18 accounts on the first page of search results alone, all named catbot, many of them obvious alts, not a single VAC ban which leads me to believe that people getting banned are getting banned for actual cheats.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/search/users/#text=catbot

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

18 accounts on the first page of search results alone, all named catbot, many of them obvious alts, not a single VAC ban which leads me to believe that people getting banned are getting banned for actual cheats.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/search/users/#text=catbot

Yep. That's exactly what I was thinking. I posted a comment in response to the original post, so I suppose I'll see if that goes anywhere.

Really, though ... why use a name like that? I could be jumping to conclusions here but I feel like a few people were probably cheating and thought they could get away with it because they were using a Linux system.

Originally posted by The Great Escape ⚔:

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

18 accounts on the first page of search results alone, all named catbot, many of them obvious alts, not a single VAC ban which leads me to believe that people getting banned are getting banned for actual cheats.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/search/users/#text=catbot

Yep. That's exactly what I was thinking. I posted a comment in response to the original post, so I suppose I'll see if that goes anywhere.

Really, though ... why use a name like that? I could be jumping to conclusions here but I feel like a few people were probably cheating and thought they could get away with it because they were using a Linux system. :evafacepalm:

That's what triggered 40,000+ VAC bans in a single day in July 2017, a linux kernel cheat for CSGO.

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

Originally posted by The Great Escape ⚔:

Yep. That's exactly what I was thinking. I posted a comment in response to the original post, so I suppose I'll see if that goes anywhere.

Really, though ... why use a name like that? I could be jumping to conclusions here but I feel like a few people were probably cheating and thought they could get away with it because they were using a Linux system.

That's what triggered 40,000+ VAC bans in a single day in July 2017, a linux kernel cheat for CSGO.

I remember that. I'm just glad it shows people that Linux won't protect them from punishment. I'm pretty sure that was the case here, but I was curious what others would think of it.

So, I just noticed that the OP deleted all his comments and edited his post. I'll edit my post here as well.

https://np.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/7ndjdt/valve_will_vac_ban_you_automatically_for_having/ds2dulw/

Originally posted by Flurdy:

https://np.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/7ndjdt/valve_will_vac_ban_you_automatically_for_having/ds2dulw/

I came across this today; it was an update of sorts from another user in the Linux forum. A lot of those users in the GitHub thread *shockingly* had cheat software on their track lists. I figured that was the case.

Thanks, Flurdy. I'll probably keep an eye on that still and see what else comes up. I refused to believe that a username was the only reason.

Well, like I already pointed out there are numerous unbanned Steam accounts with the name catbot. And another thing about this claim that only "linux" Steam accounts were being banned. There is no such thing as a Linux Steam account or a PC or Mac Steam account. There are Steam accounts, period.

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

Well, like I already pointed out there are numerous unbanned Steam accounts with the name catbot. And another thing about this claim that only "linux" Steam accounts were being banned. There is no such thing as a Linux Steam account or a PC or Mac Steam account. There are Steam accounts, period.

Yes, I know - thanks a lot for your help.

I mentioned the likelihood of people using alternates and such, but discussing it with another Linux user was rather difficult - until this morning, when that statement (provided by Flurdy and Zyro) was brought to my attention. I think one user at least realized that VAC does not work how he/she thought.

So hopefully that sets the record straight for the paranoid Linux folks. I know a few of them have changed their usernames to include the word "bot" in them, probably to prove a point.

The quick and easy answer is just to look at what VAC bans for, which are cheats, nothing else. It reminds me of how often you see people with "joke" name histories like aimbot.exe or cheatsites, posting in the VAC discussions forums because they got a ban for cheating.

Only reason to ban for a name is if it was something exploitable and if a game can be exploited via user names then that should be fixed instead of banning people.

Although I recall some anticheat that would kick for certain names with words like "bot" or "test" in them xD

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

And another thing about this claim that only "linux" Steam accounts were being banned. There is no such thing as a Linux Steam account or a PC or Mac Steam account. There are Steam accounts, period.

This here also. And if this was the case, you could just make your STEAM account on a Windows machine.

Apparently, the claim was that they were being banned because of their OS username being catbot but only linux usernames which still doesn't make a lot of sense either because there's no reason to name your OS user profile aimbot, wallhack, catbot, etc.

And if Valve was Banning users based on the name of their OS user profile then why wouldn't they ban Windows profiles too?

This was muddled by people creating numerous Steam accounts apparently to test for automatic bans along with many naming their Steam profile catbot AND cheating too, which looks like it may have been part of a campaign by cheaters to try and discredit Valve.

Personally, it seems pointless to me because those same cheaters are going to come crawling back anyway.

The whole thing was a bit ridiculous, but of course they weren't getting VAC banned just because of their names. I think one person accepted that finally and realized that a good chunk of those people were actually cheating.