HackerTube.dev

GDC 2018: John McDonald (Valve) - Using Deep Learning to Combat Cheating in CSGO

max4warn · 127.8K views · 2018-03-31 · 1:05:33

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A GDC 2018 talk by Valve's John McDonald on VACNet, a deep learning system that analyzes CS:GO gameplay to detect cheaters. It covers how the model is trained on human-reviewed Overwatch cases and how its output feeds human moderation.

On Hacker News

HN points to it as the definitive example of server-side, behavioral, non-invasive anti-cheat using machine learning, often as a counterpoint to kernel-level anti-cheat.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2018–2026

Topics

Machine learning & deep learningGame programming & enginesSecurity & hacking
Search by tags
vacnetcs:goanti-cheatdeep learningvalvegdc

What people said

abuob · 2026-01 · Strong recommendation

But you can detect serverside (at least probabilistically) if a user is abusing it to their advantage. Some Valve guy gave a great talk about their cheating detection a while back; I found it incredibly impressive: [VIDEO] (can't comment on their effectiveness these days, haven't played CS in a long time)

Read the original HN comment ↗
willis936 · 2020-01 · Recommendation

See the video above. It’s a condensed recap of Valve’s GDC 2018 presentation on VACnet. The actual presentation is worth listening to if you have the time. [VIDEO] I disagree on the statement that developers, publishers, and/or anticheat companies are too incompetent to implement good solutions. They have not been putting serious effort into the problem or else the state of cheating in video games wouldn’t be as bad as it is today.

Read the original HN comment ↗
hatsunearu · 2018-10 · Recommendation

[VIDEO] Watch this! It's about using ML to catch cheaters. I searched youtube to show you this video; I used the search term "cs go machine learning". The first video was actually this: [LINK] Looks like it's using ML to make better aimbots--lol!

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by max4warn, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources