⚡ NEW: Id/Halfwrong/recommended/ - Collection

TF2, one of valve's most well known IPs, with an active userbase (albeit with counts bloated by idle bots) that still places somewhere around the top 100 player counts, is dying.

We're a game full of bots and empty promises, cheaters and inaction. From a company more interested in updating gambling loot crates a grabbing money from the community, than they are in making any attempt at keeping the game playable.


TF2 currently relies on valve hosted servers for the majority of its content. A change that valve actively made in one of their final content updates for the game (MyM), it used to be community servers that held most of the game's population. Valve servers are unmoderated, they've never had active mods and rely solely on player majority vote kicks and an out of date anticheat. These servers have always been a hive for cheaters since well before valve saw fit to mash most of the game's population into them.

And the chickens are coming home to roost on valve's changes. Malicious bots are taking over valve's unmoderated server environments. They outnumber the players rendering votekicks useless, VAC is left by the wayside to rot (as much as the coverage was patchy anyway), and there's no mods to cover the wide wide gap in the other moderation tools.

Community servers still exist, but casual matchmaking still presents itself front and centre on the launch screen as the first thing any new player sees. We can abandon casual to play the game a little longer, but that also abandons new players to the bot meat grinder that is now casual. Every game requires new players to sustain itself, a currently top 100 game on steam will still grind itself into dust if the status quo continues.

And it's not just TF2, and it's not just recent. Valve has always had an issue with community moderation. CS2 is riddled with cheaters and bots and malicious server hosters. L4D routinely has all their official servers DDoS'd. Dota spent the better part of 5 years with malicious bots attacking custom server lobbies, holding players hostage for 5 minutes or subject themselves to a timeout. The steam discussion boards are cesspit with an award system actively encouraging trolls. Steam itself is full of scammers and scambots, preying on kids too young to know better.

To what point will valve ignore all their platforms? To what point are we meant to be excited for new projects from valve, with the knowledge that ALL their IPs will not receive due attention to major issues? To be subject to the slow behemoth that is valve's inner workings, with fixes never seen or years too late?


TF2 is still somewhat playable in the pockets of community servers that still exist. But we are staring at a cliff, a game that has legs to run forever on its own steam is looking at the end.

Do better. Do some moderation, on any of your platforms. Stop ignoring active userbases that you're still taking money from at the behest of your internal politics. The community goodwill that you've enjoyed for a long, long time that's propelled steam to the top won't last forever.


The trust thermocline will call even for you, valve, and it's built upon the corpses that you left behind.

TF2, one of valve's most well known IPs, with an active userbase (albeit with counts bloated by idle bots) that still places somewhere around the top 100 player counts, is dying. We're a game full of bots and empty promises, cheaters and inaction. From a company more interested in updating gambling loot crates a grabbing money from the community, than they are in making any attempt at keeping the game playable. TF2 currently relies on valve hosted servers for the majority of its content. A change that valve actively made in one of their final content updates for the game (MyM), it used to be community servers that held most of the game's population. Valve servers are unmoderated, they've never had active mods and rely solely on player majority vote kicks and an out of date anticheat. These servers have always been a hive for cheaters since well before valve saw fit to mash most of the game's population into them. And the chickens are coming home to roost on valve's changes. Malicious bots are taking over valve's unmoderated server environments. They outnumber the players rendering votekicks useless, VAC is left by the wayside to rot (as much as the coverage was patchy anyway), and there's no mods to cover the wide wide gap in the other moderation tools. Community servers still exist, but casual matchmaking still presents itself front and centre on the launch screen as the first thing any new player sees. We can abandon casual to play the game a little longer, but that also abandons new players to the bot meat grinder that is now casual. Every game requires new players to sustain itself, a currently top 100 game on steam will still grind itself into dust if the status quo continues. And it's not just TF2, and it's not just recent. Valve has always had an issue with community moderation. CS2 is riddled with cheaters and bots and malicious server hosters. L4D routinely has all their official servers DDoS'd. Dota spent the better part of 5 years with malicious bots attacking custom server lobbies, holding players hostage for 5 minutes or subject themselves to a timeout. The steam discussion boards are cesspit with an award system actively encouraging trolls. Steam itself is full of scammers and scambots, preying on kids too young to know better. To what point will valve ignore all their platforms? To what point are we meant to be excited for new projects from valve, with the knowledge that ALL their IPs will not receive due attention to major issues? To be subject to the slow behemoth that is valve's inner workings, with fixes never seen or years too late? TF2 is still somewhat playable in the pockets of community servers that still exist. But we are staring at a cliff, a game that has legs to run forever on its own steam is looking at the end. Do better. Do some moderation, on any of your platforms. Stop ignoring active userbases that you're still taking money from at the behest of your internal politics. The community goodwill that you've enjoyed for a long, long time that's propelled steam to the top won't last forever. The trust thermocline will call even for you, valve, and it's built upon the corpses that you left behind.