Kick (from the English word "kick" — to expel) is the removal of a player from the current match, lobby, or team roster. A kick can be initiated either automatically by the game system or by other players through voting — the so-called votekick.
Most often, a kick is applied for breaking in-match rules: intentional team damage (harming allies), prolonged inactivity, chat abuse, or suspicion of cheating. In team-based games, the decision to kick is made by the system based on set parameters — for example, the number and nature of hits dealt to teammates per round.
How the team damage kick works
In shooters like CS2, the team damage kick system works on a cumulative basis: the game tracks damage dealt to allies, and once a threshold is exceeded, it automatically removes the player from the match. The problem is that the line between an accidental hit (for example, a poorly thrown grenade) and intentional griefing isn't always obvious to the algorithm. Because of this, in amateur and academic matches the kick sometimes triggers unfairly — a player loses access to the game with their entire team of five over just a couple of accidental hits.
This is why developers periodically revise the kick logic to make it more precise: the system takes more factors into account in order to distinguish accident from intent and avoid punishing players for natural mistakes in team play.
Kick and team disband
The term "kick" is also used outside the context of a single match — for example, when a player is permanently removed from a team roster. In this case, the kick isn't tied directly to the game's system and is decided by the organization or the team captain. Such a removal can lead to a search for a replacement or, in extreme cases, to a disband — the breakup of the entire roster.
The word entered Russian-language esports slang directly from English and is used both as a verb ("to kick," "he got kicked") and as a noun ("got a kick," "votekick for team damage").