TF2 blog clarifying idle punishment

[Jack Riguel]

Unless Valve can identify specific hats being from the idler (and hey, maybe they can) then the only remotely sane way of dealing with it is statistically. If half your time was idling, lose half your hats.

Actually I spent more time in a achivement_idle server then the fake idler (still didn't get the hats there either) so if that's the case I'm not to worried. I'll say this though, I'll be fine with it if valve decides to delete half the items that were replaced when I got higher level ones through the idler (which is nearly all of them), but like I said, I won't be happy if Valve decides to take away my hats for a second time.

 

[FlavorRage]

And so achievement_idle makes its glorious return.

 

[Freyja]

Meanwhile, everyone who took the moral high road will soon be finding a new hat in their inventory. We've also significantly increased the chance of finding any of the existing hats.

I wonder if that counts me in. I idled one on Saturday for 10 minutes and got nothing. They did say only hats gotten on idle servers will be deleted so I'm guessing their looking for items tagged "earned on non VAC server". No idea though.
I'd like a hat, but now the drop rate is higher...

 

[FlavorRage]

Check out Robin's new avatar

That's probably the best thing ever.

 

[evanonline]

Maybe rather than assuming they're self-absorbed, consider that it might actually just be because it's the first hat they've gotten? You know, because they didn't idle.

Well, yeah, but I mean more like "HA HA SUCK IT BITCHES I TOOK THE HIGH ROAD B)" kind of stuff. If you're going to act like that I don't think you'd really be "deserving" or at least certainly not taking the high road in that case.

But yeah, I do have to congratulate all the people who will be getting their first hat! Good stuff.

EDIT: http://www.tf2items.com/profiles/76561197995255312 Seems my Medic hat's gone now. One down, three to go, I guess! I still think it's a little silly--if you get a chance for hats every x amount of seconds, shouldn't my Demoman's Fro be gone too? My first two hats were 100% legitimately obtained, but you could still look at it as me using the idler to inflate my time played in order to obtain a hat--my sick fro is still cheating too, isn't it?

Oh well, I guess I'm being pedantic.

EDIT AGAIN: Now I have a friend who got marked as a cheater, but lost no items and never used the idler. So now he's not getting a halo, I suppose. I also have a friend who lost his Jarate and Cloak and Dagger, but didn't lose his idler-gained hat. Uhh?

 

[Freyja]

Maybe they're going through and doing all the medic hats first, then all the pyro ones etc etc. I dont know...

 

[Terr]

It could very well be that they have a program going through item-by-item and that the analysis and deletion isn't strictly linear. I can think of several technical reasons that the scrubbing might appear to be randomly working it's way through.

 

[The Political Gamer]

Thats what I get for idling 2 times....

 

[J4CK8]

Check out Robin's new avatar

Seen Rabscuttle's?

 

[sbrown]

And so achievement_idle makes its glorious return.

yay, more fame for me ! :O I have a halo btw

 

[Altaco]

Seen Rabscuttle's?

The eyepatch fits so nicely over his glasses.

 

[Freyja]

Heh, I got a Cheaters Lament. Neato.

 

[Nineaxis]

Heh, I got a Cheaters Lament. Neato.

What exactly is it?

 

[Shmitz]

To summarize my thoughts:

Dumb: Punishing people for trying to get what they want out of the system instead of changing the system.

Even more dumb: Getting upset about losing something you put no time or effort into gaining.

Just plain retarded: Getting angry at and/or wanting to take it out on people who didn't idle, since they really had nothing to do with Valve's actions.

 

[YM]

What exactly is it?

Its just the warning message thats already been discussed, nothing more. When mine finally registered i lost a load more than my only idled weapon the sandvich... but I dont care because none of the items for the three classes i play are gone (medic, pyro and soldier since he has none)

Lost all my sniper stuff but wait.. snipers are the lamest and most worthless class ever. so who cares? not me

Also this stopped me getting a halo and becomeing one of those 'pricks' or whatever choice words you want for them

 

[Freyja]

No, I got the Cheat detecter that said I've been honest. I also got the Cheaters Lament.

It's a hat. It's a little halo above your characters head. My first Hat. I feel so proud.

http://www.tf2items.com/profiles/76561198008861029

 

[JoshuaC]

Oddly enough it I haven't gotten anything on my account. (Flag/Halo)

 

[evanonline]

To summarize my thoughts:

Dumb: Punishing people for trying to get what they want out of the system instead of changing the system.

Even more dumb: Getting upset about losing something you put no time or effort into gaining.

Just plain retarded: Getting angry at and/or wanting to take it out on people who didn't idle, since they really had nothing to do with Valve's actions.

Pretty much this. I think the people who have halos should be happy to get their hat and wear it proudly, but people who buy shove their moral superiority in everyone's faces will get annoying soon. I feel bad for a friend of mine who is outright AFRAID to don his halo because he thinks he'll be branded as such. Nonetheless, just taking action against the idler and putting in the halo would be enough punishment to "cheaters"--you miss out on a nice little exclusive. Just doing that is how most companies handle these issues in their games. Taking the extra step was a bit overboard.

I did lose stuff, but it's really not about my single hat out of four obtained through idling (previously mentioned arguments aside)--it's about the people who lost entire inventories without warning simply because they wanted to have higher levelled stuff (It didn't do anything, no, but Valve told us to "hold on to our spares", didn't they? And they did end up becoming "rare!") and simply an ethical question. I'm very frustrated with Valve for this. There were ways to assert that this was "cheating", but this was the worst way to do it.

 

[The Political Gamer]

To summarize my thoughts:

Dumb: Punishing people for trying to get what they want out of the system instead of changing the system.

Even more dumb: Getting upset about losing something you put no time or effort into gaining.

Just plain retarded: Getting angry at and/or wanting to take it out on people who didn't idle, since they really had nothing to do with Valve's actions.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

 

[PL-7764]

This is my first hat too. :thumbup: Those wires look bloody painful though, sticking directly out of your character's head like that ... and the soldier's shovel taunt while using the halo looks really unpleasant for him. Can't be good for his remaining sanity.

Flaunting the halo as a way of saying you're better than others is dumb not only because of the aforementioned nuisance-being reasons, but also because so many people have them that it's not really individual anymore.
That won't stop me from wearing mine though as I'm just happy to have any hat at all. I only use it because it's something to use since I have no other hats.

Lost all my sniper stuff but wait.. snipers are the lamest and most worthless class ever. so who cares? not me

I like to play Sniper...

Also this stopped me getting a halo and becomeing one of those 'pricks' or whatever choice words you want for them

:crying: