After five years, it’s finally been done: the Valve Corporation has fixed its beloved team-based first-person shooter, “Team Fortress 2.” This means the #FixTF2 movement was successful and calls for celebration, but only after discussing a few key points.
First, what exactly happened? Valve has begun banning bot-hosters, thus cutting off the circulation of bots throughout “Team Fortress 2.” This means thousands upon thousands of malicious accounts are now rendered useless.
Reported pictures show a message sent directly to the bot-hoster that reads: “Our team noticed your accounts were involved in majorly disruptive activity in Team Fortress 2. Accounts dedicated to the disruption of TF2 have been deactivated, and accounts used for other purposes have been locked or banned.”
Going forward, bot-hosters that appeal to Valve to be unbanned are simply told “No,” which prevents this issue from restarting. However, from a moral standpoint: there’s no forgiveness to earn after causing a serious issue over half a decade, especially for the bot-hosters that performed illegal activity like hacking, scamming, and impersonating.
All of this contributes to the surge of videos populating YouTube tackling how bots are being banned. After writing my recent article, “#FixTF2 Puts Valve Corporation in the Hot Seat,” I noticed this topic skyrocketed and decided to investigate for myself. I am happy to report that over many different casual matches, I didn’t encounter a bot.
What does this mean? “Team Fortress 2” is more playable, and its player base will increase thanks to this satisfying news. Now that there are no bots, there’s more room for enjoying future updates, including the anticipated Summer 2024 Update. Even if the game doesn’t receive an update, at least players can be content about how the game isn’t practically unplayable anymore.
Another key point is that the community should revoke negative reviews to “Team Fortress 2’s” Steam page they used in protest. Since the game is fixed, the review consensus should be tweaked to match its status.
Most importantly: Valve listened. That’s great, but it doesn’t excuse the period before fixes were made. Valve shouldn’t make a habit of neglecting something and then repairing it extremely later if they want to remain as giants in the gaming industry. Relating back to #SaveTF2, they should also only make promises with PR if their decisions are enforced immediately.
People’s perception of Valve will undoubtedly heal, though. Now that “Team Fortress 2” is fixed, people will remove their biases and have hope for the company’s future, including “Counter Strike 2” updates and Valve’s upcoming game, “Deadlock.” As for a third game in any of their series… that’s a story for another time.
For right now, “Team Fortress 2” is back and better than ever. It’s time to let bullets fly and let silly hats get worn yet again.