Valve has announced Counter-Strike 2 (opens in new tab). The game will initially be beta tested by a limited group of players, chosen based on several factors not including skill level: I suck at it, but I play a lot, and I like to think I'm a good kid, so I got the invite. Yes, folks: I've seen smoke grenades floating around in bananas.

The funniest part of this is that if you look at the CS:GO subreddit or follow various counterstrikers on social media, you will see many people complaining that they were not invited. Some of them are nice. But I have noticed in some cases that they are not nice, and one element of the limited beta jumped out at me: Valve doesn't let assholes in.

The studio explains the basics in its beta FAQ, which includes this passage: "Players will be selected based on several factors deemed important by the Counter-Strike 2 development team, including recent play time on official Valve servers, trust level, and Steam account status. The players are chosen based on several factors that the Counter-Strike 2 development team has deemed important, including recent play time on official Valve servers, trust level, and Steam account status.

God bless the Counter-Strike 2 development team! Because Trust Factor and Standing basically mean cheaters and toxic players, CS:GO has an excellent reporting system, and while some trash-talking is always to be expected, players who consistently piss off their teammates are often competitively cooldown and suspended. Cheaters, on the other hand, receive the dreaded VAC ban.

As if to underscore this point, Valve's FAQ mentions this:

I was banned for CS:GO. Can I play Counter-Strike 2 using the same Steam account?

No. Accounts that have been VAC or game BANned in CS:GO cannot play Counter-Strike 2 on VAC-protected servers.

Are match cooldowns shared between Counter-Strike 2 and CS:GO?

Yes, if you have a match cooldown in CS:GO, you will not be able to matchmake in Counter-Strike 2.

In other words: eat. This is not just for Beta. If you got a permaban in CS:GO, you can't get into Counter-Strike 2. If you were an asshole in Counter-Strike, you can't join the rest of the people who are happily dancing in Source 2. It feels right and the way the world should be, and I couldn't be happier about Counter-Strike 2 (opens in new tab).