The Overwatch System Makes CSGO Skin Collection Secure

Here's how the Overwatch system keeps your CSGO skin collection safe from unsavory players. There's also the hows of the system, as well as a bit of an update for the Chinese version.

The presence of hackers, griefers, and generally rude players in CSGO is a given. They're such a nuisance to ranking up and collecting CSGO skins. That's why Valve introduced the Overwatch system. It's not related to Blizzard's competitive shooter game. The system lets players self-regulate. ‘Investigators' review collected evidence of unwanted behavior. Depending on their verdict, recipients may get permanent or temporary bans.

Keep in mind that Steam Support has no jurisdiction over the application of these bans. This means they can't revoke or reduce the duration of the punishment. As a result, players who receive permanent bans from this system have to make another account or buy the game again just to resume playing.

How It Works

Investigators receive clips of a player with an outstanding pattern of complaints. That pattern can either be a spike in reports or many that built up over time. The investigator would then review the replays and judge whether it is ‘Evident Beyond Reasonable Doubt' or ‘Insufficient Evidence'. They can also ‘Postpone' judgment and restart it later.

However, those replays are also sent to other Investigators. There must be an overwhelming verdict before setting a ban on a player or not. It's not one person who judges and has the final say. The more times an Investigator submits accurate verdicts, the more Overwatch points they receive. XP rewards from participating scale with those points, so this can help with ranking up.

The pool of Investigators increases steadily. Players who play in official Competitive Matchmaking often have the best chances of getting chosen. Other criteria are account age, play time, and skill level. The selection is random so it might be a while before you can become one.

The System in Perfect World

Now that CSGO has come to mainland China through Perfect World Entertainment, the Overwatch system also migrated. While it has almost been a year, there are still many bugs and kinks to work out. The latest update for the launcher, however, made downloading evidence much more reliable.

Considering the newness of the Chinese servers and launcher, there's bound to be problems that will come up in the future. The Investigator pool will also be smaller than the one already established in the West.

Let's look forward to the continued improvement of the Overwatch system and launcher, as CSGO – Perfect World gets better.