Here’s a bit of news coming from Valve that doesn’t surround the Steam platform or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive; it’s actually about Team Fortress 2, and it doesn’t include hats. At this rate, we might want to all grab a few lottery tickets, because pigs are going to be flying.
Before everyone gets too excited, the patch fixes an exploit that has surfaced that allowed high-ping bots to join servers, making the game unplayable. Attempts to kick the bots would result in the entirety of the server unceremoniously crashing shortly after.
Valve’s general lack of care towards Team Fortress 2 in recent years has made it a festering breeding ground of bots that have damaged competition and play within the critically-acclaimed title, and this patch isn’t likely to bring that current endemic to a close anytime soon. In fact, the continuing issues point to the idea that Team Fortress 2 may be slowly dying out, to the chagrin of a rabid fanbase that has been with the title for well over a decade at this point; TF2 originally released on October 10, 2007.
The patch consisted of two bullets total: one was ‘fixed a server crash exploit’, and the other was the famous tech-bullet of localization files being fixed.
The botting issue that Team Fortress 2 is currently experiencing doesn’t have a simple fix, due primarily to it being a free to play game; botters will likely transfer their scripts to a new Steam account, download Team Fortress 2 on the new account, and continue their shenanigans. Shenanigans that tend to be malicious, simply for the sake that the avenue is available for trolling, and what better reason is needed?
This specific event is bringing about a new conversation that both Valve and the remaining player base likely don’t want to have: at what time should a game have its plug pulled in regards to public servers being open and available?
With the rampant botting turning the public servers into a bit of a mess for many, if not most, of the players. the question should be asked if public servers are offering enough to fans as they stand. If botting cannot be fought from Valve’s side, and the majority of games I personally enter are ruined by botters, while Valve lets the title stagnate, when should the plug be pulled? The most recent Tweet from TF2’s official account was August 16, 2019.
A game that monumentally shifted the team-based PvP genre is now struggling on life support, and it doesn’t seem that anyone is too interested in its plight.