There has been quite a divide after Razer’s Snap Tap feature launched earlier weeks and it took the competitive gaming by storm. It also had a big impact on CS2, where it basically made the movement and strafing cheating by introducing input automation to its keyboard, reducing zero human error.
Valve finally made a bold decision and updated its anti-cheat VACnet 3.0 which deals with the input automation and decided to ban the Snap Tap feature. The client in CS2 now detects the input automation and bans the player from using Snap Tap or any input automation methods. There have been rough competitive games after the release of the Snap Tap feature where Snap Tap players definitely climbed the competitive rank with zero error strafing. Strafing is one of the biggest and main parts of learning CS2.
History of Input Automation and Macros
Most of the players in the CS community were confused after the Snap Tap feature release, but there has been a history of Macros and input automation. It has been part of the game for a long where some players would try to use macros to get an advantage in the competitive matches of CS. But now with the technology and new hardware, there has been more learning and a new term introduced SOCD which is Simultaneous Opposite Cardinal Direction. It’s a catchy name for Macros, which has led Razer to introduce Snap Tap and all the controversy regarding CS2 and other competitive games like Valorant started to occur.
How Snap Tap Works
Snap Tap it’s in our case particularly related to counter-strafing in CS2 which is why Valve has decided to ban it. It goes like this, suppose I’m holding A key to move to the left and when I release my player will stop and if I shoot at that moment on stopping my accuracy will be low. So, I will have to wait for a moment and then shoot which makes CS2 a highly competitive game. Here’s come counter-strafing where I’ll press the D key to halt my movement and have a better movement and increase my accuracy.
The problem with this Snap Tap input automation is it completely removes the shooting error by automatically moving to the counter direction when that key is pressed and on stopping your accuracy will be close to 100 percent. This basically destroys the competitive fun of CS2 and also hurts the integrity of competitive matchmaking.
Innocent Players getting Kicked
With the new anti-cheat doing a good job dealing with input automation, it has brought another issue into existence. There has been another recent controversy with the new anti-cheat client update. Where some players are reporting they have been unfairly getting kicked from competitive matches for allegedly using input automation or Snap Tap. The client thinks they are running a script to cheat the game’s movement. The false reports of removing players from matches are hurting the overall player experience in CS2.
It’s still a learning curve and Valve is not doing VAC bans and it’s like a test implementation to stop players from input automation in CS2.
ESEA and FACEIT on Snap Tap usage in CS2
There have been some updates in Esports organization and tournaments as well. ESEA the big CS2 organization has banned the pro players from using the Snap Tap-enabled keyboards in their servers and tournaments. While FACEIT a platform for CS2 competitive matches is letting players use the feature.
This will surely, change with the new steps to maintain the integrity of competitiveness in CS2 and there will be a ruling in the future to stop tournament organizers from using such features in esports as well.