaning, they'll look into it.

He does respond to minor inquiries frequently, but do remember that his company supports a gigantic predatory underage gambling market.

I’ve tried searching and found the below, is that the sort of thing you mean?

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/bellevue-game-maker-va...

Yes and not much has changed since then. pyth0's sibling comment links the relevant Coffeezilla video.

You could say “support a virtual market with insufficient controls” and be more truthful and engender a more productive discussion. They’ve come down pretty heavily on the gambling side, no?

> They’ve come down pretty heavily on the gambling side, no?

Not really. Back when this was a big story (around 2016-2017) they sent out some cease and desists to a number of the big CS:GO gambling websites but many did not comply and there was no follow-up. To this day many of those original sites are still around and have since grown. Essentially Valve (and the skin market as a whole) benefit so greatly from this grey-market that there is no incentive for them to stop it. This is covered in part 2 of Coffeezilla's latest series investigating CS:GO gambling [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/13eiDhuvM6Y?t=493

> supports a gigantic predatory underage gambling market

Last year Valve updated their code of conduct and effectively banned gambling. They've also been known to send cease-and-desist orders to various CS:GO gambling sites.

So I wouldn't say that they support it, though for much time they weren't actively combating it either.

The above commenter was probably inspired by the recent investigative(!) video series by Coffeezilla (and decided not to mention it?). It was either in part 2 or 3, where C-z alleged/suspected Valve's legal actions to have been mostly about good PR and to send a signal to those ~websites~ businesses to keep them in check.

However it is indeed the case, that Valve has introduced greater and greater restrictions on inventory handling. The measures obviously go far beyond just counteracting possible scammers and phishing. Still, I am inclined to believe, they could've implemented all these features many years ago, if only they had wanted to. I highly recommend the videos. You can maybe skip the first one. It's mostly about casino owners' drama.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q58dLWjRTBE

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6jhjjVy5Ls

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13eiDhuvM6Y

>I suspect this was because Valve was preparing to launch the Steam Deck, and gaben wanted to ensure that Linux users had better experience with the device (just a guess).

Wait, how is punishing Linux users ensure Linux users have better experience?

Interesting though.

Probably meant that fixing it quickly was for the steam deck users. It might not have received attention otherwise.

> dropping to yellow and then red

How do you know what your trustfactor is? Or were you just speculating because the quality of games was lower? As far as I understand TF is hidden specifically so it can't be gamed.

In CS, the difference between high and low Trust is very noticeable; it's a big change when your games with silent / mostly-nice teammates and enemies start to become slur-fests. The value itself is not visible to the end-user, but its effects are certainly felt.

Now that you've written it out, it explains why my solo games are better than when we queue with a friend, who never plays outside our games together. And I end up promising "I just had nice team mates the last game!" :)

Someone mentioned how they were testing it in the linked Github issue: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/csgo-osx-linux/issues/2630#...

EDIT: formatting x 2

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