Team Fortress 2's player count doubles after fan pressure sees Valve step in with a bot-demolishing banwave and a firm line on appeals: 'No'

Team Fortress 2's bot problem is an ongoing drama in PC gaming land: the issue seemingly went into overdrive when developer Valve stepped back from major work on the game in 2017. To be clear, whatever some in the community may say Valve has never abandoned TF2, and continues to periodically release bug fixes and community-authored expansions for the 17-year-old game. But the bots… the bots have definitely gotten out of hand. 

The issue seemed to become particularly acute around 2020, and...