How to Get Overwatch in CS:GO?

The rise of online, competitive games like Counter-Strike born a whole new and wide community of this game lovers. With plenty of stuff that can poison this virtual brotherhood, cheating, and griefing are surely among the most dangerous ones.

With a diversity of troubles in providing a reliable anti-cheat, Valve found a solution to improve the situation and get off cheaply. The community itself was the answer to their problems with cheaters, so they introduced an Overwatch mode in CS:GO back in 2013.

Briefly, CS:GO’s Overwatch means a system that stores a short replay (10 minutes or so from the competitive match) of a suspicious person and sends it to the game community, which comes with a verdict on whether it was cheating. It works quite similarly to the trial jury in the court, where ordinary people can decide if the accused person is guilty. For players, it is a chance to improve their gaming world, which is why many people want to know how to get CS:GO Overwatch mode. 

Overwatch Mode Process in CS:GO

The Overwatch process is based on viewing the POV of the accused person, called “The Suspect.” The inspector (who watches the demo) receives 8 rounds of replay, and, to avoid a biased attitude from the inspector’s side, all other names in the reviewed game are changed. For the same reason, chat and voice messages are hidden.

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Two Types of Verdicts & Four Categories

After watching the suspicious demo, the game system offers an inspector to choose from two verdicts in four categories. The first decision, “Insufficient Evidence,” goes for nothing suspicious from The Suspect’s side (lucky shots, smurfing, opponents’ outrageous reaction, etc.). Another judgment option is “Evident Beyond a Reasonable Doubt,” which stands for obvious game hacking or griefing.

The latter verdict should be selected for the following four categories:

1. Aim Assistance;
2. Vision Assistance;
3. Other External Assistance (jump or speed hacking, upside-down view, etc.);
4. Griefing;

As for the results of those verdicts — the last category is for the “lucky ones,” as you get off only with a 30 days ban, while all the others result in a permanent, non-appealable  ban.

Is This Approach Correct Enough, and Why?

Don't worry, you won't get banned if some random guy doesn’t  like your gameplay. The final decision is made only after the majority of inspectors come up with the same verdict after review, which excludes the influence of unprofessional supervisors.

Also, inspectors have their own rating, and those with a higher percentage of correct cases overcome the mistakes of those who just recently became an investigator in CS:GO and don't have enough experience. In other words, it’s a type of self-improving system where experienced ones help improve newcomers' level , increasing the overall precision of verdicts. So, the more people involved in the Overwatch process, the better and faster ban decisions.

How to Become an Overwatch in CS:GO?

Even after playing thousands of hours in CS, most players don’t know how to get Overwatch in CS:GO. But they made the first step and started playing a popular shooter.

Of course, that is not enough to become a part of the game’s trial jury. To become an investigator, you should play a lot and receive not so many reports yourself. Also, you should send reports as well, but make it only feeling evident reasons and not when killed and having a few seconds to press “Tab” to blow off steam.

Interestingly, there are no exact CS:GO Overwatch requirements even on the official Valve page. The developers give inspecting access to players quite randomly, depending on several  aspects, including the number of wins, skill level, report activity, and more.

Advantages of the Investigator Role in CS:GO

To find out how to unlock Overwatch in CS:GO, you should also know the advantages of this role. Aside from the ethical inspiration of being the gaming Themis, you will get an XP boost as the visible reward. With a few successful cases as an investigator, you get additional experience, which is added after playing official modes like Competitive.

Still, the main reason a player wants to participate in the game’s patrol is to detect cheaters and help ban them. While this aspect is hard to evaluate with some particular numbers, meeting fewer unfair players in the game is what everyone wants (maybe except for cheaters themselves).

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How are Investigators Evaluated in the Counter-Strike?

Although it’s not a simple process to get Overwatch in CS:GO, it’s only the beginning. All inspectors are under regular evaluation as their verdicts are always compared to others. Even though the high-scoring investigators have a bigger weight when making a common decision, they are still in the same equation as newcomers.

So, the approach is common for every watcher: the closer your verdicts to the majority, the higher your score is. Logically, you grow faster as an inspector and receive more XP. On the contrary, even if you are a high-ranked gaming detective, you’ll be downgraded if the verdicts contradict  the majority.

How Do I Know If I Have Access to Overwatch?

The icon of Overwatch mode is located on the left side of CS:GO main menu. Once you access  Overwatch, you will see a small “+” near the shield icon, which means some replays are ready for your investigations and verdicts. By clicking it, you’ll receive a message with basic instructions.

However, knowing how to join CS:GO Overwatch is not enough, as one day, you may discover that this icon has disappeared. It can be related to long-lasting inactivity or significant rank downgrade, so you should be ready that this service medal is not forever.

Conclusion

The Overwatch mode is one of the most positive things in CS:GO, since it helps to make the game much better. The process of detecting suspicious behavior is transparent enough, using a self-teaching approach. It involves the community as the driving force, which is always better than relying on developers only.

With experience boosts for honest inspectors, there is no surprise this feature receives significant attention, and so many players want to know more about how to become an Overwatch in CS:GO.

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