Attention Idlers:

Whon

Whon

Tribe of Judah Left 4 Dead Chapter Leader
Not sure yet if this is a problem but the 8/31/09 update of TF2 someone found these changes to the tf_english.txt

"TF_CheatDetected_Title""WARNING"
"TF_CheatDetectedMinor""Your account has been flagged for circumventing the item distribution system. We have removed the items that were illegally obtained.\n\nFuture violations will result in the loss of all your items."
"TF_CheatDetectedMajor""Your account has been flagged for circumventing the item distribution system. We have removed all items in your inventory.\n\nFuture violations may result in your account being disabled"

QFT

Don't know if this is for idling, but I'm going to hold off til I know more.
 
Thanks for the heads up Whon. I'd imagine it's probably for some other kind of cheat but good to be safe. I still can't understand why Valve didn't require some kind of input from the user to acquire items. I'm sure there would be a work around but it'd be a lot harder than just idling.
 
The Mighty Gerbil said:
Thanks for the heads up Whon. I'd imagine it's probably for some other kind of cheat but good to be safe. I still can't understand why Valve didn't require some kind of input from the user to acquire items. I'm sure there would be a work around but it'd be a lot harder than just idling.
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Since the server verifies a loadout before a player can use it, meh. My guess is they are ramping up in case they get bored and feel like making a lot of people angry.
 
Looks like I was right Valve is trying to play God... by basically calling anyone who tried the idler "unmoral" I have a few personal thoughts on Valve and moral that I'll keep to myself, but I digress. The creator of the idler shut it down and to quote valve, "...everyone who took the moral high road will soon be finding a new hat in their inventory. We've also significantly increased the chance of finding any of the existing hats."

I'm going to now try to take that "moral high road" and not metion the sdk they promised for L4D and the months of free content updates the promised.

A bit hypocritical if you ask me. Someone beat you at your own game, don't punish just change for the future.
 
The question that springs to my mind is will we now see people afk on servers (on ones set up to not kick afk'ers)? Since the only difference between the idle program and just idling on servers was not having to run tf2 in the background I didn't have a problem with the program. This is also why I didn't think valve would take action against the idlers either because the alternative is to have bunches of servers with only idlers on them. Honestly Valve why don't you just change the item distribution system to not give out items if you aren't playing? It's silly to me to give out items randomly to people who aren't doing anything. I await my hat for taking the quote "moral high ground" but I won't hold my breath, I'll probably get the one hat I don't like XD. BTW If it's a sniper hat I'll give it to you Whon, assuming you don't have it and Valve implements trading.
 
I checked it out. It actually fits a religious theme for sure.

And it's hats for all the characters, not just one random one. :)
 
Keero said:
I checked it out. It actually fits a religious theme for sure.

And it's hats for all the characters, not just one random one. :)
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It also causes graphics distortion on some video cards. So when everyone equips, it is like a massive DDOS for your eyes.
 
Whon said:
Looks like I was right Valve is trying to play God... by basically calling anyone who tried the idler "unmoral" I have a few personal thoughts on Valve and moral that I'll keep to myself, but I digress. The creator of the idler shut it down and to quote valve, "...everyone who took the moral high road will soon be finding a new hat in their inventory. We've also significantly increased the chance of finding any of the existing hats."

I'm going to now try to take that "moral high road" and not metion the sdk they promised for L4D and the months of free content updates the promised.

A bit hypocritical if you ask me. Someone beat you at your own game, don't punish just change for the future.
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ZING!
 
I am about to go see if I've got my hats. I haven't even left tf2 idling(mostly because I Don't care enough), so I'd better have a friggin hat waiting for me. :p

EDIT: Okay, I got the hats, and all I can say is... are you kidding? I was expecting an actual hat. :|
 
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I got one. Seems suited for the pyro or the medic. Devil horns for the pyro would be better though.
 
Here's a screenshot of the halo "hat" on a Medic:

The Mighty Gerbil said:
The question that springs to my mind is will we now see people afk on servers (on ones set up to not kick afk'ers)? Since the only difference between the idle program and just idling on servers was not having to run tf2 in the background I didn't have a problem with the program.
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The difference is that the idlers Valve cites, whether implicitly or explicitly, as immoral used a third-party program.

Regardless, I don't agree with the parent-to-child finger-wagging solution they decided on, especially given they already lost significant credibility when they announced Left 4 Dead 2 after failing to follow through on promises to users who purchased Left 4 Dead.

It's one thing to cripple a third-party application. People would be disappointed to lose an idling program, but pleased with Valve's commitment to fix a broken system. It's another thing entirely to adopt a shameless "holier than thou" attitude (complete with halo) when an entire community is staring at the plank in your eye.

The Mighty Gerbil said:
This is also why I didn't think valve would take action against the idlers either because the alternative is to have bunches of servers with only idlers on them. Honestly Valve why don't you just change the item distribution system to not give out items if you aren't playing?
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/agree

The entire reason the idling system was so popular was because the item distribution routine was horribly broken by almost any standard. I've logged over 130 hours as Medic, almost 90 hours as Pyro, and a decent number of hours playing other classes (you can see my stats here); I've yet to land even a single hat. My decision to not use the idling program had less to do with morals and more to do with a concern Valve would do something exactly like this.

The Mighty Gerbil said:
It's silly to me to give out items randomly to people who aren't doing anything. I await my hat for taking the quote "moral high ground" but I won't hold my breath, I'll probably get the one hat I don't like XD.
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Adding an item drop/trade system in a first-person shooter is absurd to begin with. First random crits (which Valve later partially removed), now item drops? Valve: If you want to develop a MMO, go for it. If you want to develop a MMO sub-game for TF2, knock yourself out. But stop trying to cram MMO elements where they don't belong.
 
All I can say is that now when I'm zoomed in on my sniper scope the rule has changed from "kill the medic first" to "kill the halo"
 
Whon said:
All I can say is that now when I'm zoomed in on my sniper scope the rule has changed from "kill the medic first" to "kill the halo"
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Such wrath! such malice!... are you sure you don't play Spy? :p (I will not be wearing the Halo as a spy unless I want to make myself a small lighthouse for everyone to target, it sticks out to easy :p).
 
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Whon said:
All I can say is that now when I'm zoomed in on my sniper scope the rule has changed from "kill the medic first" to "kill the halo"
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That we too funny!

We could have scrim nights, halos vs. the chea... I mean non-halos.

Looks like Whon and I will be on the same team. :)
 
You can ask tek, but everyone runs scared when they see a red dot on the wall and know I'm sniping :)

They really need to make a new taunt for domniating a player wearing a halo, something like "MAYBE IF YOU WEREN'T TO BUSY POLISHING YOUR HALO, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE DIED!!!"
 
I usually charge 70% of the time crouching and spraying flames, but you still manage to get me. xD
 
That's only when I'm going up against a sniper mind you. ;)

>_> Otherwise I rely on my Shotgun and Axt tons more than my normal flamer.

I make a decent demo though. :(
 
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