How does Overwatch work?
Prospective Overwatch Investigators have DOWNLOAD EVIDENCE buttons in their game menus. When they become active, it means that it's time to deal with the next case. Watching one match on average lasts 10 minutes. Upon completion, a verdict is issued. If the Investigator has a reasonable doubt about the player's fault, a decision on the ban isn't made.
Provided that the investigators collectively agree that a particular player has violated the rules of the game, he or she is banned. The duration of the ban depends on several factors. First of all, it's the nature of the "crime". The presence of offenses in the past matters too. These are the basic rules of harsh Counter-Strike justice.
What are the requirements for an Investigator?
If you want to be an Investigator, try to participate in battles based on the official Competitive Matchmaking more often. This advice can be found on the Steam website. In addition, the site states that players are randomly selected to become Investigators.
The selection process is based on various factors. One of the most important is playtime. The player's skill level matters a lot as well. In general, careful selection of gamers allegedly helps Steam to attract as many skilled reviewers as possible.
Selection factors for Investigators
- Total number of player wins in official competitive matches
- Steam account registration date
- Gamer's skill group
- Low report count and active Prime Status
- Number of hours played in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
If you've helped catch cheaters before, your prior Overwatch participation level matters too. Finally, the effectiveness of the Investigator's work is taken into account. The more accurate his or her investigations, the more credible they are.
In order to receive cases for investigation more often, you must be highly active. Also, you must have high Overwatch scores. To avoid losing the status of Overwatch Investigator, your skill group must be active.
How to get Overwatch in CS:GO
To get Overwatch, you must meet the requirements listed in the previous section of this post. We cannot tell you exactly how many hours you have to play CS and win matches in the official game mode to become an Investigator. The same goes for your Trust Factor, account "age", etc.
Valve doesn't reveal its secrets. The developers want each Investigator to make an informed and accurate judgment in every case. If they tell the CS community about the exact requirements for Investigators, toxic players are bound to abuse the system. As a result, many decent gamers will suffer.
The reasonable doubts of the developers are quite understandable. However, what if you decide to be an Investigator? In this case, we can advise you only one thing: play a lot and don't break the rules. Sooner or later, you'll receive an official offer to join the Overwatch Investigators club.
When you're considered worthy to be an Investigator, the game will inform you about it with a pop-up window. It will appear at the next launch of CS. If you don't leave Counter-Strike for days, we advise you to do this from time to time. Then you won't miss the important message.
What’s the profit in participating in CS:GO Overwatch?
For submitting accurate verdicts, you get XP rewards. This takes into account 2 factors. The first one is the accuracy of your judgments. To avoid problems, try to ensure that each penalty assigned by you is as fair as possible. The second factor is your personal Overwatch Investigator score. Thus, you help the developers control cheaters and gain experience points at the same time.
What are the consequences for a player who becomes overwatched?
Let's say some player is suspected of cheating and Overwatch Investigators must look into his or her case. One of them downloads the evidence replay and starts watching. At the end, 2 scenarios are possible: the gamer is found guilty or the case is closed due to insufficient evidence.
To avoid abuse by the Investigators, each case is considered by a certain number of reputable players. If their verdict is unanimous, it’s closed. When one Investigator finds a user guilty but other Investigators' verdicts differ, the "suspect" is acquitted of the charges.
Overwatch bans come in 2 types: Minor and Major. The Minor ban lasts at least 30 days. During this period, the player is unable to connect to VAC-secured servers. The gamer is also not allowed to trade skins and other items. The Major ban is permanent. It's impossible to get rid of it.
Do the decisions of the Investigators have equal weight?
No. A higher-scoring Investigator's verdict is considered more significant than a lower-scoring one. What does this mean? To better understand this issue, it would be useful to know how Investigators are scored in Counter-Strike. For starters, let's learn about an Overwatch Score.
The Overwatch Score represents the qualification of a player who handles cases of cheating and other violations. It's a kind of indicator of the Investigator's ability to judge other gamers fairly. And this applies not only to real cases.
Investigators score positively when their verdicts are in line with those of the majority of their colleagues. Otherwise, they score negatively. To make the Investigators as objective as possible, the developers went for a trick and added test cases to the game.
The investigator doesn't know if he or she is considering a real or occasional test case inserted into the current case load to evaluate his or her abilities. This guarantees the objectivity of the assessment. So, the higher the Overwatch Score, the higher the qualification of the Investigator.
FAQ
How many wins do you need for Overwatch CS:GO?
The exact number of wins isn't known. Therefore, try to end matches in your favor as often as possible. Keep in mind that these should be fair wins. No bots or cheats!
How long is a CS:GO Overwatch ban?
From 30 days. In the worst case, you'll get a permanent ban. If you want to play on official servers and be able to trade in-game items again, you'll need to register a new Steam account.
Can you get an Overwatch ban in the Casual CS:GO mode?
No. Only matches that are held within the Wingman mode and Competitive Matchmaking fall under suspicion. BUT this doesn't mean that you can cheat with impunity in other game modes.
Why did CS:GO remove Overwatch?
Valve doesn’t disclose the exact reasons. Some players think that this happened due to the imperfection of the system. While some gamers issued biased verdicts, others abused their power. The developers allegedly had to deal with a large number of complaints, which took a lot of time. As a result, they had to abandon Overwatch.
