Valve is killing TF2. It's high time we did something about it.

[Pocket]

For all intents and purposes, the game no longer exists anymore, and Valve has made it clear they don't give a fuck about it either. But can we make them care? At this point, the community is responsible for the majority of the game's content, and notably, none of it was made as work-for-hire; all of the mappers and modelers are under a contract that entitles them to continual royalties. Does that give us any pull that regular players don't have? At this point, even withholding any of our new content from them wouldn't make a difference anymore because they probably weren't planning on adding any more anyway, so it would have to be something even more drastic.

 

[worMatty]

Well if the game is going to shit because of bots, then your royalties are at stake, which is a legitimate concern.

 

[Yrr]

play a different game instead

 

[SnickerPuffs]

play a different game instead

The sunk cost fallacy has me in a chokehold, there's got to be another way.

 

[Pocket]

play a different game instead

This is some "fuck you, got mine" energy right here considering you're one of the people who has content in the game.

 

[Pocket]

To be clear for the people who didn't bother to watch the video, and who also haven't touched the game in over two years, this is not an "I can't play the game anymore" post. I'm pretty sure I stopped playing vanilla TF2 in like 2014 or something when just showing up for map tests was enough to more than satisfy my interest in the game. This is a "Literally no one can play the game anymore on official servers without being instantly sniped by an entire team of aimbots, spammed with slurs and links to child porn sites, and in some cases doxxed, and yet Valve is continuing to actively promote that experience to unsuspecting people" post.

If they literally shut the game down for real, it would actually be a preferable situation to what's happening right now. Instead, all signs point to them doubling down on the marketing by developing a Netflix animated series. It's the digital equivalent of continuing to run commercials for a theme park where all the rides are so broken down that 100% of customers come back with injuries, and being too lazy and cheap to fix it.

 

[Idolon]

At this point, even withholding any of our new content from them wouldn't make a difference anymore because they probably weren't planning on adding any more anyway, so it would have to be something even more drastic.

Valve still does regular updates for Halloween and Christmas, so withholding our maps could be a legitimate strategy. However, many maps added in recent years were not developed on TF2Maps, so the TF2 community at large would have to organize such a boycott. If one was organized, I fear for the safety of the people who would inevitably cross the picket line.

The other avenue I would explore is removing existing maps from the game. I haven't reviewed the contract language to know if this is even possible.

 

[Yrr]

This is some "fuck you, got mine" energy right here considering you're one of the people who has content in the game.

damn now i respect your concerns less

 

[Yrr]

like if you'd said it was because I'd gotten a decade of enjoyment out of the game already then I'd be like "yea fair enough that's a reasonable criticism of my post" but making it about Getting Content In The Game is just kinda shitty

 

[Tiftid]

But you definitely did get your few bucks / make your mark on the game, so saying that other people shouldn't have an opportunity to do that anymore kind of stings.
Also, what other games are there to even play? The only game I like that was released in the past 5 years is Fortnite (oh, I guess Touhou 18 would technically be another one but I'm guessing you don't count that). If you ask me, Overwatch and Valorant are pure misery, and it's not like I can get a map in the game in either of those. Or even make a map in the first place.

And I already play Fortnite. And there's nothing stopping me from playing it as well as TF2. So I think that telling me that I should just get a new favourite game is a terrible take. There's nothing wrong with wanting your favourite game to get better if it's in a bad way.

 

[Yrr]

But you definitely did get your few bucks / make your mark on the game, so saying that other people shouldn't have an opportunity to do that anymore kind of stings.

Ah, but I'm not saying that, am I?
Not saying that it's good that it's like this, or that it's what should happen, just telling you how to deal with the fact that it is.

 

[drp]

play a different game instead

I think this is equivalent to when someone says something critical about their town/state/country and someone responds with "well then just leave".

I think that's unfair. In order to *try* and improve a system, criticism is necessary. Simply saying "then leave" is counter-productive.

 

[Prestige]

not playing is some kind of boycott and might get valves attention to where they test some balance changes or new unlocks or something.

 

[Pocket]

Unfortunately there are so many bots that they're not just artificially inflating the player count, I don't know if Valve would even notice. Community servers are still a thing, I guess, but they're nowhere near as big as they used to be.

 

[Another Bad Pun]

damn now i respect your concerns less

lol

 

[Pocket]

Also, what other games are there to even play? The only game I like that was released in the past 5 years is Fortnite (oh, I guess Touhou 18 would technically be another one but I'm guessing you don't count that). If you ask me, Overwatch and Valorant are pure misery, and it's not like I can get a map in the game in either of those. Or even make a map in the first place.

That brings up another reason this pisses me off. There was a time when I figured TF2's days were numbered because of all the people flocking to Overwatch. And then the Activizzard scandal happened and now people are abandoning it in droves and gee wouldn't it be nice if there were an obvious alternative already available for people who like that kind of gameplay experience? And the saddest part is, if the game still worked, if it were merely stagnating and people were losing interest, maybe there'd be an influx of players anyway from the Overwatch exodus and that would convince Valve that there's still value in bringing it up to spec.

(Though if anyone's looking for a multiplayer experience to make their drug of choice, have you tried Deep Rock Galactic? It's basically Left 4 Dead meets Astroneer. I'd probably be hooked on it right now if it didn't all but require a mic and also my only computer that can run it hadn't imploded last year.)

 

[Emil_Rusboi]

(Though if anyone's looking for a multiplayer experience to make their drug of choice, have you tried Deep Rock Galactic? It's basically Left 4 Dead meets Astroneer. I'd probably be hooked on it right now if it didn't all but require a mic and also my only computer that can run it hadn't imploded last year.)

Did you know? that the critically acclaimed coop FPS Deep Rock Galactic has half price sale, and includes the entirety of second season battlepass AND the award-winning "Rival Escalation" expansion up to level 25 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Hoxxes IV today!

340 hours, Gold Star 1 Engi, Silver Star 3 Scout and Silver Star 1 Gunner and I have never used mic in the game (thanks to very good ping-attention system). The game is so cool it obliterated your computer

 

[Yrr]

play a different game instead

I'm still getting notifications occasionally for my posts in this thread, so let me clarify some things

"You already have content in the game so you don't care"
My content in the game is my income so, no, I arguably have more reason to care about TF2 getting better.

But importantly, there's nothing we can materially do to fix TF2 as players, so there's nothing we can gain from spending time and brainpower stressing about it. Genuinely, finding something else to focus on is the best way to prevent stress/depression about the state of this game.

Yes, my post was dismissive, but I stand by it as advice.