Team Fortress 2's bot problem is an ongoing drama in the PC gaming world. The problem appears to have accelerated quickly when developer Valve pulled out of major work on the game in 2017. To be clear, Valve has not abandoned TF2 and continues to regularly release bug fixes and community-created expansions for this 17-year-old game. But the bots... The bots have definitely gotten out of hand.

The problem seemed to become particularly acute around 2020, when various player campaigns were launched before Valve admitted that there might be a bit of a problem. Over the past few years, the community has kept up the pressure, and this year things culminated in an Internet petition, an awareness campaign, review bombings, and a new effort to force Valve to respond under the hashtag "FixTF2."

It seems it finally yielded some results. Over the weekend, a new FAQ page appeared on Steam, dedicated to players who have been banned from Team Fortress 2. It begins, "Team Fortress 2 game bans are permanent, non-negotiable, and will not be removed by Steam support.

It gets even better from there, as Valve lists acts of cheating, manipulation, "botting and/or automation," and "interfering with the normal operation of the game server or other players." Here is an excerpt from Valve's text:

What was the reason for your game ban?

Can I appeal my game ban?

I was not using my account when I was game-banned, can I get the ban lifted?

Can I move Team Fortress 2 items to another account?

Hyperbole, but the advent of this new page on Steam was accompanied by a bot banwave that had the fanbase instantly reaching for celebratory GIFs. estimates based on SteamDB activity indicate that until June 27, about 16,000 bots were lurking among the human suddenly a portion of the player population disappeared in a matter of seconds.

TF2 YouTuber Shounic, who has made several videos about the bot problem and #FixTF2 over the years, covered the banwave and, as an experienced bot spotter who knows when and where to find bots, immediately after the purge They claimed that it became "impossible" to find them. They then found one after about 20 minutes of searching, but it seemed to be just spinning in place and was quite confused.

There are also claims by the community that PC Gamer cannot confirm. According to this, about 850 accounts were targeted, with roughly 250 receiving lifetime bans, just under 100 VAC bans, 131 community bans, and 4 game bans. keep in mind that one Steam account may be part of a network responsible for more bots Keep in mind.

"I played 20 games today," posts X account Did TF2 Get Updated' "Checked out the less popular areas, not a single bot, if Valve keeps this up, TF2 could make a huge comeback," with a rather optimistic comment. He concludes.

Nevertheless, numbers are numbers: on June 27, Team Fortress 2 had just over 60,000 players according to SteamDB (still an incredible number, I must say). In the last 24 hours there have been about 145,000 players.

The TF2 community is overjoyed at the fact that something is finally going to happen. The attention given to the big-name Gabe's proxies has provided an opportunity to abuse the famous botters and hosts, especially those who brag about it. This host, who calls himself "Toad," is particularly reprehensible.

Since this is a TF2 community, there are some great memes.

Of course, some perspective is needed. The bot problem in TF2 will no doubt continue, even if players are currently having trouble finding the bots, and Valve has obviously decided to put the hose out, but Valve is Valve, and who knows whether this will be a significant and permanent improvement in the state of the game, or just a temporary lull before the bots return with a vengeance. Who knows if this will be a significant and permanent improvement in the state of the game or just a temporary lull before the bots come back with a vengeance.

But sometimes... Sometimes you just need to smell the flowers and soak in the schadenfreude. Discussing the profile of known botters and waiting for the inevitable can, after all, be its own reward.

"An eight-year-old account," Redditor Fogoticus said, discussing the profile of a known botter. 'It would be a shame if he got his VAC banned.

Shortly thereafter, Half-Life-Cat replies with good news. [He lights a cigar, lies down, and thinks about Scout's mother.