Team Fortress 2's player count doubles after fan pressure sees Valve step in with a bot-demolishing banwave and a firm line on appeals: 'No'

Team Fortress 2's bot problem is an ongoing drama in PC gaming land: the issue seemingly went into overdrive when developer Valve stepped back from major work on the game in 2017. To be clear, whatever some in the community may say Valve has never abandoned TF2, and continues to periodically release bug fixes and community-authored expansions for the 17-year-old game. But the bots… the bots have definitely gotten out of hand. 

The issue seemed to become particularly acute around 2020, and led to various player campaigns before Valve even acknowledged there might be a bit of an issue. In recent years the community's kept up the pressure but things reached fever pitch this year with a renewed effort under the «FixTF2» hashtag that's been part internet petition, part awareness campaign, part review bombing, and all about pushing Valve into a response.

It seems to have finally got some results. Over the weekend a new FAQ page has appeared on Steam, and it's dedicated entirely to players banned from Team Fortress 2. It opens with the line, and you really have to imagine this delivered in the Heavy's voice, that «Team Fortress 2 game bans are permanent, non-negotiable, and are not removed by Steam Support.»

It somehow gets even better from there. The behaviours Valve lists are cheating, manipulation, «botting and/or automation», and «interfering with the normal operation of game servers or other players», and then we get to the juice. The following is an excerpt from Valve's text:

Can you tell me why I was game banned? «No.»

Can I appeal my game ban? «No.»

I was not using my account when it was game banned. Can the ban be removed? «No.»

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Can I move my Team Fortress 2 items to a different account? «No.»

Big words, but the appearance of this new page on Steam was accompanied by the kind of bot banwave that instantly had the fanbase reaching for the celebration gifs. The