We’ve seen a number of ingenious methods of banning naughty players from video games over the years, but this latest attempt from Valve may be the funniest yet.
Valve is on the warpath, clamping down on Dota 2 smurf accounts in what it has called a “bloodbath”. As part of that and the recently released Frostivus 2023 update, Valve is sending a surprise gift to Dota 2 smurf accounts, even those belonging to professional players of the company’s hugely popular MOBA.
What the unsuspecting recipients of the in-game gift, misleadingly described as a “seasonal reward”, fail to realise is it contains a “highly toxic” lump of coal that triggers a permanent ban. That’s exactly what happened to Dota 2 pro and streamer Mason "mason" Venne, who was surprised to see his account banned after opening the gift from Valve in a clip now being widely shared online.
This might be the funniest thing I've ever seen relating to Dota. Well played Valve. pic.twitter.com/v37jGXHQK1
— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) December 15, 2023
"What?!" mason exclaims as realisation sets in. "I got banned?! What? What if I just never opened it? Are they serious?"
In a follow-up post on the Dota 2 subreddit, mason admitted to and apologised for hiring a behaviour score farmer to boost his in-game behaviour score (Valve uses a behaviour score system in an attempt to promote positive behaviour and communication in Dota 2, which has a reputation for toxicity).
Mason has now pleaded with Valve to lift his ban. “I completely understand what I did was wrong, and I know it's a hard ask, but I'm asking for leniency,” he said. “I have never in my 13 years of playing Dota 2 ever done anything like this, and when I realised it felt wrong and was the wrong way to go about things, I stopped it, sadly you can't undo a mistake you made. I'm asking for a second chance, because I will never do anything like this again, and I never have in the past. There are no excuses, it was something born out of frustration but we all get frustrated and disappointed in our situation sometimes, doesn't mean we get to bend the rules.”
It’s unclear whether Valve will lift the ban, but what is clear is that the company is taking a hard stance on Dota 2 players who break the rules. In a blog post explaining its position, Valve said it had some “bad news” for Dota 2 players it deemed to be on its “naughty list”... “because this year is gonna be a bloodbath.”
“You might remember back in September, we got out the ban hammer and permanently banned 90,000 smurf accounts,” Valve continued. “Since then, we've continued to invest in player behaviour monitoring, on both the manual and automatic analysis fronts. Over the last few weeks, we've engaged in an even more aggressive ban wave, including many tens of thousands of smurf account bans today alone.
“At The International, some pro players reached out to us to talk about their smurf accounts. Those conversations have continued, and there’s broad agreement amongst pros that banning pro smurf accounts is a win for Dota as a community: the rules should apply to everybody, and from now on they will. And smurfing isn’t even the only naughty thing players are getting up to. Amongst other questionable choices, some bad actors are playing like jerks, ruining games and losing behaviour score because of it, then hiring behaviour score farmers to drive it back up.
“Regardless of how you’ve been naughty, we've been watching you (not while you're sleeping, calm down) and we’re cracking down on all of it. Punishments will be handed out for all of the above, including behaviour score penalties — and in serious cases, main account bannings.
“As we’ve said before, smurfing (and other negative behaviour) makes matches worse, and we want to make sure your matches are as good as possible as we head into the new year. So we’d like to wish everyone a Happy Frostivus Update! Except smurf accounts, who we assume will not enjoy the update as they choke on their richly-deserved coal-flavoured just desserts.”
Image credit: Twitch
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
