Earlier this month, the CS2 Tracker site opened a ‘slur tracking’ tab, monitoring the use of offensive language in the game. It revealed that a slur is said roughly every one in six matches, highlighting a glaring issue with the game’s community.
In response, Valve hasn’t announced plans to improve moderation or tighten guidelines. Instead, it has encrypted chats, preventing trackers like this from gathering data.
“Chat is now encrypted in demo files using the same rules as CS:GO,” the patch notes read. “Team chat is no longer readable when playing back demo files. Global chat is only readable in demo files when played back via the in-game watch UI.”
To be fair to Valve, the team could be working behind-the-scenes to improve moderation in response to mounting pressure over the stats revealed by CS2 Tracker, but the rampant abuse and bigotry in the Counter-Strike community is hardly a new revelation.
Surveys have shown over the years that Counter-Strike ranks among the most toxic communities in gaming, alongside League of Legends and Call of Duty. So, responding to a slur tracker that revealed the sheer scope of the abuse by encrypting chats is hardly...
