There’s a very giant group of people that need you to know that multiplayer FPS Staff Fortress 2, the 2007 recreation from Half-Life creators Valve, has a bot drawback. A “rampant bot drawback” we’re informed, in lots of upon lots of of identically worded emails despatched to Kotaku and each different gaming website. They need Valve’s notoriously ephemeral consideration and are pushing onerous to get it.
The problem is that bots, AI-controlled software program enjoying the sport, are dominating the maps, making the sport unattainable for regular, human gamers to get pleasure from. Bots can snipe common gamers with one-hundred-percent accuracy, enjoying with reflexes past mortal man. And this, says a big phase of the TF2 neighborhood, is ruining the sport for everybody.
It’s price noting that Staff Fortress 2 is 15 years outdated. And it’s one thing of an anomaly on this trade that the sport’s even nonetheless on-line, not to mention nonetheless supported by its authentic creators. It’s testomony to the multiplayer shooter that it stays a well-liked and energetic recreation in 2022, and it’s maybe considerably extra forgivable for its builders to have taken their eyes off the ball in terms of important points. Heck, Valve made the sport free in 2011, with solely beauty objects to pay for. There’s loads of room for the argument that Valve supported this recreation for 3 times longer than most would anticipate for a web based FPS, and possibly now it’s had its day. However after all that doesn’t wash with those that nonetheless see the sport as their passion or neighborhood.
I observe, after writing the above, that IGN reported on the identical points (and in addition began with nearly the identical opening as me, which is actually annoying since they did it first) and mentioned they skilled the precise issues talked about. I, nonetheless, after simply leaping right into a random match, didn’t.
Properly, no less than I don’t suppose I did. I’m so outstandingly horrible at on-line shooters (but weirdly good at offline ones) that I die nearly right away on a regular basis anyway. However as I performed, I wasn’t conscious of any of the opposite gamers being particularly prescient or over-capable. Maybe I bought fortunate.
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Whereas numerous conspiracy theories exist for the way this drawback started, together with one based mostly on the supply code leak from 2020, the end result for a lot of is that they only can’t play the sport on Valve’s official servers. This leaves different choices, like enjoying on neighborhood servers, however that resolution closes a door to open an terrible lot of home windows–neighborhood servers are simply as susceptible to bots (though probably higher moderated towards them), however in addition they enable mods and unofficial maps and all the additional issues this provides.
So what can a TF2 participant do subsequent? Properly, one in style suggestion from the sport’s subreddit is to imitate the low-key protest that came about outdoors of Valve’s Seattle headquarters in 2012, when a few Canadian followers arrange camp to demand information on the never-to-exist Half-Life 3. Valve being Valve responded within the oddest method potential: The corporate’s founder, Gabe Newell, went down to satisfy them, had a pleasant chat, and despatched them pizza and soda earlier than giving them a tour of the studio. So ought to TF2 gamers attempt to get consideration in the same method? A particular no, in accordance with former Valve honcho Chet Faliszek.
“Don’t do that,” the Left 4 Lifeless author mentioned on Twitter. “Don’t harass workers, voice actors, and so forth.” He went on to counsel eager Staff Fortress 2 gamers as a substitute kind their very own communities, host their very own video games, and benefit from the many mods nonetheless showing for the sport. “The wave zombie recreation in TF2 MvM is superb,” Faliszek added.
Somebody within the replies challenged this, demanding to know why an “clearly humorous fan marketing campaign” needs to be an issue ten years later.
“Folks displaying up at your office will get much less and fewer humorous yearly…” succinctly replied Faliszek.
There is no such thing as a query that Valve is infuriating as an organization in terms of communication. A fan can ship in a single e-mail asking a query and discover themselves flown out to the studio to have it answered whereas complete communities can beg for only a snippet of data and go ignored without end. We’ve reached out for remark relating to this story, asking if there are plans for coping with this bot challenge, and can replace upon reply.
Within the meantime, if nothing else, individuals can cease emailing us about this now. And, hopefully, with sufficient eyes on the story, Valve may really feel some obligation to reply in any method in any respect. Don’t maintain your breath. However on the similar time, look again on 15 years with a very improbable recreation, that’s been free to play for almost all of its extremely lengthy life.
