Valve plans to deliver a blow to those using external applications to earn items in
Team Fortress 2. According to
a recent posting, the studio will begin stripping items earned with the help of idling applications, but in the future, Valve plans to remove every single item from the cheater’s inventory. It’s a zero tolerance policy that should send a clear message.
“Over the next few days we'll be removing all
TF2 items that were earned using external idling applications,” the posting reads. “We're going to adopt a zero tolerance policy for external applications used to manipulate the persistent item system. Due to us not having a policy in place prior to today, this time we're only removing the items earned through cheating the system. Going forward, if we find users using external applications, we'll remove all of their items.”
According to the post, only 4.5 percent of
TF2 players cheat and will be effected by this move.
People not cheating the system -- like, 95 percent of the players -- are to receive a free item “soon” for playing the game legitimately. A simple, but awesome gesture for the community. Go, Valve!
Contest:
9:40 AM on 09.03.2009
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The fact that they will be giving a free item to players who didn't cheat, instead of making this solely about punishment, makes me really like Valve (even though I've never played TF1 or 2).
See most people idled just for hats and you have a 0.5% chance of finding a hat every hour, ergo the hats system is to try and make you grind the game for no real reason, again all of these punishments are over hats which are trivial pieces of headwear.
Also the halo was a nice touch (which in my opinion looks awful, they should have let people pick there own free hat instead), way to go and split the community Valve, maybe next time you should actually put in place a system that works instead of planning on fixing it later....just a thought.
Tough shit, you violated the EULA - you're lucky Valve didn't permaban you.
I think it's only fair that they get the same treatment, after all they did exactly what people with applications did, only the started up the game as opposed to said application.
exactly it's not game breaking, ergo it shoulden't be punished.
exactly it's not game breaking, ergo it shoulden't be punished.
I am 99.9% of the time against cheating. I hate cheating with a passion. But the reason people "cheat" or use achievement maps to get the special items in TF2 is because the achievements that you need to unlock to get the special items are absolutely ridiculous. Many are near impossible to actually get in a regular gameplay session.
Don't get me wrong...I LOVE Valve...but this is Valve ignoring the fact that their achievement system is ludicrous and broken.
Upset you used a third-party external exploit to earn in-game items without playing, and now you're losing the rewards you gained from tireless hours of doing nothing?
Yeah, Valve are asses like that. You're not even being punished, you twit, you're just losing items you didn't earn legitimately in the first place. I wish Valve would perma-ban you asshats, it would be a good way to clean up the Steam community.
If anyone have lost its items, its your fault only.
They are novelty hats! They are supposed to be difficult to get. They are supposed to be random and special. This isn't the USSR. You don't all get a pony.
I guess I just don't see how an idler hurts normal players in any way. I don't idle but if people care enough about hats to go through all of this then they probably deserve to keep them.
@Zantetsuken
Since you don't play I guess you wouldn't get it but the system really is broken as fuck. The chances of getting a hat were below 1% and they were only avalible through random drops. That's just crazy.
Valve have been asked to comment numerous times on whether it was okay and their total response OVER THREE MONTHS was a resounding "eh". Prior to the recent update the hat drop rate was 1.2% approximately for every 4 hours idled. When you read that people were idling for 1000+ hours without getting a single hat...yeah those dirty idlers really cheated good right?
This whole fiasco over nothing has been handled by Valve in the poorest of fashions.
I don't give a damn about the hats. I'm referring to the achievements to unlock the weapons for the different classes. And there's a difference between being hard to get and not being possible to get.
Are the people that are even praising this action on this blog even TF2 players? I've got approximately 500 hours put into this game, and I can tell you that most of the TF2 community that actually plays this game on a regular basis agrees that the achievement system is broken. THAT is why so many achievement servers exist in the first place.
There is something wrong with my PC, so I lose my connection in like 2/3 of the servers and in the other 1/3 there are a bunch of tossers who have nothing to do with their money so they pay up and get the ability to jump 10032 times or shoot without reloading or some other bullshit...
It seems in creating the hat system Valve have got a way to motivate and reward players with really desirable items. But right now we have half a civil war, and half the idling players are back in achievement_idle servers instead of their idling program. So actually Valve have just made it a lot worse.
There are people Skywalking in the console versions, EP3 is set to release for 20XX and you have time to invent an item that just makes people argue. Way to go, Valve.
...and I have ZERO hats. Yes, it was a recent patch, but here is the question:
How is it that someone who plays TF2 as much as I do not have, at least, one hat? It goes back to my original point that they are near impossible to get.
And Kal is right on...I would rather people get this crap on achievement servers so that they don't mess up the real TF2 servers that are actually trying to enjoy the game. Now, these servers will be filled with people that aren't actually playing to win, but playing to get an achievement or idle.
It seems that everyone who is praising Valve on this issue doesn't play TF2 and thus doesn't have a clue as to what they're talking about. The system is broken and Valve is ignoring it.
QFT
ironically, the guy who made it is getting a bit of a blessing. I think he got a special community weapon or something.
I mean when I idled there was like 10000 people "playing" on average, you can't just say 10000 people is only 4.5%, Thats mental.
Anyway...
QFT
I never idled for the hats (mainly because I'm tired of Valve being idiots and ignoring their community over this issue), but do you know how many sandwiches I have? Seriously? I could feed a small 3rd-world country with all of the sandwiches I have.
@JR IceFire
For me, it's not about the hats. I don't have any, and I don't care about them that much. It's about how blatantly Valve has ignored their broken reward system and their community asking for it to get fixed. Some people are "cheating" to get these items just to stick it to Valve for being idiots about this issue.
First paragraph "Due to us not having a policy in place prior to today, this time we're only removing the items earned through cheating the system."
Therefore, it was not against the rules.
I'm fine with anything to add more to the game and make it have more of a lasting appeal.
but when the players are forced to use an application to try and get these items, and then Valve punishes them for finding a work around that is THE EXACT SAME THING AS SITTING IN A SERVER AND IDLING. That's wrong.
I want my Valve back.
No, I do understand how the drops work. I hear people complaining about it on other websites.
The problem was that the idlers were using a third party program to connect to the servers. This is in direct violation of the EULA and not reading it is no excuse. They deserve this.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/yutt/stats/TF2
You don't speak for anyone other than yourself, so do give me this "The TF2 community blablabla" bullshit to justify your being a cheating fucktard. The achievements are not supposed to be trivial, that's why they are called fucking achievements.
This isn't the Special Olympics you whiny, entitled fucks.
Please tell me which specific weapons you are unable to unlock through the legitimate achievement system do to your lack of commitment and skill? Ignoring that, explain to me how you have "500 hours played" and haven't unlocked dozens of extras of every item through random drops.
"I wouldn't have robbed the store but their prices are unreasonable! I was teaching them a lesson!"
It is troubling and hilarious the length people will go to to defend their lack of class.
WTF? Did an idler break into your house and rape your family? He speaks for a lot of the TF2 community as most of them are idling for the items otherwise Valve wouldn't just be taking away their items. Even if you have enough time to wait it out these people aren't affecting you and they aren't cheating either. This is on the same level as logging in, going on an achievement severs and leaving the window open. Don't bite the guy's head off just because he doesn't want to jump through hoops to get a meaningless reward slightly easier than you did.
The only thing I wanted from Valve was the achievement milestones for regular unlocks so I didn't have to go through hours of play in the hopes of getting the Ambassador. And they were added.
Still is a fun game, and I think the only way that this is gonna make people shut up is if they make some kind of "vanilla" mode where there's no drops, no hats and no special weapons so it's more like "TF2 classic." Of course, if you're not enjoying the game, you're free to uninstall it and play something else.