People, they change there minds.
Suddenly and without warning and then act on it without warning? Hm.
This quoted post best describes it:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin Walker
Any data we gather from servers can be faked, and would be faked as soon as people worked out what we were using to determine drops. The idle server is essentially "cheating", but they're not able to earn items any faster than someone who's playing during that time, which is something they would be able to do if we added performance related rewards.
"In so few lines, Robin succinctly evaluated the entire issue. Valve didn't think through the system before they released it, but they damn well can't unrelease it. In a completely random system, everyone has an equal chance (though idlers get more chances.) In a performance based system, the most efficient farmer wins. At this point, Valve showed a (with hindisght, deceptively) intelligent view on the issue, which I'll summarise.
In order to not break our promises and principles (ie, not selling them for money), the fairest way of distributing hats is at random.
Everyone has an equal chance to get a hat, but the people who play for longer have more chances. The only way to maximise your chances is to play/idle 24/7.
The random system is the lesser of two evils. With this system, people play when they want to play, and idle when they don't. In a performance based system, people would farm until they get what they want (which would harm the community that actually wants to play.)
So we won't do anything about it.
But now Valve has broken the stability we had before, all because of a minority of prigs on the forums, whose horses are so high that the riders are invisible through the clouds. They're going to punish people who idle.
But wait! There's a flaw! Now, I'm not going to insult Valve's intelligence by saying they can't differentiate between the idle program and a server. But as Robin Walker said "any data we gather from servers can be faked"
Let me evaluate that. ALL THIS WILL ACHIEVE IS TO FORCE IDLERS TO FREQUENT IDLE SERVERS RATHER THAN USE THE PROGRAM. But... that's even more frustrating for everyone! People who idle can no longer do other things on their computer whilst idling. People who don't idle see their server lists clogged up with idling servers. IT'S A LOSE-LOSE SITUATION.
In summary: Valve, you have released a flawed system, as a result of your own incompetence. Now you are punishing the community for your mistake by forcing idlers to waste CPU resources on running the game to idle and non idlers to wade through seas of idle servers to find a real server.
Valve, you are becoming something you never were. In the past, you only punished hackers - and rightly so. They harmed the community and made the game frustrating. But idling? Idling hurts no one (except, perhaps, Valve's ego). Idling is responding to an incentive. It's like punishing a donkey for moving when you wave a carrot in its face.
The only way I can see Valve defeating idling forever is to put as much effort into detecting idling as they do into detecting hacks. Imagine that. All that effort, for something so ludicrously trivial? Ridiculous - but the only thing they can do, having taken the path of punishment.
Here Valve, I'll give you something for free. How about you eliminate the incentive for idling completely. Make the system so that every 24 hours, the system rolls for every owner of TF2. The percentage chance of receiving a hat would be whatever it is now, skewed to take into account 1 roll per day. There - no need for idling, and you still keep your random system.
Please Valve, don't let pride get in the way of your judgement. No one will think badly of you if you change your mind and opt for a better solution. But I assure you, if you carry on with this ludicrous idea of punishing your community, then your reputation WILL be tarnished. Not a lot, but it would still be damaged. And that would truly be a sad thing to happen.
Thanks for reading.
TL;DR: If you can't be bothered to read, don't bother replying.
P.S. I'm simply going to ignore any posts along the lines of "ha, you lost your hats." Yes, I stand to lose half of my hats. No, it's not that big a deal to me. This thread isn't a "don't take my hats please" thread. I'm concerned with the fact that in doing this Valve are opting for a flawed system, but forcing it through with threats - rather than listening to what the community actually want, like they used to.
Edit: I think this post sums up the situation quite nicely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daggity
I'm sure glad Valve came up with a terrible solution to a non-existent problem (Idlers), instead of an actual solution to a very annoying problem (Random drop system).
Edit 2: Due to the overwhelmingly positive response here I've emailed this thread to Robin Walker. Let's hope we get a response."
Edit: Where?!
