TF2 blog clarifying idle punishment

[Rasputin]

My first hat... yay?

In other news, the steam forums are abuzz with bothersome amounts of annoying.

 

[Ankh]

:facepalm:

Huh. I just lost all my items apart from my ambassador (yay), my flare gun (yay), Bonk (bah) and my level 100 KGBs (yay!)

I use one of those items regularly and now I can't even test my map properly because I was optimizing it for FaN jumping.

RIP my Cloak and Dagger, my Ubersaw, my Blutsauger, my Kritzkrieg, my Sandvich, my Jarate and my Axtinguisher, all of which I earned legitimately, but replaced with idled versions long before I was aware that anyone gave a damn.

You know what? I saw this coming, I thought I mentally prepared for it, I don't even use the non-default layout for most of my gameplay, but that's it, I'm done being civil. Screw this system, screw the TF2 team, screw their policies, screw the item drop system and I am making my #1 priority targets anyone I see wearing a GODDAMN HALO.

I was mad at this system when it first came out, but I stuck by it, I've defended everything Valve's done knowing that they'd do something about it to try and keep the customers happy even when they screwed up. I support L4D2 wholeheartedly, but this is just WRONG. And I but this is the first and only time I'll ever post about it on a forum.

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.

These people will be knifed. A LOT.

 

[PL-7764]

In other news, the steam forums are abuzz with bothersome amounts of annoying.

I don't read the Steam forums usually (didn't even know of such things until seeing them referred to here) but I checked it out just for fun now. Pretty hilarious. My simultaneous favorite and least favorite part is how EVERYONE THERE (EDIT: Above poster as well? They're leaking into our vicinity!) seems to believe that the halos/lost items matter so much that they have to devote their time and energy to countering this oppressive and unethical mistreatment. Oh wait ... it doesn't matter, because IT'S A GAME. Right?

I find it fascinating that the 4.5% of the TF2 players in the world that used the idler are about 50% of the people there (the other 50% being people who decide that they are God because they got a particular item in a computer game) ... seriously, this is new insight into demographics of users on these kinds of websites. I say an elaborate multi-million-dollar study is in order!

Seriously. I've stopped caring about the halo, and never felt it had significance. My celebration of it as my first hat lasted all of 3 minutes. Then I moved on. I would suggest that others do so too, as flaunting it, moaning that others have it, threatening to target specific people in-game, thinking your ranting about it now will be important in the future, etc. doesn't get you anywhere and makes you look really nerdy and whiny-loser-ish to be totally honest.

I already forgot why I thought I should say this, now that I think about it, since like the whining it doesn't really make a big difference... Think I'll go do something productive now and break myself from the computer...

 

[JoshuaC]

My first hat... yay?

In other news, the steam forums are abuzz with bothersome amounts of annoying.

So that's different from any other day.. How?

 

[MrAlBobo]

:even use the non-default layout for most of my gameplay, but that's it, I'm done being civil. Screw this system, screw the TF2 team, screw their policies, screw the item drop system and I am making my #1 priority targets anyone I see wearing a GODDAMN HALO.

These people will be knifed. A LOT.

*Puts on halo*

Bring it!...heh

anyways...the servers do need to be restarted so the halos are visible

 

[Ankh]

I'll of course wait until it's visible before I stab you.

 

[Shmitz]

You know what? I saw this coming, I thought I mentally prepared for it, I don't even use the non-default layout for most of my gameplay, but that's it, I'm done being civil. Screw this system, screw the TF2 team, screw their policies, screw the item drop system and I am making my #1 priority targets anyone I see wearing a GODDAMN HALO.

Thanks for helping me make my point.

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.

 

[JoshuaC]

Pretty cool that spies wearing the halo have visible glows above their heads when cloaked.

 

[Rasputin]

It might be a clever way to decieve the enemy into thinking you're harmless, then... Pow! Backstab!

 

[FaTony]

OH SHI- Have u seen Robin's items?

*Starting to code a plugin to get valve weapons*

 

[Ankh]

Thanks for helping me make my point.

YES I CAN BE PETTY.

In all seriousness, it's not the wearer of the halo that bothers me, it's that the halo is representative of this utterly stupid decision that screwed me over for doing something that was utterly neutral in regards to my game playing. Destroying a symbol of the unfairness is cathartic in a way, like burning an energy, but with a knife.

 

[Rexy]

Let us all just make a clean break with this and remember, Valve has intentions on how they want us playing their games. In the end, they have the final word, they always do. Complain if you want about whatever choices the company makes--but I guarantee you'll still be playing the game.

 

[Artesia]

:facepalm:

Huh. I just lost all my items apart from my ambassador (yay), my flare gun (yay), Bonk (bah) and my level 100 KGBs (yay!)

I use one of those items regularly and now I can't even test my map properly because I was optimizing it for FaN jumping.

RIP my Cloak and Dagger, my Ubersaw, my Blutsauger, my Kritzkrieg, my Sandvich, my Jarate and my Axtinguisher, all of which I earned legitimately, but replaced with idled versions long before I was aware that anyone gave a damn.

You know what? I saw this coming, I thought I mentally prepared for it, I don't even use the non-default layout for most of my gameplay, but that's it, I'm done being civil. Screw this system, screw the TF2 team, screw their policies, screw the item drop system and I am making my #1 priority targets anyone I see wearing a GODDAMN HALO.

I was mad at this system when it first came out, but I stuck by it, I've defended everything Valve's done knowing that they'd do something about it to try and keep the customers happy even when they screwed up. I support L4D2 wholeheartedly, but this is just WRONG. And I but this is the first and only time I'll ever post about it on a forum.



These people will be knifed. A LOT.

what I find most funny about all this, is that the upset people are the people that made a choice. A choice to use an external program that simulates the game. I mean, how stupid does a person need to be to not realize that nearly all software developers frown upon this. And you can't give me this "but the drop system sucks" crap. Cry more. The system sucks just as much for the people who chose not to idle, and were patient enough for wait for a hat, or for the system to be changed. Valve designed the system the way they wanted, sure it may not be final, but it is THEIR GAME. When you bought TF2, it didn't have nearly the amount of updates it has today, most game developers wouldn't do that without charging you money for an expansion pack! But people still wanted to be lazy, and impatient. I never touched an idler because I realized how lame that would be. A hat is very inconsequential, and just an amusing aspect they added to the game, why do you need to try and bypass the designated system to get it (or all)? It is inconsequential to the player, unless they have a boner for a certain hat, but that is what the trade system will be about. It is not inconsequential to valve, as it is their system they are building, using their models, in their game, and people bypassing that system, no matter how flawed, is their concern. So rather than take out your frustration on people that just got their first hat, maybe you should direct it where it belongs: yourself. YOU made the choice to use a program that is shady in its concept. If you honestly didn't think it was a bad thing then perhaps you need to learn something about fair play, sportsmanship, or basic common sense.

Anyways,

Did I idle? no
Did I have any hats? no
Do I have a halo now? yes
Was the halo my first hat? yes
will I wear the halo? yes
Do I think I'm superior to those without a halo? no, I just have more foresight for things like this
Do I find it hilarious people are getting so worked up over items in a video game? Absolutely.

 

[LordNor]

i think that Valve has done something slightly serious

 

[ChronoTriggerFan]

If you honestly didn't think it was a bad thing then perhaps you need to learn something about fair play, sportsmanship, or basic common sense.

I couldn't stop laughing.

In order to win the game, one must play the game up to its set limitations. Not sit idly by and hope to win the game by not trying.

Have I idled? Yes
Have I been punished? No.
Do I want to? Whats there to punish?

 

[FleshGolem]

I couldn't stop laughing.

In order to win the game, one must play the game up to its set limitations. Not sit idly by and hope to win the game by not trying.

So in this case, playing the up to its set limitations involves not playing the game at all, and just using a program to pretend to?

 

[NovaSilisko]

I've noticed things lately. People overreact. Like, a lot.

Yeah, I idled.
Yeah, I lost a hat(And my collection of razorbacks)

Do I care?

Nope. It's just a hat. It isn't even real.

 

[Radaka]

I didn't use the idler at all, but the one thing that frustrated me is that in a game I was in, a medic was named "DON'T HEAL THE CORRUPTED". I don't have my halo yet, so he wouldn't heal me, just shouted at me over the microphone every time I called for medic

 

[Ankh]

what I find most funny about all this, is that the upset people are the people that made a choice. A choice to use an external program that simulates the game. I mean, how stupid does a person need to be to not realize that nearly all software developers frown upon this. And you can't give me this "but the drop system sucks" crap. Cry more. The system sucks just as much for the people who chose not to idle, and were patient enough for wait for a hat, or for the system to be changed. Valve designed the system the way they wanted, sure it may not be final, but it is THEIR GAME. When you bought TF2, it didn't have nearly the amount of updates it has today, most game developers wouldn't do that without charging you money for an expansion pack! But people still wanted to be lazy, and impatient. I never touched an idler because I realized how lame that would be. A hat is very inconsequential, and just an amusing aspect they added to the game, why do you need to try and bypass the designated system to get it (or all)? It is inconsequential to the player, unless they have a boner for a certain hat, but that is what the trade system will be about. It is not inconsequential to valve, as it is their system they are building, using their models, in their game, and people bypassing that system, no matter how flawed, is their concern. So rather than take out your frustration on people that just got their first hat, maybe you should direct it where it belongs: yourself. YOU made the choice to use a program that is shady in its concept. If you honestly didn't think it was a bad thing then perhaps you need to learn something about fair play, sportsmanship, or basic common sense.

I thought I said I absolutely do not regret choosing to idle. I regret being punished for it when it didn't give me anything I didn't already have. Furthermore I resent being labelled a cheater and immoral for trying to circumvent a fundamentally flawed system, whilst still doing everything I could to get the items legally. I see no reason why I should be patient when the odds of me getting a hat idling and playing are still nearly nothing - a 0.001% chance times two is still miniscule. It's like trying to be stuck by lighting on a sunny day (assuming being stuck by lighting was desirable) - am I really that immoral for holding up a two foot lightning rod?

Now I'm a completionist. If there is content in the game I don't have access to I want access to it. Now I never got a hat whilst playing, so I idled. I never got a hat whilst idling and now the quality of my gaming experience has been decreased because, try as I might I did nothing wrong. I used many of those items, items I already unlocked legitimately - having them removed has given me a very good reason to be annoyed. It's not like I stopped playing to idle either, I only idled when I couldn't play. I've done nothing that affects anyone including myself, why should I be punished for it? In fact, by using it I've not only saved myself network bandwidth, but freed slots on existing servers.

Now telling me that it's Valve's game is totally irrelevant to this discussion. I realize they give me a lot of content for free, for which I'm grateful, but the thing is, I wasn't getting said content. If I was getting it I wouldn't have to idle for it now would I? And how am I lazy? I said, I played as much as I would normally - I only idled when I physically couldn't play. That's not being lazy, it's being practical - if anything it's less lazy because I actually had the motivation to find a way to circumvent the system in an efficient way, rather than wasting resources as I said.
And of course I was impatient - Did you see the drop rates? people could go over a thousand hours without finding a hat, do you really expect me to try and play that long, for ONE of THIRTY hats? not to mention if I wanted more than one. Calling me impatient for not wanting to play unhealthy amounts of time is simply insulting.

So hats are inconsequential? then please, be quiet and let me find them in peace. I still want them for the sake of completing (or even starting) a collection. I want them because they look cool, I want them because I see other people with them and am infuriated that I who owns the same game they do, having played as long as, if not longer than a lot of them do not have the same content they do for the sole reason that a gorram random number generator liked them better.
I wan them because I don't have them. Do I need a valid reason to want something inconsequential?

If there was a trading or a crafting or a working-towards-a-specific-one system I wouldn't be idling, but there isn't. You can't make arguments for present actions based on future speculation - neither of us knows when the systems will be added. For all I know it could be added a year from now - with my luck, immediately after I get my first hat randomly - it is irrelevant to the discussion.

And I didn't bypass the system - I'm not getting the money straight out of a slot machine - I'm just setting up a robot to pull the lever for me because I have better things to do than gamble. It still didn't make me win, why should I be punished for failing to cheat? And absolutely their incomplete system is my concern - I'm being forced to use it as is, why can't I use it more efficiently?

Finally, I made the choice to use a program that allowed me to do what I could always do in the game with minimal hardware tax. That isn't shady, it's practical.
It wasn't unfair to you non-idlers because you could just as easily download it yourself, or even sit in an idle server. I honestly didn't think it was a bad thing because it was utterly victimless. It's not unfair play - I'm not getting new weapons from it that give me a gameplay advantage over people who don't use it, it's not an aimbot, or a wallhack - those are unfair play. This was just a program that gave me the satisfaction of knowing I was doing all I could as efficiently and harmlessly as I could.

If other people are rewarded for not being as proactive as I am, or doing what I was doing less efficiently, that's not fair, that's downright insulting. And then to be insulted personally when I complain about being given an unfair deal, and you wonder why I want to knife people who lord their so-called morality over me like a bunch of gorram priests. I HATE people who do that. I hate that holier-than-thou attitude and if I'm given a choice between stabbing someone who is in the same plight as I am, or someone who, for doing literally nothing was given an excuse to insult me I see no reason I should stay my blade.

Or would you prefer I just whined about it on forums some more? At least this way I'm not just being lazy
[/rant]

 

[Ravidge]

incredible rant

I read it.
More words than this topic deserves.