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Tech

'Counter-Strike' Pay-to-Spray Racket Is a Little Tone Deaf

Valve's new Counter-Strike patch flies in the face of a court order to stop gambling rackets using the game's skins.
Image: Valve

So-called "sprays" and graffiti were long considered key parts of the experience of Valve's Counter-Strike games, no doubt in part because Valve used to let players freely create their own. Simply upload an image and you could leave your mark on any level with the press of a key. The internet being what it is, of course, some players uploaded pics of porn stars and slapped them on walls, making easy targets of players who stopped to gawk.

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Strangely, though, Valve has kept them out of its wildly popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive since its 2012 launch, but at last they're in again as of a recent update. The difference is that this time players have to pay to buy individual sprays, each of which only lasts for 50 uses. On Steam's forums and across Reddit, few people are celebrating. Counter-Strike Players, it seems, are sick of the ways in which Valve is trying to monetize the game.

Just last Wednesday, the state of Washington's gambling commission ordered Valve to "stop allowing the transfer" of tradeable gun "skins" that players design or earn or that drop from loot boxes in Counter Strike: Global Offensive on Steam.

"In Washington, and everywhere else in the United States, skins betting on esports remains a large, unregulated black market for gambling," Washington's Gambling Commissioner Chris Stearns said in the statement. "And that carries great risk for the players who remain wholly unprotected in an unregulated environment. We are also required to pay attention to and investigate the risk of underage gambling which is especially heightened in the esports world."

Last year we wrote about how players were earning thousands of dollars by making bets with skins, but the commission notes that sites like CSGO Lounge have already made over $1 billion billions off the practice in this year alone. It's a massive racket sometimes involving shady practices from YouTubers, and up until now Valve has largely just distanced itself from it and sent out its own cease-and-desist letters.

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Image: Steam Marketplace

And now Valve releases this patch, just as Washington state is demanding more thorough action. The problem is that it's charging for the "sprays" and graffitis in packs this time around and limiting them to 50 uses, earning the nickname "pay to spray" from the community. It works almost just like the gun skins, with players having the ability to make their own skins. Currently users are selling the graffiti boxes for a handful of dollars on the Steam Marketplace, and the most expensive spray I see is going for $12.83 (down from $100 on October 6). It's like an extension of the skin controversy, and mere days after a state government sent the company a cease-and-desist letter, its actions make it seem like Valve just doesn't care.

The community response has been thunderous, though not in a good way. Just yesterday Reddit user djdevilmonkey wrote a post asking "Is anyone else upset or mildly enraged that valve literally took away a feature that was in the game for over a decade (excluding CSGO) and are now charging us money for it?" As of right now, it's got almost 5,500 upvotes.

And I'll let this highly upvoted comment by sycamorefeeling speak for itself:

Language and imagery aside, sycamorefeeling certainly has a point. Valve knows there's a lot of money in these rackets, and selling skins and sprays is no doubt hugely profitable through its own marketplace, let alone what shady dealers are doing on gambling sites. But considering the storm the gun skins have caused and the series' long history of graffiti, wouldn't it have been a better idea to let this feature go in for free for old time's sake as a show of goodwill or community appreciation?

Unfortunately, it's probably not the end. Another Reddit user name Waveitup is compiling a list of what he believes are other potentially monetized features "hinted" in the code, such as customizable gloves or taunts.