Team Fortress 2’s Campaign For Valve Action Results In Epic Bot Banwaves

Back at the start of June, the Team Fortress 2 community made it known they were tired of the hellscape that was TF2. Malicious bot hosters were effectively holding the game hostage, and had done so for a very long time.

A website was erected at save.tf to go over the plan – simply make enough noise that Valve could no longer ignore the problem. Big name creators and community members made their point, covering everything from the problematic nature of the bot farms to giving examples as to how dangerous some of the behaviours were – and how Valve was essentially complicit in letting people get attacked.

A united effort saw the Steam reviews for TF2 get pushed to ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ to signpost the problem to others – and to ward off whatever remaining souls had not tried the game. A petition even received over 330k signatures begging for some kind of action to be taken.

And in the last 48 hours, it seems that the action has begun – because bots are being purged in colossal waves, with a message even being directed to the accounts responsible:

valve are now banning tf2 bot hosters and sending this message directly to them, stating "Accounts dedicated to the disruption of TF2 have been deactivated"

VALVE PLEASE KEEP DOING THIS DON'T STOP pic.twitter.com/PQ9SRZnB60

— heavy team fortres 2 (@heavyfortres) June 27, 2024

Update: As of right now, it seems as though the VAST majority of aimbots have been purged. It's 7AM and I've seen no bots, that's unheard of.

This is definitely not confirmation of any long term trend, but it's a step on the treadmill, let's get them to take more. #FixTF2 pic.twitter.com/Jolw2MGfbe

— Weezy (@WeezyTF2) June 27, 2024

Of course, some are making the valid point that banwaves are nothing new – they are just too infuriatingly sporadic and seem to barely dent the rising tide of automated cheaters that enter TF2’s casual mode.

However, some signs seem to point to clues that this particular effort to stem the flow of robotic bullshit is being handled differently – with action happening almost immediately after a bot hoster creates a new account to get back into their shenanigans:

tf2 bots are being deleted almost instantly after creation!

known tf2 cheating youtubers have also been manually game banned recently

this is a start we are getting somewhere!
thank you to people who continue to contribute to #FixTF2 !!! pic.twitter.com/P8EC4nsqce

— heavy team fortres 2 (@heavyfortres) June 28, 2024

For people who have been championing for something – ANYTHING – to happen, this is particularly exceptional news. The #fixtf2 effort has been a long and arduous one, with more than a healthy dose of concern that ultimately it would result in nothing of note. Team Fortress 2 is a game with 17 years under the belt, positively geriatric by any real measure, so the idea of the game being sunset and pushed out to pasture is all too real. But those damn mercs and their crazy schemes seem intent on living forever – thanks in part to the secret sauce of Valve characterisation and simplistic class-based gunplay. It is a game that amounts to so much more than the sum of its parts, so it comes as no surprise that people would rather it didn’t get botted to death.

The actions being taken by Valve currently are incredible, and all eyes are on how this effort continues.

Are you keen to jump back in to Team Fortress 2 and enjoy the game for what it WAS, rather than what it BECAME? Let us know in the comments, or on social media.