Latest Team Fortress 2 Update Cracks Down On Idlers And Third Party Programs

Those who tend to go idle during a match of Valve’s free-to-play shooter Team Fortress 2 and expect to get rewarded with items for doing nothing may want to rethink their strategy.

The latest patch, which is now live, stops pesky idlers from being rewarded. Valve is even taking it a step further and punishing those who use third party programs to idle in order to gain in-game items.

However, those who might idle once in a while won’t be affected, as once you go idle, your item drop progress is simply ‘paused’ and resumes once you’re active again, according to the latest Team Fortress blog.

Additionally, for those wondering what it means to be ‘active’ in a Team Fortress 2 match in order to progress to your next item drop, Valve posted the following:

What is the definition of “actively playing” Team Fortress 2?

  • From an item drop perspective, a player is considered to be actively playing if they meet all of the following criteria:
    • Is connected to a VAC secured server.
    • Is responding to in-game drop notifications while not utilizing external programs to do so.
    • Is running only one instance of the game.
    • Is not in textmode.

Are you happy that Valve is taking a stance against idlers?

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