Valve announces survey for chance at Counter-Strike Global Offensive beta invites

Last week, Valve launched the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta by giving away 7,000 keys to current CSS and CS 1.6 players.  On Monday, they sent out an additional 2,000 keys to community sites around the world.

If you didn't get one of those beta keys, you are not yet out of luck, but you MUST complete an online survey to even be considered with getting a CS:GO beta key.

According to Valve, "The next keys will be sent on the basis of this survey.  If you don't fill it out, you won't be getting a key."

For the record, the survey is VERY short and is actually related to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (in case you were worried it'd be some sketchy 3rd party survey).  It's two parts: the first being a hardware survey and diagnostic test that scans your PC's hardware – requiring little, or no, effort on your part.  The second part of the survey focuses more on player demographics.

"We are hoping to recruit players with a wide range of experience for our beta, so please answer the following questions to the best of your ability," the survey asks.

Questions at this part range from what version of Count-Strike you prefer to play to your "skill level" in CS.  Some other questions test your knowledge and opinion of the game and are a little less clear.  For example, "Which of the following weapons provides the best value? (i.e. Dollars spent per kill)."

Don't worry, there are no "wrong" answers to the survey questions, Valve says.  And they aren't looking for particular answers either.

"Over the coming months we will make selections from the survey participants. Sometimes we might add experienced players, other times new players. Sometimes 1.6 players, sometimes CSS players, sometimes people who have played neither."

In short, they are looking for people who best fill their testing needs.

Next week they will send the first wave of beta invites based off of the survey, so be sure to fill it out today.

"We will also continue to give gift keys to active CS:GO beta players to share with their friends. Earning these keys is easy, hit quick match and play CS:GO."

Take the online survey here.

To participate in the survey, you will need Steam.  Valve recommends using the computer you intend to play on to fill out the survey since part of it is about hardware.