TF2 rewarding honesty with halos

By Robert Purchese Published 3 September, 2009

Cheaters will be trampled.

Valve will "cleanse" Team Fortress 2 of all unfairly earned items this week, as part of a new zero tolerance policy towards cheaters.

They - around 4.5 per cent of TF2's population - have been using external programs to amass enough game-time to unlock rewards. Tut tut. Those items will be exterminated.

Conversely, the angelic masses who haven't cheated will be rewarded with a halo hat. Plus, they'll be able to find existing hats more easily.

"We realise there is a high level of demand for items, and we're still working on systems to allow you to find them in new ways (via Trading, and crafting duplicates into desired items). However, we need to draw the line at running external applications," wrote Valve's Erik Johnson on the TF2 blog.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • insincere_dave #1 2 years ago

    Good name for a game that, Halo.

  • hiddenranbir #2 2 years ago

    External?

    Does this count those "idle servers" Cause that is all I ever see people on my friend's list use.

    EDIT: Reading the blog suggests yes!
    Edited by 1 at 03/09/09 @ 12:16

  • BabyJesus #3 2 years ago

    "Those items will be exterminated."

    Sounds painful.
    Edited by 1 at 03/09/09 @ 12:11

  • Metalfish #4 2 years ago

    4.5% of the owners of the game, 33% of their active userbase. Thar be some pissed off hardcore fans on the offical forums I tell thee (although some of them raise good points in their defence).

    Myself, I'm done with TF2 until the next update, chasing hats sullies the fun somewhat.

  • smirny #5 2 years ago

    i haven't played TF2 for a while... chasing hats?? what is this lunacy...?

  • hiddenranbir #6 2 years ago

    Surely only those that use idle are the lunatics chasing them.

    I think most of us just want to play the game. If we get an item, we get it, but capturing that intelligence is more important!

  • mull #7 2 years ago

    /\ No, I neeeeed that Russian hat for the heavy! Now I might actually have a chance of finding it, by the sounds of it...

  • General_Zod #8 2 years ago

    How I love Valve, they troll their fanbase so hard at times.
    I also love to read the tears and anguish on the Steam forums of people whining about the loss of completely useless novelty hats. Some of the people are acting like Valve raped their grandmothers to death, I would love it if Valve took it a step further and VAC banned all the people who used the idling program for them breaking the EULA.

  • Metalfish #9 2 years ago

    @Zod,

    Funny as it would be, it is estimated that around 10000+ people have used this program which tells us two things: the system in place was crap enough to drive a whole lot of people to it and even Valve aren't going to destroy 10000+ lifetime steam sales -that'd add up to a silly amount of revenue lost.

  • RumpyStumpy #10 2 years ago

    I take my hat off to them!

  • penhalion #11 2 years ago

    hats?!?

    Man I've been away from TF2 a long time. I didn't even know about the hats.

  • hiddenranbir #12 2 years ago

    Well, people did use idle servers to get the weapons also, when they first introduced the item drop system.

    So I guess weapons are at risk too.

  • christourlord #13 2 years ago

    LOL @ anyone caring about the hats, halos or any of the other bullshit they've added recently. Just get on with playing the game ffs.

  • BabyJesus #14 2 years ago

    Wow, everyone have a gander at their official forums, it is quite hilarious to see the moaning. Great time waster.

    http://fo rums.steampowered.com/forums/fo...
    Edited by 1 at 03/09/09 @ 13:27

  • Bremenacht #15 2 years ago

    Bugger hats - patch the 360 version!!

  • Iain815 #16 2 years ago

    All very well, but what about Episode 3 Valve. eh?

  • urban #17 2 years ago

    about time.

  • DUFFKING #18 2 years ago

    Love the way so many people are trying to justify cheating on those forums.

    Utterly pathetic. 'Waah, the hats take a long time to unlock! How else do we get them?' Well no shit, they're rewards for a reason. You're not supposed to be able to get them all in about 10 minutes flat. They're nice rewards which come as a nice surprise every once in a while. Christ. What's the fun in just having them all unlocked?

  • hiddenranbir #19 2 years ago

    I have someone on IRC trying to argue the morality of his actions and how him getting hats were not affecting the game's system or the players.

  • DUFFKING #20 2 years ago

    Doesn't matter if it affects others though IMO, it's cheating. You're getting items which are rewards for playing the game... by not playing the game 0_o It's like the stat padders in Battlefield 2 - sure it doesn't affect you, but it's still cheating and should be punished in some way.

    Apparantly there's something in the EULA about using external applications as well, so they don't have a leg to stand on if that's the case...

  • Sunyavadin #21 2 years ago

    Too bad this is the PC version, not the 360 one.

    Those halos would look great in 99% of the games I get into on XBox Live, where most of the players can fly.....

  • Slamhound #22 2 years ago

    Halos are being distributed now. Oddly cute.

    So far, it's the only headgear that removes the Soldier's helmet(s) in any form. Without any head-obstructing headgear, he looks suspiciously like the Heavy.

  • videogangs #23 2 years ago

    Picked up TF2 for the first time in a while lastnight (been in a bit of a WoW trance recently) and I really enjoyed the new KOTH Sawmill map. Can see myself getting back into my old Pyro boots and racking up quite a few more hours again :-D

  • hiddenranbir #24 2 years ago

    Love the Halo.

    Notice how spies can be seen with it on when they cloak?

    Also the halo lingers after death, confusing more!

  • sneetch #25 2 years ago

    @hiddenranbir
    Love the Halo.

    Notice how spies can be seen with it on when they cloak?

    Excellent, they should staple it to every spy's head. ;)

    Edit: "every spy's head", "every spies' head"? Anyone really care?
    Edited by 2 at 04/09/09 @ 15:44