Ever wondered how to increase the trust factor in CS GO? Hardly. Moreover, many do not even know what kind of factor this is. And therefore our task — explain the process itself, talk about its pitfalls and impact on all Valve games in general.
The initiative itself, developed back in 2017, looks quite sensible: every steam player is monitored by Valve: behavior in games, general statistics, attitude towards other players, conscientious behavior, toxicity, etc. Data is collected for each account, on the basis of which you are either promoted or demoted in the ranking if you want to play on public CS GO servers, for example.
The developers initially planned to use this module to monitor cheaters. Agree, reports regarding such characters are sent almost 24/7, but they still somehow manage to avoid a ban.
Input parameters
First, let's look at what the trust factor is in CS GO and why it is needed at all. This is an option that allows players to write directly to the developers if they see cheating, dirty tricks, toxicity, too much swearing in the game, and the list goes on. The gamer opens the dedicated in-game mail and writes to Valve at the following address:
In the description, do not forget to indicate the subject of the letter “Trust Factor Feedback”, your nickname and the nickname of the person who, sorry, you are knocking on. And this is the rare case when you don’t feel disgusting after such actions. Two tasks are automatically solved at once: you raise your trust factor and lower the “enemy’s.”
How does Valve calculate this factor?
Let's say right away: there is no official information about the calculation formula anywhere. At least because Valve doesn't provide it. We are waiting for the Chinese who are able to push Gabe on this score, as they did with loot boxes and the chance of valuable items falling out. Looking at the trust factor in CS GO is problematic, but possible. To do this, go to the lobby, select a mode, start searching and look into the chat window.
There are also a few points you should pay attention to.
To improve the trust factor in CS GO, you need to:
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Link a phone number to your account — monitor security;
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Increase your rank in the game — play for results and improve your performance;
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Do not swear on the Steam forum and do not start a general fight —responsible user;
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Buy Prime status — money opens many doors in this world;
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Do not conflict with other Valve games — maintain your reputation;
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Play as much and often as possible — the system remembers all the gamer’s actions and creates statistics;
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Receive likes from other teammates at the end of the rink as the most helpful/polite/sociable/important player — you let others get the most out of the game.
This will be quite enough for the VACnet system (that’s what the “trust factor” is called internally at Valve) to let you higher in the queue, and not leave you somewhere in the background. You will be surprised, but the low (reduced) trust factor in CS GO makes itself felt very quickly: games load slowly, you sit in the lobby for a long time, each time your teammates become more and more inadequate, and reports pour in from every corner, you suddenly look askance at someone. Toxicity begets toxicity, in a word.
What to do if you still end up at the bottom of the list
So, we found out that you won’t be able to check the trust factor in CS GO on your own. At least for now. All that remains is to wait for the specialists who, using cunning calculations, will create a formula and issue it in the form of a permit. Essentially, this is something like a “reindeer measurer” in World of Tanks, only more global.
Now to the point. You play great, don't try to be too tight. get to know someone’s relatives and generally don’t show yourself in a negative way. But you still regularly find yourself somewhere at the bottom of the lists, where in 90% of cases you play with toxic opponents with bad microphones and screeching voices. Where do legs come from? From that same friend/comrade/random gamer who invited you to a party at several skating rinks.
Valve themselves say that seats in the lobby are calculated based on the lowest level of “karma” (red trust factor of CS GO).
Either bring others up to your level, or change your social circle. Friendship is friendship, and tolerating inadequate people just because someone doesn’t want to develop — so-so pleasure.
What you should come to terms with
Surely you have already thought about how to disable the trust factor in CS GO if it prevents you from playing in normal teams and constantly throws you down the list to toxics and cheaters. But there’s no way you can do it. There are essentially only two options:
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Urgently change your type of thinking, attitude to what is happening, worldview, etc., so as not to yell into the microphone in a bad voice if something goes wrong. Always like other members, who will probably reciprocate. Behave with dignity and do not respond to aggro from your teammates.
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Create a new account on Steam (not CS GO, but Steam, because statistics are kept for ALL your activities, and not for a specific game). But this option is clearly not suitable for those who have more than 100 games in their collection, a huge number of items, achievements and other game values.
Removing the trust factor will also not work — it is built in by the developers. Perhaps someday not very decent gamers will find ways to bypass VACnet, but normal adequate gamers have no need for this. Nothing will change for them, for that matter.
These are new rules, and in the future they will develop even more. Is this good? Undoubtedly. Thus, Valve is trying to mitigate the shortcomings of the free CS GO distribution model (it used to be paid). And since it’s a freebie, the entry threshold immediately decreases, attracting not the most polite audience. Let's hope that we will see the first results of the trust factor very soon. In the comments, write down how you evaluate this approach on the part of Gabe and his team.
