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Valve’s answer to Team Fortress 2 ban appeals amid its aimbot purge is a thunderous “no.” After players started a petition demanding Valve act against the bot crisis, the Steam maker is finally taking action against these accounts. This includes a new TF2 support page for anyone banned in the game, with the answer to every question a simple, and savage, denial.
Team Fortress 2 has had a bot crisis for years. Aimbots are invading casual games and insta-killing, kicking players, spouting hate speech, and even launching DDoS attacks. Valve was made aware of the problem back in 2022 and promised to improve things, but fell silent. Until now.
Players are sharing how bots are being banned en masse, as Valve is taking down accounts and even shutting them out a matter of hours after they’re being made. The FPS game is coming to a turning point, especially after the community petition highlighting the issue.
The bot problem was so bad that Team Fortress 2 dropped to ‘Mostly Negative’ for the first time ever, but that could be about to change.
The new support page “Team Fortress 2 – I’ve been game banned” highlights Valve’s approach. There’s absolutely no leniency to be found for bot hosters and cheaters, as the answer to almost every question about appeals is a colossal “no.”
Players can’t appeal their ban, move TF2 items to a different account, or even be told why they were banned in the first place. Whether a player is banned for cheating, manipulating their rank, botting, or interfering with servers, Steam support does not change its ruling.
If a botter tries to get around the fact they technically weren’t playing when banned, Valve has an answer for that too. “No,” Valve says. “Regardless of who was using the account at the time the ban was issued, game bans are permanent and are not removed.”
Valve’s short answers aren’t new, as it repeatedly gives a tough “no” to questions about VAC bans in another Steam support article, but this attitude toward TF2 sure is. Amid the ongoing ban waves, Valve is putting its foot down on botters and cheaters in ways players have been asking about for years.
The TF2 community is taking Valve’s new actions well, with many celebrating being able to play without bots dominating the game. The ‘Did TF2 Get Updated?’ X account says it played 20 games and there was “not a single bot” to be seen, as many others share similar stories.
As Team Fortress 2 continues to heal, there are other incredible multiplayer games to play while you wait, and a massive slate of upcoming PC games to be excited about as well.
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