Overshadowed by Valve’s change of competitive maps was their newly released “Prime Account Matchmaking.” This new system Valve hopes to utilize has players link their phone numbers to their CS:GO accounts. The goal of this new matchmaking system is to “find out whether players have a better matchmaking experience when they are matched with players who are using a phone-linked CS:GO account.” What Valve really means is that using their Prime Matchmaking system will help you avoid queuing up with cheaters.
Companies and clients such as ESEA have agreements with users that allows the anti-cheat to intrude into the files that your computer stores and weed out people who might be running cheats. Because Valve is limited on the type of information they can gather from your computer, their anti-cheat doesn’t always get the job done and they are now relying on this system to keep matchmaking enjoyable.
Some of you may be asking “how does giving Valve my phone number stop cheaters?” The answer is very simple (we think). Valve is only letting users link their phone number to one CS:GO account. Because most people only have one phone, Valve plans on banning the phone numbers of people who cheat in Prime Matchmaking. This will keep players who have received a ban from creating a new account and continuing to cheat in prime matches. This also comes as a great deterrent to cheaters. People will be more afraid to cheat because if they’re caught they will not be able to play prime CS:GO unless they get a new phone number.
Smurfs will also be less apparent in these games. People will have to make the choice if they’d rather link their main or their smurf account. Assuming most people link their main account, the number of smurfs will drop significantly in these prime matches.
There are iOS and Android apps that let users create a fake phone number and Valve is trying their best to prevent users from doing so. Valve will not be allowing VOIP phone numbers along with phone numbers from certain carriers.
Overall I think this is one of Valve’s best updates. While their anti-cheat isn’t getting any better, matchmaking will become more enjoyable. Hopefully more and more players will make the leap to Prime Account Matchmaking so we can all enjoy a smurf free and cheat free CS:GO.
Let us know if you have or will be joining CS:GO’s Prime Matchmaking. Don’t forget to enter our giveaway!
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