On Feb. 6, Valve launched the Call to Arms update for Counter-Strike 2, the first major update to CS2 since the game released. Included in the update is the new sticker crafting feature, which players are already using to make silly or inappropriate designs.
The new sticker craft feature in Call to Arms allows players to have custom control over exactly where they can place stickers on their weapon skins, rather than just having to choose between one of four designated spots. This gives players to be more “creative” with their sticker placements, but in doing so, Valve has opened the floodgates for CS2 players to be their most degenerative.
12 hours after releasing the new update, the devs asked for players to share their new sticker crafts, and several players responded with a wave of NSFW designs. Many of the designs use pro team and player stickers to spell out dirty words or swears, while others depict implied sexual acts. But easily the most prevalent NSFW design is the use of team logos or stickers to make penis shapes.
Anyone familiar with the Counter-Strike player base shouldn’t be too surprised by these results, and even the official CS2 Twitter account admitted in a retweet that they should have seen this coming.
This sort of behavior isn’t new from the Counter-Strike community, whose players have long used features like name tags to insert inappropriate names into the game wherever they could. Even before the latest update, stickers were a common tool for this goal, but the new sticker crafting feature now makes it easier to make words spelled out with stickers even clearer.
Valve likely won’t make any changes or restrict any of the new sticker crafting features, as they’ve traditionally been very hands off when it comes to community creations, even the NSFW ones. But it’s safe to assume they won’t be asking for the community to share designs like this again for a long time.
Published: Feb 7, 2024 12:27 pm