Regular players sometimes complain about the special treatment of big Twitch streamers who don’t seem to follow the rules. Not so with Valve, the operators of CS:GO (Steam): One of the biggest content creators in the world gets a lifetime ban if he doesn’t follow the rules.
What streamer is this? Raúl “Auronplay” Àlvarez Genes is a Spanish content creator and one of the biggest Twitch streamers in the world. More than 15 million people follow him on the streaming platform – only Tyler “Ninja” Blevins has more followers.
So Auronplay is a big deal. Nevertheless, the streamer does not get any special treatment from Valve: As he now said, he received a lifelong ban in CS:GO for using cheats.
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Auronplay: “I was bored”
Why is this an issue? The Counter-Strike franchise is experiencing hype after the announcement in March 2023 of Counter-Strike 2, the first new entry in the series since 2012.
A select few players and content creators already have access to the beta, but the predecessor Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is also experiencing a resurgence. The prices for skins are going through the roof and German streamers are discovering the game for themselves – even if some only get to the loot boxes.
What’s the deal with the ban? While Auronplay isn’t one of the lucky ones with a beta key, it confirmed its interest in showing the game in a recent stream. There’s only one catch: the streamer’s account is permanently blocked.
In a recent stream, he revealed that he got himself banned for experimenting with cheats for fun:
I’m blocked, I’m banned. […] I used to use cheats to fool around. For fooling around, yes. I got bored one afternoon, got caught and banned. I can no longer play Counter-Strike for life.
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what is so special about that? A VAC ban is a ban from Valve’s anti-cheat system. These bans are feared because, according to Steam, they are “final and non-negotiable” and cannot be lifted by Steam Support either.
If a player receives such a ban in CS:GO, they will also lose access to the skins purchased with that account. Although Counter-Strike 2 is being treated like a new game, it’s really just a major update. This means VAC bans are carried over from CS:GO.
Can’t the streamer show Counter-Strike 2? Yes, just not through his main account on Steam. Auronplay confirmed that he has already played CS:GO through an alternate account and will use that account for Counter-Strike 2 as well if he gets access.
As long as he didn’t have any valuable skins on his account, the suspension probably wouldn’t have hit the streamer too hard. Still, it’s refreshing to see that Valve doesn’t make exceptions for great content creators, unlike some other developers.
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