TF2: Nobody's Home

[@ZestyJesus]

We will be making the data used in this video public soon! Edit: here it is github.com/megascatterbomb/tf2PlayerCount Edit #2: A criticism I'm seeing is "it isn't profitable to harvest cases/items, therefore there can't be tens of thousand of idle bots." You're right. On paper, it isn't profitable, but for some reason they still do it. I don't know why, nor do I have the full picture. There's some element/elements to this I couldn't find. It could be part of something grander, or bot hosters could being doing this simply because they can, who knows. I don't know the reason, all I know is that it's happening.

[@basileusbasil4041]

nice

[@AngrySeal8232]

nice 2

[@delllaptop2624]

nice 3

[@HellnawNaw-zq2jx]

nice 4

[@starpowergirl]

thanks zesty, ur the besty.

[@macbro24]

i cant believe tf2 predicted tf2 being overrun with bots thats crazy man

[@Jayy5]

Life imitates art

[@johndoe-xc2yg]

😂😢

[@melonmatv9112]

Mann vs Machine

[@Jamlord2061]

wait that IS crazy

[@RipliWitani]

Gabe runs the bot nets

[@Д.К-ж8ф]

I have "voice communication is not avaliable for this account" and i must scream

[@ZestyJesus]

can't even call for a medic, utter bs

[@GreenTeaTheTea]

​@@ZestyJesusyo zest can i show you pictures of my truck

[@NootTheSausage5016]

Same on mine, and I can’t play the game because the new update broke my game :p

[@juriszzzgaming8837]

​@@ZestyJesus I am now sad after the watching this video. Anyway, voting with our wallets wont really work, bc comparing the amount of money valve earns from tf2 to steam is like comparing the amount of real players in tf2 to bots in tf2 - not enough for valve to care.

[@-RandomStranger-]

​@@ZestyJesus nor a spy

[@SnipingIsAGoodJobMate]

Sorry guys I accidentally left my 50 thousand computers idling on the main menu of TF2

[@readyplayerthree3]

Oh crap, hope he sees this so he can send a follow up vid! We fixed it!

[@Rusty1951]

Typical sniper main!!! *shrugs, demonic thrall of laughter echoes through these hallowed halls*

[@freakshowjimmyscrackheaddu8255]

i see you in comment sections a lot

[@SnipingIsAGoodJobMate]

@@freakshowjimmyscrackheaddu8255 [Automated Reply #345]

[@Nerty1458]

its ok, we forgive you

[@Phhase]

Turns out, the growth was a tumor. Damn.

[@icata12345]

whoop whoop :{

[@Gamelaha]

It's NAHT a TOOMAH

[@YouzACoopa]

tumors grow back

[@callmefox630]

@@Gamelaha "I'm gonna STRANGLE YOUR PARENTS!" - Jerman

[@porciwall9261]

"I'VE DONE NOTHING BUT TELEPORT BOTS FOR THREE DAYS."

[@victorycry8849]

2012: Mann vs Machine 2024: Machine

[@Nick_santana1]

we lost, the machines took over

[@Jonathan24192]

Democracy may have to wait on this one. Automatons. We. Will. Be. Back.

[@GuanGuanGhoo]

Sooo... Long Night has started.

[@flaris0706]

​@@Jonathan24192 FOR DEMOCRACY

[@kerplunk_862]

You all don't know that we all got finally a mvm update

[@seriamon]

People called me crazy when i pointed this out a few years ago

[@thanhhaitran9422]

You dare criticize our le hecking wholesome game ? Le downvote for you.

[@KyryloMudrokha]

okay where? Considering the nature of your content I doubt that. Edit: I would like to apologise, he did indeed make a video with the exact same calculation and same result, I am sorry.

[@johnnycripplestar5167]

Whaaaat? You did? AWW, YOU MUST BE CRAZY, MAN!

[@seriamon]

crazy? i was crazy once they put me in a room a rubber room with rats i hate rats they make me crazy crazy? i was crazy once...

[@SDRlegacy]

Yeah I remember being one of the many who called you crazy at the time but damn you were correct all along, apologies.

[@bahmot9501]

I thought I was gonna get a quick description of TF2‘s declining popularity, turns out I got a extensive lesson in data analytics

[@zezanje1]

ngl this video made me realize that IT and data analysis is actually fun

[@johnclay2716]

Dumb comment

[@bahmot9501]

@@johnclay2716 Get reported, bot

[@Tritibellum]

@@zezanje1 i never thought i would be interested in data analysis until now

[@alliu6562]

45:56 remember when valve talked about how the jungle inferno update didn’t bring in as many players as they expected? And we were all baffled bc we could clearly see a massive spike in player count? Valve KNEW. They KNEW most of this activity was bots. That’s why they said jungle inferno “didn’t do as well as expected”. So valve knew and had reasonably concrete evidence that tf2 is overrun with bots, and yet, years later, has done absolutely nothing about it. If that’s not an indictment of valve’s current problems then idk what other evidence we need

[@maybeacoolguy3350]

Dang. He just cut off the copium the community has been taking for years.

[@mumblety]

Yes. He did. And good for him! TF2 players need to wake up!

[@Crazylom]

I had the lingering feeling that something is off about TF2's popularity with player count. With all those bots, there must have been SOME kind of error, that some of those would *not* be ACTUAL people. But not like this. *NOt so much*

[@TenthSgtSnipes]

TF2 players when they realise their over decade old game ISNT one of the most popular games in the world 😮

[@PistenDeer]

And FINALLY. I was so tired of people screeching about the player numbers, ignoring the truth behind it.

[@sulphurous2656]

@@TenthSgtSnipes That's kind of what happens when you stop introducing updates and otherwise making games. You had both Quake and Unreal once being on the top of the world as well before Team Fortress. You had Counter-Strike having relatively modest player numbers until recent years as well. A key difference is however that these games aren't just flavor of the month slop.

[@Henry-bf4jy]

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue Sandvich- the story ends, you queue up for another match and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red Sandvich-you stay in cp_hydro and I show you how much of Valve has neglected this game."

[@Kraumyke]

That's a cool reference

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

I legitimately wish Tc_hydro was iterated on with more territory controls.

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

*eats the yellow sandvitch because it recharges faster*

[@bacon-sandwich4726]

No one likes BLU cheese, start munching on some grade A, reality seasoned RED meats.

[@microman502]

actually makes me sad

[@urgadurga]

There's something kinda creepy about it idk. It's like being in a mall food court and you look around and only see 4 people scattered about, eating alone, but you hear this loud chatter, people laughing and having a good time as though the place were full with hundreds of people. Like idk, I always played TF2 assuming there were tens of thousands of other people along with me, but it's just an illusion.

[@HeDronHeDronHedron]

also among all of the chatter there’s several people with the same voice that are trying to address everyone in the room except for each other

[@manhoovy193]

Same.

[@Darkelite84]

Feels like being in one of those gmod maps like gm_bigcity, where there's this noisy ambience, but really you are the only one in that map.

[@jack6478]

there's still tens of thousands of players, just divide the number you expect by 3

[@LeMicronaut]

Bro, wake up. New creepypasta just got cooked up.

[@infiniminer7677]

true crime youtubers describing real life murder vs ZestyJesus describing tf2's botted playercount (spooky asf)

[@ryanphillips4123]

The idea that roughly 2/3s of my gift-a-pult gifts have gone to bots is the saddest thing I learned by watching this video. That’s just not fair.

[@6riffln64]

I gift-a-pulted an unusual holy grail Homerunner's hobby (scout beanbag taunt) and it went directly to an OMEGATRONIC bot :(

[@farisfetic1176]

@@6riffln64that’s actually hilarious

[@o-dreng8778]

​@@6riffln64you...... why....

[@rehab_herr]

imagine the amount of lost items

[@BadJellyman100]

@@rehab_herr how many keys worth are lost... one shudders to think...

[@TheWhatShow]

Name one other game community where ranking virtual skins is toxic and problematic behaviour lmao

[@DelusionalDetective]

- tf2 -

[@okaychud]

Some "friend" he is

[@dankedothm]

ehrm that’s not shorkin wholesome thewhat, sorry chud!

[@VaultInteractive]

Lol, lmao even

[@redengineerfromtf2thatisan136]

"HoW dAre yOu CriTiciZE muH VirTuaL skINarInos, yoU aRe lE toXIc ChuD"

[@DEWILL]

56:37 "It's Valve's responsibility to maintain this game, so long as it's being offered as playable with incentivized microtransactions. Yet they consistently fail to meet their responsibility." Well said. If Valve took care of TF2, content bloat, botting, lack of updates... None of these would exist. At least a much smaller magnitude. Maybe this video is a tough pill to swallow for some, but what must be said must be done. Good job, man. + But still nice to see the around 20,000 consistent real player count. Showing that this game really has some die-hard fans which Valve doesn't deserve.

[@ChillyUltraKill]

Its one thing for a student to do their homework. Its another for them to actually do good.

[@Meladoom]

content bloat and lack of updates in one sentence feels weird, but yeah

[@DEWILL]

@@Meladoom let's face it, they aren't proper updates

[@maksymilian-zajac]

they cant even get csgo straight, every match has 2 cheaters

[@thanhhaitran9422]

They don't even bother doing quality check. Every update now has a buggy map, clip art or pride flag warpaint, reuse cosmetics.

[@charlottesanford3895]

watching this feels like looking at a pet who hasnt been doing well, but still looks fat, full of life, so at least theres that, and watching them at the vet, and the vet showing me that all that fat was really parasites. worms infecting their flesh.

[@mirandamanga9083]

Good analogy

[@giulizpaviz6381]

Omg, that's a dark analogy

[@ashleyhecker4148]

I guess you were right to say the pet was “full of life”

[@Mhytron]

@@ashleyhecker4148 Bruh

[@statisticserinokripperino]

Vermin feasting on a decomposing corpse

[@pajamapantsjack5874]

The cope of “Tf2 players just play at weird times and stop playing at bizarre times!” Is truly wild. Like hypothetically imagine thousands of human being in sync who have the weirdest hours at their jobs all coming home and playing at the same time then going back to work.

[@leonardo9259]

They do share a single brain cell for their jokes so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. The hivemind is real

[@Chromeberd]

I work graveyard and it's hell to not have people active at 5am when I wanna chill. Nothing but bots and Chinese servers with horrible ping.

[@Maxler5795]

Its just coping. And i dont mean it in an evil way, i mean it in a "im sorry, but youre making things up to not deal with the issue. Same as i"

[@moustacheboy9918]

That thinking is quite similar to that of staunch flat-earthers. They believe they are special and will dismiss any source that undermines their point of view.

[@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672]

For me, the game will probably close sometime between now and 2025. If the gaps gets too big, tf2 playerd and even other fps players will see how dead this game is. When that happens, valve will simply shut down tf2 for good and erase everything they made from it. There can be no mistake if there's nothing to reflect upon. From there, the industry becomes worse by the day.

[@piro_agua1363]

The analogy of a beating heart introduced at the start of the video personified tf2's state in a genuinely touching and sad way.

[@xXSimplySammyXx]

That was a very interesting way of looking at it. Makes sense too.

[@Stoneley]

I agree, TF2 feels like it's in a coma with a hat perfusion that is slowly killing it

[@roman108]

Stuck on life support and slowly dying

[@Le_runtus4000]

Tio paulo. Being used for money, long after being dead

[@BrasiI]

​@@Le_runtus4000 acho que ninguém vai saber quem é o tio Paulo num vídeo gringo '-'

[@CaptDuty491]

So. The true of the matter is... Whenever we celebrate TF2's immortality, we have a king's parade with TF2 at the throne. But the king is dead, and the bots puppet the rotten corpse.

[@manunova5929]

Not quite. Just because about 30% of the playerbase is actually human doesn't mean that the game is dead, just that the Steam player numbers are bloated and the playerbase stagnant. TF2 dies with us. It does create issues depending on your region, though.

[@FalconHgv]

​@@manunova5929yeah, that's the unfortunate part of a dying game. Funny enough, Apex legends is kinda dead over here on SA too with our servers being the lowest populated for the most part.

[@tobiso2289]

that but less cheesy

[@Lyss-Jack]

The Corpse of King Teufort

[@lennybjorowitz4256]

@@Lyss-Jack This man, he gets it.

[@Eye_Of_Odin978]

" To anyone who calls this 'treadmill work' [BLEEP] off- " Couldn't have put it better myself, Zest. I hate hearing that phrase, because even outside of jobs and careers, pretty much EVERYTHING can be boiled down to that. One could even call shaving their face or legs "treadmill work" because its just gonna grow back, or mowing the lawn, or changing the oil in your car. It's called MAINTENANCE. If you take no effort to *maintain* something at all, it falls into disrepair. People seem to think these days that the requirement of maintenance is a sign of a bad product when that's just not true. They seem to think that something is only "good" if it runs all the time, with absolutely zero maintaining work done upon it. This is factually incorrect. Most high-end machines and systems require constant maintenance. There's probably not gonna be a quick-fix solution where we "solve" this issue overnight but unless massive amounts of research and development are done in the effort of anti-botting systems (maybe AI-learning to track and ban bot clients but idk) then every single website and game in the world will become openly weak to botnets and botters.

[@justafan9399]

This summertime regional park maintenance worker appreciates the understanding.

[@diegobascunanvega4435]

That's true, I'm studying to be a mechanic and that's something that need to do in any vehicle, you cannot go and put gas in the car and call it the day. The maintenance of anything is a must and is not a bad thing

[@Arcadelt12]

It's because software developers are self-important pricks approximately 98% of the time

[@DoltonI]

​@@Arcadelt12And about 80% of them suck at their job

[@nuclearpaste]

Valve has _very_ few employees, especially in their dev department, and almost all of their effort is put into doing what they've been doing with their golden goose (steam), and not shooting themselves in the foot until the end of time. However, valve could easily hire or contract a small team of devs to handle tf2 and only tf2 (preserving valve's secrecy thing), like, yearly and have much better results than this. Hell valve could put down a 10k prize pool for whoever develops a flawless method to obliterate just about all tf2 bots (as of right now) and they'd have it within a week.

[@emirturkmen4524]

> One of favourite youtubers finally uploads after months! > Watch the video > Depression

[@myboyfriend95]

A good video is a good video regardless.

[@snowman7118]

@@myboyfriend95 of course but this is sad

[@PARTY_MUTT]

Excellent video, just a damn shame it’s true 😞

[@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672]

I am convinced that i've seen the same 4 players in casual than in any others i met in community servers. Tf2 is an ACTUAL walking corpse.

[@Victor62784]

​@@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672 call TF2 William Afton the way it's somehow standing after years starving

[@skeletonmemelord7779]

it's fucking depressing that THIS is the truth about TF2's real player count. more people really should be addressing this issue. screw the portion of the community that doesn't want people talking about issues like this, we need to spread the word.

[@Supercohboy]

This has been a longstanding issue and is now emblematic of just how fucked up digital right/law is nowadays, imo. In general, we lack privacy rights and digital ownership rights, which makes 0 sense, and to top it off there's a TON of crime happening online that is going almost-completely ignored. People HAVE to be laundering money through these bots, Valve is MAKING MONEY off of it, and this would lead to worldwide controversy if it was done through non-digital means. This black market is big enough to gross millions USD collectively at this point (assuming these bots make a few years of profit before shutdown or VAC ban), or just shy of it, which means a LOT of bad-guy money is potentially getting cleaned and a LOT of scammers are bleeding honest consumers dry, taking their money out of the legitimate economy and stealing it away into the pockets of Shen Chung the vape addict who's too smart to work at the iPhone factory in China, not when he could make more money scamming people from home.

[@FatherAndrew-Scarlet-Priest]

@@Supercohboy the bots are easily a billion dollar industry or greater at this point; probably large Chinese-based cheap laptop setups in a dirty warehouse somewhere in hong kong or some shit, running 60 bazillion instances of TF2 in text mode; farming items; selling them to some trading website for cash, and either laundering it, or using it to fund larger illegal activities. What exactly it would be funding idk; some mob or mafia shit in china probably; or even the Chinese government for all we know. Regardless; the bot farms are 100% being used for money; as to fund something.

[@Visualstuffidlk]

Spread what word? We literally screamed and had huge KZbinrs talk about us until valve finally woke up and went on Twitter and STILL nothing happened, what more do you want us to do?

[@TheRedKing247]

Zesty's just grifting here lmao because people have been bitching about the bot problem and by extension as the real cause of the problem, Valve's abandonment of TF2, for YEARS. Since before even Jungle Inferno released. No one is hiding the issue, some people have just moved on to other topics as it's sadly clear Valve won't do anything about it.

[@phoenixflambe3319]

@@TheRedKing247 Pessi-ception. I am aware but even voicing out with voice and wallet does nothing anyway. Too rich to lose anything. Too ignorant to talk to their own playerbase

[@solgerWhyIsThereAnAtItLooksBad]

“Casual is a casualty and complaining is a crime” -hintshot, like 4 days ago

[@Mister_Don888]

Everything and anything all of the time!

[@baconlettucepotato69]

"How would you rate your last game? Like we give a shit!"

[@ChewedBubbleGun]

“Your killstreak would look better if it had a random crit.”

[@Legorunner]

@@baconlettucepotato69 I was literally about to say that

[@ScoutBranco]

sad to think that my giftapult gift probably went to some bot

[@TundraTurnip]

smh my bison wont go into good hands

[@_Crowuh]

The data isn't surprising at all - the game hasn't had a major update in 6 years. Nothing bringing new people in, the f2p restrictions have only disincentivised new players trying the game out.

[@somefries3101]

@@Chimpywashere yeah we don't need an update that fixes the terrible issues that tf2 has if the community keeps talking about the game 😂😂😂

[@Chimpywashere]

@@somefries3101then maybe you can explain why teamwork.tf’s statistics have been relatively consistent for over 6 years despite their being no update? Do you think it’s been the same 10k people playing for 6 years? No, the playerbase constantly rotates. New people come in, old people leave. Just because a game has stopped growing doesn’t mean it’s dead or broken. We’ve had over 6 six years of consistent player numbers. The game is fine.

[@BlanekdCheque]

@@Chimpywashere You've actively missed the point if you can point to the current state of TF2 and say that the game is fine. Log into a game, and tell me how many times you have to kick a spinbot, or the new player experience, or anything. Or that the only kind of updates we get are community made slot machines anymore. But fine, let's pretend for a moment that the game is fine because having a stable actual player count is this wonderful silver lining. That in no way means players shouldn't be able, and willing to demand more. Hell, CS2 is going through it right now with their own cheater issue, and they get more love than TF2 at a base level. In its current state, why would Valve bother putting in more effort into TF2? Updates don't matter since the player counts are largely botted, gambling addicts will spend money anyways, players deal with the bots and just kick them or play on community servers, and any negative PR is self policed anyways within the system. So genuinely, what is the incentive to put any effort into making TF2 better? Valve is a billion dollar company, and it's long past due that the TF2 player base gets that treatment rather than community wide cope that everything is fine, and Valve will come back someday if we all just stay the course.

[@Chimpywashere]

@@BlanekdCheque you know what, yeah. The game is fine. Because there’s always been consistent player numbers. If the game is really dead/dying the numbers wouldn’t be so consistent even on teamwork.tf. If the game really had major problems people wouldn’t be playing it. So who is playing it? Answer me that question. And I’ll tell you something that’ll piss you off, we don’t deserve Valve.

[@BlanekdCheque]

@@Chimpywashere Honestly, the fact that you can say "Looking at the player count" and claim that the game is entirely fine without acknowledging any of the major issues really tells me all I need to know. As for "pissing me off", I quite frankly don't care about your opinion. I've disliked Valve for years due to them running a Grey Market Casino while not even having the decency to support said games. I don't have loyalty to a Company, and you shouldn't really either, but it's your life at the end of the day.

[@ALMarkAZ1990]

All those jokes about TF2 being on life support is true after all. TF2 activity graph indeed looks like constant cardiac arrest...

[@irgendwer3610]

I alsways found it funny how people kept saying TF2 outlived Overwatch when TF2 is as much of a mess as OW

[@eliluminado7]

@@irgendwer3610 arguably ow is now in a much better state than tf2.

[@lastknight4217]

Cardiac arrest? No. V-Tach? Absolutely. The bad news is that sustained V-Tach leads to full arrest. The good news is that you can shock it back to a normal rhythm. Shock that bots, fix the problem

[@Chorismos]

​@@eliluminado7No you can't say that. /s

[@unknownlogicman9399]

Still blows my mind that Valve of all people (or companies) put out that update that restricts F2P players from using certain voice commands like calling for a medic. Can you imagine the blowback if another company did this in their own game?

[@avg.player]

No wonder Pyrocynical comes back to TF2 on streams, the player numbers there are VERY inflated...

[@seronymus]

One joke

[@TheNormalplayer12]

@@seronymus I don't know why

[@GayDemonWarlord]

​@@TheNormalplayer12 It doesn't even matter how hard you try

[@Salithin]

@@GayDemonWarlordKeep that in mind

[@everyreverie3]

​@@TheNormalplayer12It doesn't even matter how hard I try

[@maxwu4145]

This video is a masterpiece. You have cut off the copium for everyone who thought tf2 wasnt botted to high heaven.

[@somerandomguy8541]

tbh trade bots an idle bots never affect how im playing

[@duckotron_game9]

sorry, my army of Chinese sweatshop workers are playing tf2 rn and they are told to log on and off when I say. I have about 100,000 of them.

[@haywoodjablomie587]

No cause only the Chinese government is allowed to enslave their citizens!!!!!1!1!1!1!!!!😡😡😡😡😡🥵😡😡😡😡😡

[@a_man_with_a_plan]

me too

[@myoak108]

Why even copy another comment? @SnipingIsAGoodJobMate made basically the same joke, 4 days before you. Why even do it?

[@duckotron_game9]

@myoak108 why do you even care

[@duckotron_game9]

@@myoak108 plus I don't think he actually cares, your cry of me making a similar joke is for what?

[@alphaomega4173]

This is the reality check that the community desperately needed

[@jotave49]

The tf2 community is one the most delusional and annoying communities ever. They won't accept this.

[@darthgamer9861]

sadly I feel, like every video Zesty makes, that this one will be ignored or shunned because like he said, not a lot of people talk about TF2’s issues

[@temkin9298]

Because we march, we marched across 2fort, badlands, dustbowl, turbine, oh so much more. We laughed and cried now we are afraid of falling, our path became a tight rope. So we march and march, never skiping a beat, echo our songs, echo our joys, we are alone in empty servers, none will come. We march and march till we can no more, few remaining now huddled in corners of our world. Apoclapyse has come and armagedon shall reign, still we march and march and march till we can go no longer. So says who will shoulder more burden, who worries that a game will be smouldered and he will worry and worry till he can no longer.

[@Iwatoda_Dorm]

To think that not even a lot of people care... It's simple to see that videos about tf2 gain more engagement than the game itself. I'd say it's more that the content creators that have a tf2 background are really awesome people :v

[@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672]

And my exit ticket. Why play a game where there are no players?

[@wilburcobb8990]

in just 9 hours, twice as many people have watched this video as there are people concurrently playing tf2.

[@dootdoot8755]

Yeah it just shows that there are so many people who genuinely want to play this game but valve just doesn't care

[@shuckarooo]

i dont even play tf2 but this is interesting

[@fartman9223]

​@@dootdoot8755 thats implying that youtube isnt botted aswell

[@sethbingo]

dead internet theory

[@starmaker75]

Who like watching TF2 stuff? *Hand ups* Who wants to actually play TF2? *Hand down*

[@Jem0oO]

Forget Emesis Blue. This is a REAL horror movie.

[@nathanadams8044]

This went from "TF2 is dead (Humourous)" to "TF2 is dead (depressing)" real fast Edit: wasn't expecting my fanart to be featured at 58:52

[@Toofty]

Good job, well researched, written and edited. Made a video on this myself a while back, I don’t know why people don’t care more about this. Also, every article online about TF2 talks about its player count and record highs, goes to show how little research is done most the time.

[@patadanaboca758]

Ever since I watched your video a couple of years ago I believed tf2 was about 50% bots because of the average play time data shown in said video. Now I have a better scope of the bot problem.

[@ConjureNoonSloth]

I was a little surprised when Zesty said no one else is making videos on this topic! I saw your video a while back and thought it was great. Like you and Zesty both lay out here, it makes the in game expeience so much worse.

[@phoenixflambe3319]

True or not, I just see that as being pessimistic.

[@baronvonwhinsectown2454]

​@@phoenixflambe3319because enforcing toxic positivity is such a better alternative right

[@phoenixflambe3319]

@@baronvonwhinsectown2454 Is toxic negativity the better option then? Toxicity is just a buzzword that lost meaning an impact nowadays.

[@lordkaos31]

I could handle hearing that most of tf2s player count is bots. I can "somewhat" handle hearing that the player boost during updates is also mostly bots. But hearing that during said updates the number of real players barely changes that is soul crushing. Its normal to hear bots coming in but to hear that real people arent that there is just sad.

[@r.g.thesecond]

Hope no weirdo comes out of the woodwork to spin this as a good thing. All the drama, hype and crash of "update-sized update", seasonal update churn and new stuff, but we are all just nearly the same ~20k people that actually engage with the game.

[@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672]

I thought that most where cheating though (don't ask me how it wasn't pure hell)

[@juke9674]

Devil's Advocate: The "Updates" are usually all cosmetic, and most of our F2P population dont care because they arent gonna buy cosmetics anyways. Thus theres no reason to care about the update, even if it adds the odd map or two

[@Pasha231514]

Every time I try it - I get classic quake problem. TF2 players are not fun to play against. As person rarely played tf2 from time to time over more than decade it's just sad to not have guns, and play against those who cheat or simply spent years perfecting own skill. That's not fair nor fun

[@dylanhinkel3548]

The last seasonal I was excited for and enjoyed was scream fortress X 2018. Every seasonal since hasn’t kept me playing more than a day.

[@pleighsolder7145]

I am not a TF2 player but this was so well put together I sat through all of it

[@casbertv]

The heart beat comparison is such a great analogy. If you were put on a heart monitor, and your heart beat looked like TF2's player count, there would be something *seriously* wrong.

[@CoolSs]

I can't believe i am sad about game that have heart disease. OUR TF2 IS FLATLINING ;~;

[@OizenX]

@@CoolSs Well no, its not. It has a pretty dedicated playerbase of around 20-30k players. I don't see whats particularly wrong about this. I'd trade the stupid bloated player numbers if it meant no more bots.

[@lepatrick4596]

tf2 has arrhythmia

[@DrDanthrax99_tf2]

Bro if your EKG looked like the Steam playercount they'd be wheeling in a crash cart.

[@CoolSs]

@@OizenX 20-30k still put tf2 in top 50 games on steam. What is good number

[@TheThing4444]

It's 2036. The last two players duel against each other on a 24/7 2Fort server. One is a veteran and is dressed in unusuals while the other only has stock. The default player asks, "What were Gibus players?". The veterans says, "They were players, usually new, who wore this hat called a Gibus, which you can get even as a F2P player if you dominated someone wearing it." He said longingly. "Could I get it?" The newer player asks. "Sorry. I traded away mine years back." "Oh. I see." They then fought on silently afterwards till logging out.

[@alexanderraz.]

Corny ass comment lol

[@blightyfrogs]

Alas, this glorious end to tf2 will not happen. Rip the item server crash of '28

[@somefries3101]

2036 will be the year that Dracula wakes up

[@SaintRedFox]

erm akchually you cant trade the achievement gibus hat 🤓☝️🍓

[@TrainerGoldAlt]

yea I ended up scrapping mine which is even fking sadder​@@SaintRedFox

[@a-c1081]

got banned from r/tf2 for pointing it out a year ago lol

[@Drunken_Hamster]

Time to make an alt and post this video as evidence.

[@a-c1081]

@@Drunken_Hamster i would rather be banned from that subreddit than not

[@bume2212]

​@@a-c1081It's a honor to be banned from that subreddit

[@dracvich]

Getting banned from r/TF2 is a blessing That place is a shithole filled with neckbeards who clap whenever the word "pootis" is mentioned

[@kormannn1]

It's a safe space for transoids

[@needyjay6318]

I have a friend to whom i introduced TF2 a month ago, when we hopped in a match (which was of course filled with bots) he thought that they were super good players, after explaining to him the problem and queuing for 15 mins to find a good lobby he said that he cant bother about the state of the game and that he will not play again, which he did

[@iriswav7379]

I have a friend too that we explained to her that right now casual is heavily botted and she was discouraged very hard, we told her we will take her to uncletopia to experience what tf2 was like back in the day

[@needyjay6318]

@@iriswav7379 sad times

[@bobjeff524]

@@iriswav7379 uncletopia is a still a far cry from what the game was like

[@Z3R0Steam]

@@iriswav7379 uncletopia, lmfao

[@gunsntposes7133]

@@Z3R0Steamwhat’s wrong with uncletopia?

[@imabird1566]

“Speak with your mouths and with your wallets” *screams in voice communication is not available for this account*

[@oppositevoice]

laughs in voice communication is not available for this account

[@conic2721]

buy the orange box whenever it goes on sale you're not giving money towards TF2 exactly, moreso towards HL and Portal

[@panthekirb7561]

Kids can't pay a dollar for their "favourite game" lol

[@massgunner4152]

​@@panthekirb7561ah yes, because everyone has to pay money to use a basic function every other fucking shooter has, quite a remarkable feat for the dev team to monetise something that hurts real players more than the bloody bots, get your face away from that boot.

[@panthekirb7561]

@@massgunner4152 The only boot here is my boot kicking the annoying children who do almost as much harm as bots. Noone wants to play with children and the majority of F2Ps have always been children.

[@noahhill841]

Absolutely killed r/tf2 users with this one, despite being a member, ngl they have been very delusional regarding valve and bots.

[@Ackei47]

Can’t really blame em. A large piece of the community that still continues to play today have probably been playing the game since release so it must be hard for them to accept the fact that their most loved game has been “dead.” The game hasn’t been dying or growing in the 7 years so that’s nessessarily not a bad thing at all.

[@pitbowl]

I remember when they were defending valve when they changed their statement on the summer update. Pathetic

[@Gofaw]

redditors aren't people

[@dot0l]

r/tf2 is so in denial about the game's state that it legit gaslit me into thinking the game was in a better state and trying it out again in late 2023 after a 2-year hiatus. yes, the game is still very fun but it wasn't long before i was reminded why i quit in the first place. and it's so much worse than ever now. even in peak hours the game can be completely unplayable.

[@Gofaw]

Redditors are not people

[@RolandEdrickSantos-jz7yp]

Why does this feel like someone examining a sick animal?

[@mishavuimo5753]

Buddy, i have bad news for ya...

[@arciks11]

You answered your own question. This puppy's been rabid for a good while now.

[@CallOfCutie69]

Because it is

[@doododaadoo8673]

The TF2 has fallen. Billions must get telefragged

[@its_radit]

based

[@Hateful_Psycho]

QUINTRILLION NO MORBILLIONS MUST STOUT SHAKO FOR TWO REFINED!

[@mercury5003]

I watch a lot of horror shit on youtube and I dont think any of them filled me with nearly as much dread as this video has.

[@rofs3274]

The matrix type of dread Everything you belived is a lie

[@f0rtysix2]

Yeah, I completely agree. This felt like being faced with death in a way.

[@postman232]

dead internet

[@tarabelle7716]

super eerie

[@LSERProject]

My entire competitive play style is laid on the foundation of my 2010 scout days. This video genuinely has me crying as tf2 was my first pc game. It’s like losing a family member in a way

[@military_snake]

Please, whatever you do, my good sir, do not delete this video. A TF2 KZbinr that I will not mention by name went as far as to interview bot hosters, to do a similar thing that you have done: bring the truth to light. He was shamed and discarded to the point of taking the video down out of fear. DO NOT TAKE THIS DOWN. You have done this community a great service by speaking what needs to be spoken about, regardless of the negative reactions you might receive from it. You've received my like for this, sir, and I wish I could give more. Happy hunting.

[@darthgamer9861]

why in the seven layers of hell would anyone shame someone for more or less doing an expose on one of the factors that killed the game? Is TF2’s “community” so dedicated to positivity that they’ll shoot the doctor trying to cure a patient?!

[@cevatkokbudak6414]

​@@darthgamer9861Fun fact: People do that in Türkiye

[@mcl_official20XX]

@@darthgamer9861 Unironically, yes that is exactly the case.

[@military_snake]

@@darthgamer9861 sadly, most would rather ignore the problem than address it. thanks to guys like megascatterbomb, who do take major action, it's an encouragement for the rest of us

[@bsheepdestroyermakesstuff7222]

lon'qudor?

[@caine_inu]

There's so many playercount inflations, Pyrocynical would go crazy

[@rmw9420]

who do you think is behind the scenes inflating the game. it certainly can't be le furry inflation youtuber

[@SLVYER1]

I see investor inflation and I have for years, and I know you've been given a form to complain right now but I've been complaining about this exact issue for 10 years and nothing has happened and no one has become the wiser it's because it makes the world go round. Every game is like 200 to 2000 players and no more than that I'm not exaggerating maybe on release for a AAA title sure, but a week after - I'm right, and ended so flayed and designed to hurt you that you can either agree with me or you can just purchase the next game and get scammed and figure it out for yourself until you hate games.

[@demoman5864]

Lmao

[@secretname2670]

Mein herz brennt lmao

[@No-pm4ss]

The graphs at 33:26 has a spike at the date 03/27, *both* graphs. It may suggest that a single bot hoster had about 35 000 idle bots *and* a couple thousand cheater bots.

[@bluestar3144]

Valve could just make remove the case weekly drops. Instead make them part of the random item drop pool. This would absolutely kill the botnets since their reason to bot is mostly gone. Wouldn't fix the issue completely, but it would still help a lot.

[@twicethegalo]

Wouldn't benefit Valve, by having these idling bots, players have more access to the case market, encouraging purchases

[@Xahnel]

They can't, that's the money maker. People get those, check the cosmetics, buy keys. They _know_ which accounts are just sitting there accumulating shit. the behavior of bots is utterly predictable. They could kill the idle bots in so many ways, they just don't, because the bots inflate their numbers, which creates positive press, which draws in new players, who represent new revenue streams. They accumulate these crates in case any single crate gets popular enough to sell. Like the one that added Jojo cosmetics.

[@OGuiBlindao]

Cases would still be worth 3 cents and half a scrap ​@@twicethegalo

[@pyerack]

Honestly just completely remove the ability to get anything by just idling/playing. The fact that money can be made by just botting and faking activity is the core issue, it's a stupid system that is easy to abuse and this proves it. Either rework how it works or just remove it but this can't keep going. No wonder so many of the botters are malicious actors, the game is literally being used as a crypto/NFT mine.

[@foyboy64]

Remember guys: Valve is just a small indie multi-billion dollar transnational tech hegemony with a stranglehold monopoly on digital game distribution. Fixing bots is simply beyond their means.

[@Labyrinth6000]

Shounic did a video explaining that getting rid of bots is NOT as simple as people think. They have thought of and tried everything and none of the solutions worked or would result in punishing players more with bots returning in a short time. I say get rid of the free drop system as it is from a bygone era and replace it with a weekly challenge system to at least fight off the idle bots.

[@Theenderphantom]

@@Labyrinth6000 and yes that's true they absolutely have the recourses to at least TRY... (once again MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY WITH A NEAR MONOPOLY)

[@hb4174]

@@Labyrinth6000zesty says later on how fixing the hit may be treadmill work but most jobs are treadmill work, I imagine the reason most anti cheat’s work is because they are constantly updated to prevent cheaters and bots from invading games, cause of course you need to, they’ll find exploits all the time if you don’t update consistently, you’re telling me that a multi billion dollar corporation can’t hire people to constantly update their anti cheat?

[@triceratroytv2292]

They don't fucking care lmao

[@HexPhoenix]

I believe the reason for inaction is complete lack of incentive. What benefit does Valve gain from battling the bots? Even if we ignore the cost of "treadmill work", how could it ever be a profitable move? If Valve managed to remove ALL bots from the game, all it would accomplish is reduce Steam's player numbers by 70-80%. The truth is that Team Fortress 2 is in a paradoxically stable state. A game from 2007 with around 20-25000 concurrent players with basically zero maintenance is a miracle. It would be foolish, even if morally correct, for Valve to do anything about it as long as the passionate community holds just as well as it did this last decade. AND it gets to stay in Steam's top 10 most played games.

[@noble_trash2917]

"Small traces of the original soul can still be detected in the body, but the corpse itself is animated and controlled entirely by the snakelike Parasites that he once commanded." - ULTRAKILL; the Corpse of King Minos' terminal data

[@Dalek59862]

Never thought ULTRAKILL lore of all things could be used to accurately describe TF2's current state.

[@StavDev]

TF2 Prime is still in there

[@SamuuBlitz]

why i cant read?

[@temmie9430]

​@@StavDev tf3 is just a bossfight as scout and you fight an a pose yeavy with a giant mouth

[@Bon_fyre]

Oh my days the description of the corpse king minos’ actually fits perfectly 😭 But just like the corpse of king Minos, the prime soul of the corpse remains buried deep within a prison, needing something else to break it free and release the soul. In that case it was V1. I’m just not sure who it could be in the case of tf2. It can’t be valve, as like God in the ultrakill universe they abandoned their creation and left it to rot. Maybe someday, someone or something will come along and dismantle this “flesh prison” the soul is stuck in… and maybe once the prison is killed what comes out is the manifestation of willpower too strong to fade.

[@smell4685]

this video feels like walking past your childhood playground and seeing it being ripped down

[@dragotaa.8270]

The hardest pill to swallow is that your favourite game of all time is slowly rotting away due to bots, and somehow everyone accepted that... Man...

[@somedesertdude1308]

I love mvm

[@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672]

I honestly think its time to quit. I played this game for barely one year, yet it feels as if i played for much longer and as if it's death is too close for confort.

[@eltiolavara9]

@@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672 its not dying just play community servers

[@LeMicronaut]

n Co...

[@LeMicronaut]

@@umrayquazashinyapareceu1672 I had some good fun on TF2 Classic for a little while after the source leaks. The main client honestly feels really bloated and sluggish nowadays, but under all the junk and rust there's still a good party game for a small clan or social media personality cult.

[@SsnakeBite]

Never ask... ... a man, his salary. ... a woman, her age. ... a TF2 player, to select all squares with bicycles.

[@lolzdatguy4987]

Tf2 player here, can confirm captchas are rigged

[@whitegirlsoncrack]

[@Jamlord2061]

some irrelevant information. the hunk mod for risk of rain 2 is cool

[@Neoniq41]

I dont get it

[@whitegirlsoncrack]

@@Neoniq41 recaptcha reference

[@Greatdictator]

I dont even play the game that much anymore, but that doesnt mean i dont care about it. Hell id hate stuff like this to happen TO ANY GAME, cause i do actually wonder how popular the game would be if Valve actually fuckin botherd anymore like it does for Dota or Counter Strike which according to this video THEY DONT EVEN DO THAT ANYMORE

[@iveseenyourface5404]

greatdictator! love you and your team's work

[@kingkoopa64]

Damm, when the TF2, most well-known animator doesn't even want to play the game says something

[@triceratroytv2292]

It wouldn't be the much bigger even if they updated it, that's why they stopped pushing major updates.

[@l1p0v]

@@kingkoopa64 if my hobby was animating TF2 characters for several dozen hours a week, I would also have no desire to play the game.

[@kingkoopa64]

@@l1p0v same

[@reagansido5823]

Nah bro I'm sure there's just 10-20 thousand people in a hive mind who get on and off at the same time. :P

[@denialman2808]

They can’t possibly be bots, right?

[@scribeslendy595]

"You're not meant to feel good, you're meant to feel informed" is unironically a fantastic line. Gonna use this in the future, cheers mate (Props for making me enioy a video about math)

[@MuffinNova]

There’s like 3 people in a dark room who fix bugs, there is no update, there will be no update

[@leafofyume7838]

i dont think the 2 developers left even have much power. look at their updates. like, vs saxton hale was implemented whit vscript and is not its own thing. or when all they did was restrict free to plays instead of implementing proper solutions into the game. their updates seem to be always narrowed down to some areas. and that seems to include many areas that makes people come back to the game. i wonder why.

[@ColonelKlink1965]

It's actually 2 people.

[@daussiedude1848]

@@leafofyume7838the heart of TF2 will always be a server full of people either engaged in the game or shitposting, nonetheless people having fun. VSH and community servers, while not being the original beauty of TF2 by any means, are some of the last vestiges of the heart of it now that casual is kinda dead due to bots and alternatives being sweat central. It’s harder than ever for some kid with a cheap computer to download and fuck around on a choice of fully populated casual servers, as well as community servers that aren’t so toxic as they are now. There was a charm to those Minecraft maps back in the day but I think those are about as dead as casual in terms of the charm of TF2

[@gtgunar]

When the 64 bit switch arrived, I really got my hopes high NGL. It was a huge work in the background probably. I am a bit confused on why it wasn't followed up by something. Relaunch for Macs, Source 2 "Reborn" like in Dota 2, or just additional performance boosts that are only available with the 64 bit version (precompiled functions that are not runnable on all CPUs but at least on most, and detected by the program to be runnable), like different extensions being used like SSE2+, AVX-s etc. Not to mention other advanced stuff becoming easier in the future. TBH, I kind of don't understand, why TF2 only had the 64 bit now, when the technology was there years before the game came out. I guess requiring a 64 bit OS was a bit steep back then.

[@number3766]

2-3 people who work on TF2 on their FREE TIME! They literally are doing it FOR FREE while actively working on OTHER PROJECTS!

[@LrrOfOmicronPersei8]

"What inspired you to become a master of digital forensics?" Are you farmilliar with hats?

[@niono1587]

gooden

[@TheHellIsSinging]

A take that is totally not hot : Zesty Jesus is the best TF2uber for multiple reasons _He really cares for the artstyle of TF2 despite the hate he gets he just wanna play a First Person Team-Based Shooting game not a Silly Fortnite Rip-Off Style Hat Simulator. _He is just a normal person not a brain rotted TF2 Player and has an actual life _He criticizes things respectfully and politely and doesn't have the "iM tHe sMaRtEr oNe" attitude I don't why everyone hates him hes just the one of a fewer normal non-degen TF2 Fan and thats why I respect him

[@fatbaldfattyfatfat]

"Non-degen" and is a degen

[@combustible6273]

he literally used child labor

[@RichterOvertime]

IT'S OVER... It's over not... IT'S OVER.. It's over not...

[@CoolSs]

this is not 100% mudskipper.

[@TheAMeister]

@@CoolSsmudskipper 🤤

[@denizo9263]

Minecraft is real

[@ayhan4472]

I liked your last video

[@CidCDdrafts]

*IT'S FUCKING OVER AGAIN*

[@fantach3169]

It's over...

[@CoolSs]

ඞ

[@JetToo-gl4xs]

ITS NOT OVER!!

[@StoneBox_761a]

ITS JOEVER

[@HunterStiles651]

@@StoneBox_761a Could it possibly be more over?

[@alfonshedstrom9859]

It's ok

[@moosedog___6372]

This is probably the most important video ever released about tf2 and I'm hoping it causes people to actually do something.

[@Pinkman999]

What’s there to do? The first savetf2 movement did not work. People tried for a second one,a third but after seeing the failure of the first one they just gave up

[@rowedahelicon]

@@Pinkman999 Tell people to just play on community servers which have 0 problem dealing with bots

[@jaydog6674]

@@Pinkman999 It was mostly because the SaveTF2 movement was nothing more but the community praising how great the game is and that’s it instead of addressing the actual issues with the game at face value.

[@Pinkman999]

@@rowedahelicon well that won’t really make Valve work on the game,yeah maybe the aim bots will go but we will be left with like 10k people playing community servers. Valve will have 0 incentive to do anything,not that they do now but you know

[@rowedahelicon]

@@Pinkman999 That's the point, they don't need to work on the game. The community has the power and tools to provide content and servers. Most of the updates that come out now are just community content added into the game.

[@statisticserinokripperino]

This was the sole wake up call that I needed. It's best to be informed about stuff like this; much of my life has been spent in denial already, I wouldn't want that to continue no more. I can understand the copium others have or had. I grew up with the game, being the 2008 kid, all alone, rewinding Meet the Soldier 7747 times a day until parents come back. But things pass, and so will the game. There's no reason to trust any hope when the affairs are in such a state of disrepair. I'll move onto something else. Something that doesn't mingle joy with as much stiffness and hollowness. I legit cannot log in now without feeling empty. Not the best way to enter the game. Thanks for the video and be safe out there.

[@catdotjs]

I really thought initially that this was going to be the usual "OoOoOoOOO TF2 is DyInG" video but WOW. You really did your homework well. It was mind shattering to say the least. 20-30K for a REALLY old-ass game is still good and it is assuring to hear that at least the number isn't going down further. Thank you for the video it was truly amazing.

[@boop004]

yeah but isn't that 20-30K GLOBALLY?

[@catdotjs]

@@boop004 I have some experience with gamedev and trust me 20-30k is very cushy spot to be in.

[@gamesbond9513]

@@boop004 its really not that low, its just shocking for a game that should have 200k players, but instead really has heavily deflated numbers like 20-30k

[@JackRogers-x9e]

Cope

[@yuuki671]

​@@JackRogers-x9eeat my meat

[@burnsy96]

Active 'developer' support, as in a single developer assigned to it.

[@xenonxan184]

not even man we haven't gotten even a localization update in 2 weeks

[@linear1224]

Believe it or not, this game is no longer a game about two teams fighting each other with a small but popular economy based around hats. We are now the minority all 18,000 of us, the rest is just trading and farming bots, this is a hat trading gacha game disguised as a class based shooter, and your proof is how Valve acted with the crate depression.

[@Choco____1]

That's an insult to gacha games. At least with gacha games, there is no possibility of getting money, keeping them from being gambling games. It's more like a sinister crypto-market wearing a videogame as a mask.

[@halyoalex8942]

@@Choco____1 The best analogy i can think of is that this game has become the PC equivalent of Monopoly GO. Yeah, it's THAT bad.

[@croc6105]

Holy shit you cannot be this delusional, and I thought zesty was already bad.

[@wile123456]

It's just a glimpse into the future where every tech company wants to make a "meta verse", and you won't be playing to have fun, you will be the bot, spending time to earn a slave salary in a fake virtual economy.

[@dragonandavatarfan8865]

@@Choco____1 Yea hol up bud lets not pretend ur precious waifu collecting gacha are fully innocent either. Sure there's no incentive to make money but all the other aspects of gambling tactics to make you lose ur money is still there.

[@VeryRGOTI]

Such an insightful video! It reminds me of a childhood MMO i used to play that slowly just became a bot dominated server where most players are not human and grind the game's economy (terribly inflated economy) and if you do run into humans, they're either busy trying to make a living or are actively running scams. The game degraded from an indie Sandbox MMO where you trade with no specific currency except for untradable currency that you use to buy items from the game's internal store. When it was sold over to Ubisoft, it really got less care and most of the company-hired moderators pretend that bots do not exist compared to the original volunteers who worked as moderators because they loved the game.

[@dummyguymanthingyh9]

It's genuinely sad people will just shun your content, even if its true. This is a reality check most TF2 players needed. And they don't wanna believe so.

[@TheDuckyDino]

"They Hated [Zesty] Jesus because he spoke the truth"

[@Doremysweets]

nah I hate this guy still but this video is actually true. valve needs to get their shit together and this kind of callout's important.

[@OrigiNope]

Why is he hated?

[@isg4]

​@@OrigiNope some shit he said and I guess his muscle mommy avatar being an aged up version of a younger character

[@TheRedarm75]

Don't get why no one addressed the coalmining toaster army in the room for this fucking long

[@phoenixrq9139]

Best sentence I'd never expect to hear this week

[@cevatkokbudak6414]

Lmao

[@evagineer9165]

What can the community do now that this game is starting to fall apart overtime.

[@WaterBisquitte]

They make Valve lots of money through SCM case sales

[@isg4]

​​​@@evagineer9165 it didn't START to fall apart It's already been falling apart since 2016 You could make the savetf2 movement more harsh and apprehensive Instead of screaming how much you love your house that is burning down, scream how hard it's burning down, who set it on fire and for the fire deparment to get off their arses

[@SaddestTV]

"no one talks about the bots!" there is no war in ba sing se

[@Canigetanumber609]

bros boutta take zesty to lake laogai

[@bubaruba9609]

Yeah yall talk about it but do nothing. Savetf2 was the best yall had.

[@EggZu_]

​@@bubaruba9609what are we supposed to do lmao

[@LowIntSpecimen]

​@bubaruba9609 not a tf2 player myself but what are they meant to do about it lmao, its on valve surely

[@Thewalliest]

"Zestyjesus, Gabe Newell has invited you to lake Laogai"

[@LASAGNA_LARRY]

Hey Zesty, this is your best video yet! Thank you for making such a great piece addressing the issue.

[@terrarianender]

This video made me look at r/tf2 for the first time in a while, and the astounding amount of people pushing aside Zesty's points in favor of "game is/isn't dead" is unbelievably tiring. This video was not meant to say TF2 is dead or dying. It's a purely informative reality check that says "If you want to see this game change, you need to be vocal about it."

[@mercenarygundam1487]

Further proof the Team Fortress 2 playerbase are lobotomized animals.

[@ryguy9876]

@@mercenarygundam1487 It's more further proof that the internet as a whole is filled with desperate no thought NPC types who want to live in their own little bubbles and ignore reality, because the real world is a scary and cruel place and a concerningly large amount of people can't handle it, even in small doses. I feel bad for them honestly; on the off chance that the world collapses for whatever reason, they're going to be either the first to die, the first to die via looters/gangs/raiders, or the first to get suckered into being gangs/raiders.

[@bag.7322]

I like how you call twitter "hell" in the description.

[@dankmemes8254]

You mean it isn't

[@apurpledragon]

As someone who uses Twitter yes, yes it's the closest thing to a digital hell hole.

[@lautystrike1]

Because Twitter IS hell And is the worst type of hell you can find on internet

[@tangerinepaint3643]

Twitter is a cesspit

[@starmaker75]

speaking of a public internet place where bots have infected an place like some aggressive cancer

[@koeh07]

Thank GOD someone finally speaks out about the toxic positivity. I'm honestly sick of how much a loud and vocal MAJORITY of the community behaves like a mob, bloating and boasting about how good and high and old the game is, demanding Valve updates as if it's their divine duty, and then absolutely shitting anyone who doesn't follow the norm opinion. Seriously Zesty you're doing a reality check every video, and it's nice to see you're starting to reach more and more people. On another note I always felt like TF2 wasn't as big as it seemed, down here in LATAM you will 90% of the time meet the same players if you play around 4-5 different casual servers in a single day, it's just that small of a playercount.

[@franco1072]

Soy de arg y tenés todo la razón, siempre me cruzo a los mismos 10 tipos de siempre

[@master_miller]

​@@franco1072A mi no me pasaba eso pero hace como 3 años que no juego así que no sé que tan mal está ahora

[@franco1072]

@@master_miller Juego desde 2019 y te puedo decir que por lo menos en los servers de Brasil/Chile te cruzas casi a siempre a la mismos y es bastante deprimente.

[@master_miller]

@@franco1072 pucha, una pena

[@darthgamer9861]

I feel you may have missed the bit where Zesty chewed Valve out and declared he was boycotting their games?

[@Chibbens]

The lights are flickering, there's a roach infestation, and the ceiling is caving in, but nobody's home.

[@LordAaronjay]

This video is the 9/11 for tf2 players

[@holdenroberts6973]

It's more like the cameras filming it. He didn't create the disaster, just reported on it.

[@TracerNegsTF2Verse]

what? TF2 is less popular than Overwatch? (without Battlenet, PS and XBOX) But it was our only argument... I can't live anymore... *SHOT SOUNDS IN THE EMPTY ROOM*

[@secretname2670]

@@TracerNegsTF2Verse if we assume that right now (as of writing this comment 07.05.2024 - 16:06 - tuesday) 50% of tf2 players are bots, then Overwatch 2 is ahead by 3 thousand players. I was expecting tf2 to die in 2018 but statistics like this are acceptable too.

[@TracerNegsTF2Verse]

@@secretname2670 The funniest thing still this is only steam online. Without BNet/PS/XBOX/NinSwitch

[@otsokarhu9695]

​@@secretname2670 But it's probably More than 50% as Zesty shows on the video.

[@25439]

and then people call you a liar, talk about something bad you did, then forget about this video. such is the way of tf2 players. ignore ignore ignore then complain and whine

[@l1p0v]

I'm not defending TF2 community, hell no. But you're just strawmanning. The majority of people on reddit and in this comment section actually agree with the video, as we all can see. But yeah, let's find one or two delusional Valve stans on xitter and from their messages we can draw a conclusion about the entire community. It certainly would not constitute as a logical fallacy, cognitive distortion or manipulation.

[@jnb_110]

@@l1p0vShut up, redditor. You probably dont even play the game

[@25439]

@@l1p0v i dont know what shit your pulling out your ass but ive never used twitter for anything except porn. peopl in tf2 lobbies act like this, i wouldnt have commented if it werent true. keep your fancy big words to yourself king diapy

[@topcat59]

I guess Gray man finally succeeded in taking over Mann co and had his bots be the majority that plays TF2.🐱

[@sakesaurus]

the lore was prophetic

[@a.person1805]

The real final comic was within us all along

[@user-bkey]

@@a.person1805 nah this is actually poetic

[@ComparativelyRegular]

@@a.person1805 Absolute cinema

[@Ervonesque]

Turns out the comics is not parodying reality, reality is parodying the comics

[@ethandaley69]

This video auto-played after another while I was doing some chores around the house and I was like "Huh, TF2, not too familiar but I love learning about these super entrenched communities of time-proof games. I'll listen along.." then that "House," intro hit and.. . . Fuck me I'm still smiling. That shit was well-done. I'm hooked. Liked, subbed. The whole thing. Take me away KZbinr-man

[@123l32-x]

Y'know it's a problem, when the subreddit hops off the Zesty hate wagon and starts agreeing with him. No matter what, this will sadly never change.

[@panthekirb7561]

The redditors who mostly don't play the game and when they do they just circle jerk and spam taunts for a few hours.

[@mentlegen1632]

​​@@panthekirb7561r/truetf2 is the only place to actually discuss the state of the game outside of niche forums.

[@caramelldansen2204]

Redditors seeing reason? Perhaps pigs will start flying, too!

[@kakyoindonut3213]

​@@caramelldansen2204bro they gonna cure cancer next week

[@jo2n847]

I remember making a video back in 2016 about the "cat bots" and how them and other bots alike are destroying the game and making the game unfun and how it will become the undoing of the game in its whole. Though my channel was tiny. There were a lot of dislikes and all the comments disagreed with me. Telling me to "stop complaining" and "your looking too far in to this"... I didnt fight back against them, I just took the video down instead (I regret doing that). Looking back nearly 8 years later I wonder what those peoples opinions on the situation are now...

[@dac5782]

I'd wager at least 50% will take the "ignorance is bliss"/gaslight route and keep vehemently denying anything is wrong with the game.

[@CoolSs]

I remember the first version of cat bots. they were programed to not shoot you if you are taunting or crouching. people only recognized the bot problem in 2018 because for odd reason they went away in 2017 (maybe it's the update) tf2 support ended after the blue moon update.

[@PotentialGrim]

Those people that answered you don’t care anymore, they don’t play or remember. The player count is like 12k so why would they.

[@CoolSs]

@@PotentialGrim are you going to spam this reply in every comment ?

[@PotentialGrim]

@@CoolSs lol

[@longbottomleaf6918]

As someone who is on the backend of trading, I can 100% confirm the botnet idling we've known about that for years. I get cases/weaps from some of them myself, but I had no idea the extent of numbers.

[@megalodonsniperelite]

I like how all of this video is formatted in such a way nobody would be stupid enough to misinterpret it honestly the documentation and all that watching this a month later instead of sooner when I should have is spot on I genuinely hope TF2 gets rid of its bot problems and issues. Also I genuinely thought this was a sfm lore movie or something.

[@Taikurii]

Certainly didn't expect to see myself get humiliated in full view after clicking on a random recommended video. 23:33

[@RadioactiveBowl]

Clipped and shipped my friend

[@parasyteIRL]

Nice Kyouko

[@walter1383]

Lol. What was on the sign?

[@justhere4637]

​@@walter1383Nothing.

[@Taikurii]

@@walter1383 It wasn't anything questionable or funny, though I can fully understand why he had custom decals disabled on that server lmao

[@pitbowl]

This thumbnail goes so hard

[@Shoebil]

Couldn't agree more!

[@ihave2cats459]

I was about to comment exactly that

[@Hot_SpicyGrill]

I think people are so depressed about the cheater bots, the positively is a coping shield.

[@somedesertdude1308]

I'm not coping tho

[@Hot_SpicyGrill]

@@somedesertdude1308 If your watching Zesty your not the kind of person im talking about.

[@D-N-0]

in actuality, its odd that we are surprised by this. well, at least i was surprised... despite how obvious it was. kinda shows how desperately we grasp at the thinnest of hope straws.

[@Hot_SpicyGrill]

@@D-N-0 I think its because the game feels like theres more people.

[@OmegaRC59]

@@D-N-0 I'm not sure it's odd, considering how many people don't really understand how to view and interpret data, let alone the analytics that TF2's community has come up with the be able to analyze the situation. Tbh, the size of the current actual playerbase isn't even actually that bad (I'm honestly impressed it's as high as it is under the current circumstances of the game), and the number Zesty came up with definitely feels pretty accurate for how many real players there are

[@finnyjam8252]

This makes sense honestly. Most fans seem to be here for the non-game content, such as machinimas, memes, the characters etc. Very rarely do you see fans talk about the gameplay outside of YT channels like Uncle Dane. It’s obvious that TF2’s characters and worldbuilding are more popular than the gameplay (even if the game itself it still really fun) and these player numbers reflect that as opposed to how much hype the game has online.

[@farkrits]

I'm glad there are some content creators like Zesty who aren't high on copium 24/7 and are able to bring attention to the issues TF2 is dealing with. The level is neglect we've been facing for almost a decade now gives no insentive for anyone to play the game. I've been playing since 2014 and was basically forced to quit due to just how bad the situation has become and by now I have no hope that it'll get any better.

[@screenwatcher949]

This is lowkey proof TF2 is more alive on KZbin than on Steam

[@JetSetDman]

i love how your drawl immediately kicks in when you say the word "spikes" and then goes away again

[@Nicoder6884]

I noticed that too!

[@Kaiveran]

SpAHke 'round here...

[@AverageConsumer-uj8sm]

I heard it too!!!

[@nottucks]

This is the case for steam as a whole. Steam’s increasing player profiles do not correspond to an equal amount of players in every game. There’s bots everywhere, idling everything and anything.

[@boinqity4621]

30:37 i love how some random guy is just singlehandedly preventing all of this data from becoming lost lmao

[@tophatenthusiast8765]

gotta find and kiss the homie for his service

[@rocketpg_9532]

Media preservation is a necessity

[@FelipeJaquez]

He's the hero this thread needs!

[@Sleepy_Cabbage]

Unspoken hero

[@empolethetaco2450]

Not all heros wear capes

[@starpowergirl]

This will be one of the hardest videos for the TF2 player-base to watch and accept. Fantastic investigative journalism.

[@leonardo9259]

"the game is a timeless masterpiece, if it isn't a masterpiece due to its flaws, at least its timeless, if it isn't timeless thanks to cosmetics, them at least its better than overwatch, of it isn't better than overwatch, at least the community is better, if the community isn't better, then at least it's fun, if it isn't fun to play the same thing 5 years, then at least it has players, and if it doesn't have players..." Zesty is leaving TF2 optimists on sewer slide watch lmao

[@falserazor]

They won't accept it, they'll just call Zesty a liar, bring up his controversies, and deny anything is wrong with the game, they ALWAYS do.

[@lotion5238]

@@leonardo9259 at least in TF2 I can deal damage and know about how much I've damaged somebody, all the characters in Overwatch especially after 2 removed a player on each team and buffed tanks feel nearly unkillable

[@SolusEclipse]

@@falserazori can see this happening, which is really unfortunate

[@Iwatoda_Dorm]

​@@falserazor i can't say i play much tf2 as much as I do watch it nowadays :/ I love the content creators that have spawned from it.

[@mrspooder6710]

Very sad! Valve most likely saw that TF2 was in a state of decline and tried pivoting towards the competitive market/scene, which amounted to the Meet your Match update of 2016 which had completely failed and killed the game, so they made a last ditch effort, a last hurrah from the devs to see if they could generate profit and interest that would justify the effort they put into updates (Jungle Inferno), however! Valve did NOT make an acceptable profit margin to continue developing major updates! TF2 however still makes a lot of money for Valve, and is intrinsically intertwined with CS:GO's (now CS:2) economy and trade market, shutting down TF2 servers is out of the question, it would crash the economy. So they give small updates, and release cosmetic content, giving players false hope. But the reality is that TF2 is not in the cards for 99% of valve, they simply don't care! They haven't since 2018.

[@weegeguy9770]

​@@Gnentleliterally nobody does

[@CoolSs]

"He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was... losing his power. Which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he bet everything on comp. Then his comp killed him in his sleep. It's ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself."

[@CoolSs]

@@Gnentle You don't get the reference.... Shame. That where the fun supposed to begin

[@weegeguy9770]

@@CoolSs only a sith deals in absolutes anyway

[@weegeguy9770]

@@Gnentle if we look at teamwork. tf (site used in the video), about 3 people actually play competitive for 17k players in total

[@marshalmarshall2109]

i tried to get into tf2 but it's a lot like chess in that; there are a lot of people who've been playing it for far longer than you've played anything and know it like you know the route from your bed to your fridge.

[@aydinmakesthings]

"Team Fortress 2, the game every talks about, but no one plays" Thank you for summarizing my exact views on both TF2 and it's fanbase. I've stressed my hate for modern TF2, and every time, I get hate for it. When you point out the lack luster updates, they just say "It's something!" "It's something" is the reason we're getting nothing from Valve!

[@CoolSs]

that why i call it the tf2 fandom. the tf2 community doesn't exist. community is unity. community is like what DRG have. tf2 have people who interested in but rarely play it or never even touched the game. We got too many tourist. this why when MYM dropped and tf2 probably lost more than half of the true players. Valve panicked. and worst of all, the tourist and people who coping about MYM sweeped it under the rug. If you played tf2 before MYM, no way in the world you could say Casual mode was better than Quick Play. unless if you don't play the game.

[@mojomitts]

Unfortunately the TF2 Community has what I’ve been calling “Starved Stockholm Syndrome”.

[@sethweddle5160]

You guys are delusional. The people who love TF2 and defend it aren’t some blind fandom, they’re the people that play every day and have for years. All the people complaining and saying the game is dead don’t play and live in online echo chambers that only talk about the game.

[@CoolSs]

@@sethweddle5160 You didn't watch the video. So stop acting like this and admit you are butthurt about a reality you wish to ignore.

[@dumbvillage9253]

Medic is the class everyone loves, but nobody plays. How ironic. And an incredible similiarity.

[@barricade6299]

A tough pill to swallow, we are NOT making it out of 2fort with this one

[@mentlegen1632]

The unironically most reasonable option is to just cashout our entire inventories and wait for the shit to collapse due to the impending armagedon for the trading community. And after that we will have had around a year before valve pulls the plug.

[@NotSpecialDude]

@@mentlegen1632 The catch is that only the ones who cash out FIRST get away scot free. Once people start cutting and running, the market will start crashing FASTER.

[@Ryzard]

​@@mentlegen1632oh absolutely. If people quit trading, the bots would die out, due to the costs not bringing back anything

[@Looona_fan]

🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊

[@Ervonesque]

Sooner or later, we WILL get out of 2fort, don't worry, whether you like it or not, you'll leave.

[@nikolasbanana]

I havent touched tf2 since the summer "update-sized update", but I have still been watching a lot of videos about it. The part where you said this is the game everyone loves to talk about but nobody wants to play is so real man, I love it, but it's gotten boring to play due to valve's disgusting inaction.