CSGO’s Trust Factor could be forcing you against cheaters

When it comes to playing against cheaters, Trust Factor could be even more important than having a Prime account in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Several competitive video games have implemented a form of conduct score over the past few years, and CSGO is no exception. Called Trust Factor, the system is used to roughly measure how well a player behaves in-game. A player’s Trust Factor score can have a massive impact on who they match with and against. If you’re experiencing a higher influx of cheaters in Valve matchmaking, a low Trust Factor score could be the reason. Luckily for CSGO players, there are ways to check Trust score and improve it over time.

Trust Factor is measured by numerous factors, including some that have nothing to do with CSGO at all. The biggest factor seems to be one’s in-game behavior while playing Valve’s tactical shooter. Several reports for disruptive voice communications, griefing, or cheating is the fastest way to lower your CSGO Trust Factor. Leaving matches early or playing very infrequently is another way to lower one’s Trust score. 

Playing too much CSGO can also result in a lower Trust. Valve’s reasoning is that a smurf or cheater would only use a certain Steam account to play CSGO, so ignoring the rest of your games library can actually give you a worse matchmaking experience. Valve itself even admits that the Trust Factor system can sometimes bug out, making for a worse experience for everyone.

Players with low Trust Factors are prone to being put with and against other low Trust Factor players in Valve matchmaking. Due to how players get low Trust, this can mean running into an increasing number of cheaters and griefers. Considering that it’s possible to get low Trust by doing nothing wrong in the first place, it’s possible that some diehard CSGO fans will actually get punished for devoting their time to their favorite game.

How to check and improve Trust Factor in CSGO

If any of the above sounds familiar to you, it might be a good idea to check your CSGO Trust Factor. As is typical with Valve, there’s no easy way to do this. The most popular methods discovered by fans involve inviting players to a lobby and then asking if anyone has received a warning message. Valve will inform other players about your low Trust Factor. Yellow messages seem to indicate a middling Trust Factor, while red means a very low score.

There are some fan-suggested methods of raising Trust Factor. Playing a long series of matches without any reports is a straightforward way to gain Trust. Playing other Steam games, or even just opening other games and going AFK, is another method.

Finally, some fans suggest that having a pricey inventory or spending money can improve the matchmaking experience. While this might seem sketchy at first glance, Valve reasons that players wouldn’t spend money on an account they expect to eventually get banned.