The most common types of cheats allow players to see through walls or automatically aim for headshots, both of which are now a problem in Team Fortress 2.
But the botting problem is unlike anything else I’ve seen in another multiplayer shooter. This is when people use multiple virtual machines, each of which is logged into Team Fortress 2 with a different account, and software to control each of those accounts in-game. Some of these bots join matches and give just enough input so as not to be kicked out so they could farm items players passively earn while playing the game. Some bots are more aggressive, and are loaded with the same kind of cheats mentioned above, making any match they’re in unplayable to human competitors.
After [a streamer] started calling attention to this problem and asking the community to pressure Valve to do something about it 2023, the people operating the bots started harassing him. They used samples of his voice from YouTube to create an AI voice model
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Using AI cloning tools to defame someone for reporting on the rampant use of bots to farm items in Valve's Team Fortress 2
Friday, April 26, 2024
Friday, March 15, 2024
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Life-sized thopter; Concept art from an abandoned Valve game called "Stars of Blood"; Half-Life 2 given a tilt-shift facelift
So Excited to share the full size 'Thopter that I designed for the film DUNE. 3D detailed and modeled by @Coliewertz and built by @bgisuppliesltd See it in theaters now :] https://t.co/62gZHe77wu
— GeorgeHullDesign (@georgehullcom) October 22, 2021
ohhh yeah I remember this. In 2011 when valve invited the portal 2 ARG winners to the office they left us unattended for awhile and we went on a little 'hallway roam'. The active cabals at the time were TF2, L4D2, & Dota2. But there were a bunch of other abandoned looking rooms. https://t.co/XqyfMFcvxD
— Aura🥨🥨🥨 (@MOOMANiBE) November 1, 2021
Turning Half Life 2's (and episodes) City 17 and Surrounding areas into a miniature world using Tilt Shift.
— Flurdeh (@Flurdeh) November 1, 2021
Full video in high quality: https://t.co/TJnOdbgKK9#halflife pic.twitter.com/cWgHDnbwmH
(From the kids version.)ｔｈｅ
— ◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢ (@monosynth) November 1, 2021
ｃ
ｒ
ｅ
ａ
ｔ
ｕ
ｒ
ｅ https://t.co/II11cVL6RH
we throw around the word “Lynchian” a lot on here but I legitimately don’t know how else to describe this sponsored post I just saw pic.twitter.com/vrZZ4pS3ay
— Keifer: Definitive Edition (@DannyVegito) September 5, 2021
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Shadow of the Colossus Sculpture; Half-Life-themed escape room; Clever trick for translating a foreign language video game
thinking about the very cool and definitely unlicensed half-life escape room that was running in russia a few years ago pic.twitter.com/TZOaJP42ub
— The Tax Collector Man | BLM (@thetaxgoblin) March 21, 2021
i say “half-life” but you can tell they actually based it off black mesa, which is itself really fascinating pic.twitter.com/1bkVen5gYP
— The Tax Collector Man | BLM (@thetaxgoblin) March 21, 2021
even MORE stuff from their old website, found by @_ivybee
— The Tax Collector Man | BLM (@thetaxgoblin) March 21, 2021
few points from translating
-it’s intentionally based on black mesa
-the objective of the room seemed to be somehow saving gordon freeman in under 60 minutes
-headcrabs and turrets appearedhttps://t.co/97Y3PbDqJw pic.twitter.com/KzRZl7CE4m
This time last year we‘d stopped working at the studio. Thankfully the last thing I got to use it for was a 30x30 foot Half-Life: Alyx play-space. Much needed escapism. pic.twitter.com/DFy8wtwRgj
— danny o'dwyer (@dannyodwyer) March 20, 2021
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Grafting tech onto buildings in video games and irl; Rainbow Bearded Thornbill; A good storm cloud
To try and make the Combine seem a little less established in the world for HLA, we played around with their structures always requiring help from human buildings. Also lots of cables, like they were having a city wide LAN party before their citadel wifi was completed. pic.twitter.com/8DMes55nYD
— Tristan Reidford (@TristanRiedford) March 9, 2021
— Julian Oliver (@julian0liver) March 11, 2021
This little guy has been a challenge to photograph. After a year of visiting Colombia, I finally got a close-up of the Rainbow Bearded Thornbill. @ThePhotoHour #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #NaturePhotography #TwitterNatureCommunity #Colombia pic.twitter.com/n4yE9rBWOT
— Damilice Photography (@DamilicePhoto) March 12, 2021
We are in the Wild West in terms of graphics right now pic.twitter.com/OpuhB47Zfz
— Kyle Koster (@KyleKoster) March 12, 2021
Saturday, August 22, 2020
An interview with the Half-Life VR speedrunner (he uses a lot of real world physical tricks to exploit the game)
From Brian Feldman's consistently excellent blog:
How long did it take to figure that out?
Right when the game came out, there was a bunch of us working together to find a bunch of different things. The height adjust was actually a pretty early find. There have been a couple of newer things, like the extended jump, which is basically: during teleport*, if you pause it at a very specific time during the teleport, then if you move in real life while you’re paused, and then when you unpause, you’ll go way further and then lets you clip through walls.
*VR games let users move by instantly “teleporting” them between where they are standing and another point in the virtual environment.
Is running the game tough on you physically?
Um, yeah, I mean, it definitely is. If you watch like the webcam, I’m doing a lot of crouching, a lot of laying down, popping back up, and just moving around – all that stuff. Even if you’re not doing that, you’re standing up for this extended amount of time with something heaviy on your head. I’m sort of used to it, I’m pretty into fitness. Before the pandemic, I would go to the gym very often. If you do multiple runs back to back, you will be physically tired.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Murders in Space; Domino's does Midgar; Running a business in Runescape
The box art is perfect pic.twitter.com/3SGG5BGeSj— Michael Klamerus (@MichaelKlamerus) May 12, 2020
I love to blindly collect Japanese Saturn software, based entirely on the box art and nothing but; I have no idea what kind of game Mass Destruction actually is, and I honestly don’t care (via https://t.co/rj22as5Lsy) pic.twitter.com/r57y1VwcUq— Attract Mode (@AttractMode) May 12, 2020
.@nookazon is a website I’ve been using almost every day while I play Animal Crossing. With nine million listings and 270K active daily users, it’s a huge success. Here’s how it was built, and what it’s creator plans for its future. https://t.co/7y2SLEjlIk— Elise Favis (@elisefavis) May 11, 2020
— Sam Sykes (@SamSykesSwears) May 9, 2020
people don't talk enough about how the staff roll for Wayforward's Aliens DS game features a corny-ass Nickelback ballad about xenomorphs https://t.co/v3Luv74TrX— GSK🌭 (@gosokkyu) May 7, 2020
Did you know that Midgar was modeled after a pizza? 🍕 Yes! But the pizza doesn't stop there, the mayor of Midgar is named Domino. Now, that guy must LOVE pizza! 🤤 pic.twitter.com/Rd65tutXcc— Domino's Pizza Malaysia (@DominosMY) May 6, 2020
Already made my own print of the Report the Vort poster. It’s great. pic.twitter.com/1nz3RNJ6vZ— calle (@calleweird) May 9, 2020
When I was 11, I sold bulk bundles of feathers (bows) to top-level archers in Runescape so they wouldn't have to walk back to the general store during battle. 🏹To get feathers, I hired a team of new players to fight chickens. They leveled up while I paid them in gold/armor! ⚔️🐓 https://t.co/lPeGibvVzL— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) May 11, 2020
To find employees, I went to the map area called Lumbridge where new players would spawn. I'd offer them a job. I did training sessions in nearby farms on how to battle creatures. It was useful, since they had to level up anyway. I just asked them save all the dropped feathers.— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) May 11, 2020
Friday, April 17, 2020
Playing a virtual reality game with a cat nearby; Half-Life fun bucket; Popeye teaches English
Just doin our best out here pic.twitter.com/ZZLTnzGdWd— Alexandria Neonakis (@Beavs) March 21, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
Artistic photos taken in Half-Life: Alyx
More here.
Note: This incredible trick juggling video includes game-wide spoilers for Half-Life: Alyx.— ja2ke (@ja2ke) March 31, 2020
I like how Half-Life: Alyx is always rewarding you for having a good look around. Lots of little incidental details, like this cat slinking across a rooftop. pic.twitter.com/18E78LlUzy— Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant) March 24, 2020