Team Fortress 2 Punishing Item Idlers, Rewarding the Rest

[Wini]

LOL I was considering using the idle server to get the hats, kinda glad that I didn't. Just wish they gave me the Heavy 'special' helmet.

 

[The Great JT]

"I didn't do it, he says, and he throws up his hands."
-Bob Dylan, "Hurricane"

Seriously, one free hat for me! Here's hoping for Miner's Light, Officer's Ushanka, Otolaryngologist's Mirror or Soldier's Stash.

 

[whyarecarrots]

And then to give something to people for being "incorruptible"? Really? That's just a kick in the nuts. Honestly, Valve should have just made a blog post saying it was bad and it would have been shut down. Instead they wait for months (it's been around since the Sniper/Spy update) and drops cryptic little tidbits. I mean, last I heard they considered it cheating, but at the same time no action would be taken because it really didn't increase odds of getting anything as if you'd been playing during the same time.

Actually the people who have used it aren't being punished, they're just having any benefit that they got from using this program removed, by losing the items that they gained by using it: ie, items that they should not have had in the first place. Those who have only been on there for a few minutes but didn't get any items will not recieve a hat, but they won't lose anything.
And yes, there will be mistakes, as there always are with major online game moderation, but hopefully Valve will be able to keep these to a minimum.

 

[Ack-ack]

havent idled since the spy update and even then i only tried it for one night, got nothing out of it, have 0 hats even after playing >100 hours, and now im losing something? or is it just of you idle with some program that is not tf2 the game? hope so. also i really dont care if they take away the new stuff almost all of it is useless to me

 

[Zayren]

Those who have only been on there for a few minutes but didn't get any items will not recieve a hat, but they won't lose anything.

What? Yes they do, they lose the shiny new halo.

But seriously. only 4% of users affected, meaning only 4% of them cheated in this way, meaning that it's not a serious hit if they stop playing. Cause they already bought the game.

You should never go into PR. Pissing off players just because they already paid is NOT a good marketing strategy. And as I pointed out, that's a hell of a lot more than 4.5% of the active players. That is just the total players, and includes everybody who owns it, even those VAC banned or never even loaded it up once. Oh, and those people who only tried it during a free weekend. Definitely 4.5%, huh?

I also just found out one of the hats is available through a glitch. Do a taunt as demoman and switch to engineer really quick, he'll be hatless. Wonder if that's gunna be bannable, or people who don't do it will get a free (un)hat.

 

[Halfbreed13]

How would they even find out if you used a external program?

They don't. I never used idle program, and my shit is gone. My idler firends? THey lost stuff they got without idling, their hats still there.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

This is fucking lame. I really don't consider it cheating, we connected to a server and we spent time on it so we earned items. Well thankfully I told my external program to delete duplicates, so I'm only going to lose one or two items - and still have THREE OF EACH that I actually picked up while playing. Now I'm going to delete them all hoping Valve will still give me a halo for having a virgin stash, but I doubt it will work.

You know, I used to be really REALLY proud of the items I earned through achievements. It sucks I'm going to have to delete them now. Oh well, personal affections don't count anyway, right? So technically they're worthless.

EDIT: NOOOOOOO THE UPDATE IT'S ALREADY HERE WAAHHHHHHHHHH

feel free to laugh at me for being a dirty fucking CHEATER
never thought I'd see the day

 

[whyarecarrots]

How would they even find out if you used a external program?

They don't. I never used idle program, and my shit is gone. My idler firends? THey lost stuff they got without idling, their hats still there.

Something they never had in the first place. And, to be honest, I never liked the idea of idle servers, and an idle program that cheats the steam stat tracking is in my eyes, even less excusable. It's cheating, plain and simple, and for those who don't get the halo for using it for even a few minutes, well, tough: why else would they have joined if not for the sake of getting items by taking advantage of the system?

 

[Kiutu]

Item drops? Is that like, PC only or something?

 

[FROGGEman2]

My friend just logged into TF2 only to find that about eight of his items had been removed for cheating. Thing is, he's never cheated.

That... sucks...

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

Those who have only been on there for a few minutes but didn't get any items will not recieve a hat, but they won't lose anything.

What? Yes they do, they lose the shiny new halo.

But seriously. only 4% of users affected, meaning only 4% of them cheated in this way, meaning that it's not a serious hit if they stop playing. Cause they already bought the game.

You should never go into PR. Pissing off players just because they already paid is NOT a good marketing strategy. And as I pointed out, that's a hell of a lot more than 4.5% of the active players. That is just the total players, and includes everybody who owns it, even those VAC banned or never even loaded it up once. Oh, and those people who only tried it during a free weekend. Definitely 4.5%, huh?

I also just found out one of the hats is available through a glitch. Do a taunt as demoman and switch to engineer really quick, he'll be hatless. Wonder if that's gunna be bannable, or people who don't do it will get a free (un)hat.

Losisng isn't the same as never having.

Valve don't care about Pissing off 4.5% because those 4.5% have no reason to be pissed off.
You all knew the hats were random, you knew you would have to play the game for ages to get them, you knew this was how Valve wanted it to be and yet you still cheated.
It doesn't matter if you don't consider it cheating, Valve do. They made the game, they continue to support the game two years after it was released, it's up to them how they want the unlocks to work.
People using this idling thing were trying to get some things that are supposed to encourage people to play TF2 more often if they really do want them.
Valve wanted people to be playing TF2, not using some ridicules program to get random, free unlockables that had no effect on anything.

For fucks sake people, they are hats, for game characters, in a fucking FPS. Get over it.

 

[scotth266]

Well, I'm gonna get my first hat today then.

And since I consider idling to be a passive form of cheating, I'm cool with how Valve has decided to handle the issue.

 

[Booze Zombie]

So to reward the people who don't care about hats, they give them hats?
And then, the guys who desprately wanted the hats get their hats taken away from them if they managed to actually find any via idling?

People using this idling thing were trying to get some things that are supposed to encourage people to play TF2 more often if they really do want them.
Valve wanted people to be playing TF2, not using some ridicules program to get random, free unlockables that had no effect on anything.

For fucks sake people, they are hats, for game characters, in a fucking FPS. Get over it.

If it's such a non-issue why are Valve making a big deal about it?

 

[Avatar Roku]

If it's such a non-issue why are Valve making a big deal about it?

Because it was made a big deal by the people who felt they had to cheat to get purely cosmetic rewards (possibly weapons as well, but it's only the hats that are really mentioned). In order to prevent further liberties being taken, it makes sense that Valve had to slap them down hard, although it could have been worse. It could have been every weapon, or a full VAC ban. These guys whining that they're being penalized for cheating got off remarkably light.

 

[samsonguy920]

I feel like I'm in early grade school again. People use an exploit to get something easy that honest people struggle for, teacher comes down hard but fair on the exploiters, and they go crying to their mama.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Haha, eat that PC users! I use the Xbox and don't... have... updates... *Cries*

Don't worry, you're not alone. *Hugs*

Mind if i join in ;_;

I've got a PS3 so my copy of TF2 was coded by EA, can I get a big hug?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

One thing Keane forgot to mention is that Valve have also trebled(?) the drop rate of new hats.

And given the amount of cheating programmes that exist for TF2, I think it's well before time.

 

[NuclearJonJon]

You know what I liked? Vanilla TF2.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I only did it for two god damn unlocks! And this was at launch when the system would not physically work. Seriously, 3 days, no unlocks, people are bound to be pissed.

Edit, check out the new TF2 update - "Added support for client explanations of backend inventory manipulation".

 

[Avatar Roku]

I only did it for two god damn unlocks!

Than those two unlocks are all you'll lose. Why does the amount of time matter?