[TF2] Suggestions regarding the Bot Crisis

[TrickyTrix935]

Ever since the code leak of 2017 bots have been on the rise in TF2 and have only been getting worse with various workarounds to everything implemented against them, below I have listed a few possible things which could be used to stop or at least hinder the bots and their creators:

Matchmaking bans based on kick record in casual and competitive Currently the community is used to kicking any bots on sight, and has become accustomed to it. I propose using this to the games advantage and creating a matchmaking ban system. This could function like so, when a player is kicked [x] times within a [x] period, they receive a matchmaking ban from casual or competitive accordingly, this matchmaking ban is extended in duration based on how many times a player has received a matchmaking ban within a certain period from each other. To prevent accidental punishments, the kicks needed to trigger a matchmaking ban within a certain time period should be extremely high, and the matchmaking ban increase could reset after a certain amount of time has elapsed without the player receiving a matchmaking ban.

Disallow newly connected players from calling votes in casual and competitive Currently some of the bots are programmed to call votes on other players as they join the game, this is to trick others in the lobby into kicking someone else aside from the bot, as well as delay the voting process intended to be used on the bot itself. A simple solution to this would be to disallow newly connected players from calling votes for a certain amount of time, which could be implemented through a cvar if adjustment is needed for other modes and in community servers.

Restrict new steam accounts from casual and competitive play for a certain amount of time One of the main problems of the bot situation is derived from how easy it is for the creators to constantly create new steam accounts. If casual play was unavailable for new accounts for a certain amount of time it would make it more time consuming for bot creators to throw more bots or replacement bots into the game, combining this with the matchmaking bans suggestion would result in a much slower bot output.

While the community has become accustom to kicking bots on sight, the bots themselves still exist unhindered in large numbers within TF2s matchmaking system. While I'm unsure if these solutions would permanently stop these bots, it could potentially slow them down to a degree and reduce their effectiveness.

[AnOpenSauceDev]

Complaining about bickering is making the problem worse. You are literally the bickering you are complaining about

A lot of these things have already been discussed to some degree. I thought that the general opinion is that outright detecting and removing bots is the better choice, as there are simply times where bots greatly outnumber humans. This is getting close to just repeating the same points over and over again.

It's best to not make an already massive issue bigger, as it gets way harder for viewers to read all the comments. This is already the 151st comment. Since you're technically talking about an issue about voting which applies to more than bots, this could just be a new issue.

[Wadmodder]

hey, @kisak-valve Take a look at these bot account hosters from this Wiki and Valve employees would have the opertunity to ban the bot account hosters from the Steam platform.

https://tf2bots.fandom.com/wiki/TF2_bots_Wiki

[JoriKos]

hey, @kisak-valve Take a look at these bot account hosters from this Wiki and Valve employees would have the opertunity to ban the bot account hosters from the Steam platform.

https://tf2bots.fandom.com/wiki/TF2_bots_Wiki

Outside of this being an untrustworthy source that could send you after anyone, kisak is just the github moderator. Developers independently check this repo. If you wanna reach them specifically, you'll have to use the TF Team e-mail (and I doubt that link is getting through the spam filter).

[AnOpenSauceDev]

Valve is very much aware of this anyways, they're just being silent on this whole thing while they either come up with a response, or hope that FixTF2 cools off. Considering the accusations on what the bots are saying, Valve probably doesn't want to come off as willfully allowing this to happen for legal reasons.

I'd like to assume that the developers are very much aware of FixTF2 considering how big it got at the start, and those developers have probably read enough of this issue to understand what the community wants.

I think most of the discussion is pretty much done now, and we just have to wait for what the organizers/valve do next.

[motherofdragons96]

I have some amazing news regarding the bot problem, there is this recent ban wave going on, and banned every single bot hosters who are creating malicious bots. The bots also being banned, which is a good thing. This is one step of fixing tf2.  Later on, the bots will be under control as of right now. We won’t stop #FixTF2 until Valve let us know.Valve did listened to us! Sent from my iPhone

[motherofdragons96]

It’s a slow progress but, it’s a really good sign that the bots will be under control by the time the Summer update.Sent from my iPhone

[JoriKos]

All Valve needs to do is keep this up, but it's a really great step

Sent from my computer

[motherofdragons96]

Exactly Sent from my iPhone

[Kacey2k]

2 weeks in, still no reports on bot activity, at least not on the scale witnessed before the intervention.

I'd like to note that player numbers have doubled on average following the banwave, and have mostly remained in the range of 100k-150k reported players.

Kudos to those who stepped in and are keeping matchmaking servers playable. We all greatly appreciate what was pulled off here! :)

[ethanholt1]

2 weeks in, still no reports on bot activity, at least not on the scale witnessed before the intervention.

I guess that's it then. Should this be closed?

[AnOpenSauceDev]

That's a bad idea. Bots/bot hosters getting manually banned doesn't mean that bots in TF2 are forever gone. Inevitably bots will return, and this issue focuses more on how to make it easier to remove them automatically or at least allow the community to easily deal with bots so they don't become as rampant as they did last time.

[JoriKos]

I don't think closing the issue is going to help much. Undoubtedly there'll be a resurgence at some point, hopefully not though, but I have my doubts it's fixed forever.

That being said, I've still not experienced any bots since this happened and I've played quite regularly

[ethanholt1]

This thread makes my email client lag quite a lot. Just popping in one last time to say, yes, the bots are still gone, and all the bots I have seen (2, since the Summer Update released) were banned shortly after joining my game. Whatever Valve is doing, it's working.

On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 6:56 AM Jori Kos @.***> wrote:

I don't think closing the issue is going to help much. Undoubtedly there'll be a resurgence at some point, hopefully not though, but I have my doubts it's fixed forever.

That being said, I've still not experienced any bots since this happened and I've played quite regularly

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[motherofdragons96]

It’s been 2 months ago since the bots were banned, and I still haven’t seen a single bot at all. We still made a good progress with the Summer event without having bots around. Let’s hope it keep it that way.Sent from my iPhoneOn Jun 28, 2024, at 10:14 PM, Tricia Cooper @.> wrote:It’s a slow progress but, it’s a really good sign that the bots will be under control by the time the Summer update.Sent from my iPhoneOn Jun 28, 2024, at 10:19 AM, Tricia Cooper @.> wrote:I have some amazing news regarding the bot problem, there is this recent ban wave going on, and banned every single bot hosters who are creating malicious bots. The bots also being banned, which is a good thing. This is one step of fixing tf2.  Later on, the bots will be under control as of right now. We won’t stop #FixTF2 until Valve let us know.Valve did listened to us! Sent from my iPhoneOn Jun 26, 2024, at 5:36 PM, AnOpenSauceDev @.***> wrote: Valve is very much aware of this anyways, they're just being silent on this whole thing while they either come up with a response, or hope that FixTF2 cools off. Considering the accusations on what the bots are saying, Valve probably doesn't want to come off as willfully allowing this to happen for legal reasons. I'd like to assume that the developers are very much aware of FixTF2 considering how big it got at the start, and those developers have probably read enough of this issue to understand what the community wants. I think most of the discussion is pretty much done now, and we just have to wait for what the organizers/valve do next.

—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>

[motherofdragons96]

The bot crisis maybe over, but there are still a lot of human cheaters out there. We will keep this in mind.Sent from my iPhoneOn Aug 30, 2024, at 12:16 AM, Patricia Cooper @.> wrote:It’s been 2 months ago since the bots were banned, and I still haven’t seen a single bot at all. We still made a good progress with the Summer event without having bots around. Let’s hope it keep it that way.Sent from my iPhoneOn Jun 28, 2024, at 10:14 PM, Tricia Cooper @.> wrote:It’s a slow progress but, it’s a really good sign that the bots will be under control by the time the Summer update.Sent from my iPhoneOn Jun 28, 2024, at 10:19 AM, Tricia Cooper @.> wrote:I have some amazing news regarding the bot problem, there is this recent ban wave going on, and banned every single bot hosters who are creating malicious bots. The bots also being banned, which is a good thing. This is one step of fixing tf2.  Later on, the bots will be under control as of right now. We won’t stop #FixTF2 until Valve let us know.Valve did listened to us! Sent from my iPhoneOn Jun 26, 2024, at 5:36 PM, AnOpenSauceDev @.> wrote: Valve is very much aware of this anyways, they're just being silent on this whole thing while they either come up with a response, or hope that FixTF2 cools off. Considering the accusations on what the bots are saying, Valve probably doesn't want to come off as willfully allowing this to happen for legal reasons. I'd like to assume that the developers are very much aware of FixTF2 considering how big it got at the start, and those developers have probably read enough of this issue to understand what the community wants. I think most of the discussion is pretty much done now, and we just have to wait for what the organizers/valve do next.

—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>