Recent speculation within the Dota 2 community suggests that Valve may have significantly reduced its efforts in addressing smurf accounts, win-trading, and other disruptive behaviours. Unconfirmed reports claim that the sole employee responsible for banning cheaters and smurfs, including notorious offenders like "rostik999", has been dismissed.
Allegations Against Valve
The community has raised concerns that Valve has deprioritised maintaining a fair competitive environment. Key points from the discussion include:
- No action against smurfs: Players participating in challenges like "From 0 to Immortal" on low-ranked accounts, despite having over 10,000 MMR on their mains, are reportedly going unpunished.
- Win-trading left unchecked: Accounts involved in match manipulation for monetary gain allegedly face no bans.
- Decline in overall enforcement: The absence of bans for streamers and exploiters has led to increased frustration among players.
The Role of the Fired Employee
According to unverified sources, the fired employee was instrumental in maintaining a healthy game environment by:
- Issuing hardware bans to serial offenders like rostik999, effectively preventing them from playing Dota 2 on the same device.
- Strictly targeting smurf accounts and disruptive players.
This individual’s removal has allegedly left a gap in enforcement, leading to a surge in disruptive activities.
Community Sentiment
The speculation has sparked debates across forums, with players expressing disappointment in Valve’s priorities:
- Focus on monetisation: Many players believe Valve is more focused on releasing cosmetic treasures and monetising the game, rather than improving the player experience.
- Neglecting patches: Some also argue that Valve is slow in releasing gameplay updates, adding to the perception of disengagement.