The Sp Guide to Bot-Spotting

The botting problem after the x64 update is as bad as it's been. Here's how to work with your human teammates to spot bots and kick them to actually enjoy this game, in 2024 and beyond (hopefully)

Introduction

Hello, gamers!

For anyone even vaguely following TF2's situation right now, you know that there are a lot of non-human players (or bots) in casual TF2 lobbies. They can range from malicious to just annoying, but either way they reduce the quality of the matches they're in.

This guide was written to help you become more aware of what sort of bots are out there now, how to spot them, and how to remove them with your human teammates. I've noticed a lot of people getting tricked by their tactics, and I didn't put 1,600 hours into this game for nothing!

We'll be talking about a few types of bots that I've encountered personally:
Aimbotters
Spammers
Impostors/Lookouts
Kamikaze

Aimbotters

Aimbotting bots are the easiest to spot.

Generally speaking, they've got inhuman reaction times, perfect accuracy, and the hallmarks of your favorite fortnite pro. (Being, that they're cheating with the usual tools that are commonplace in typical aimbotting)

The most egregious example of this bot comes in the form of a sniper with a variation of the name Mechinator. I'm not sure of the origin of the name, it may have been a legit TF2 player in the past, but these bots are purely just to make the game hell for anyone else.

They're programmed to spam chat, and work together to kick any legitimate player using the in-game votekick system. This makes it impossible to actually play when server traffic is low (like in the early mornings of your local server's timezone). If you're playing during these times, it's best to just play MvM or go on a community server.

There's unfortunately nothing you can do about that if they outnumber or equal the number of legitimate players in game. Votekick works by a majority-rules system. If the vote is tied, the offending player is not removed.

I've also seen these bots as heavies, but you'll see them most often as snipers. Again, they're easy to spot, as the Heavy bots are practically always spun up, and Sniper bots tend to have the same loadout: the Cozy Camper and the default rifle. Sometimes they use other rifles like the Classic or the Bazaar Bargain.

Chat Spammers

Chat spammers are incredibly easy to spot, as they fill the chat with advertisements promising "protection" from their bots, among other things.

They are usually also aimbotters.

Not much else is to be said about these, to be honest, other than to say that no matter what, do not patronize these losers. They want to make the game impossible to play so you pay them to be able to play. That's what we call racketeering. Or extortion. I dunno, I'm a media guy, not a lawyer.

Also, do not join any discord they may be linking to. That's a fantastic way to get your account stolen.

Impostors & Lookouts

Impostors and Lookouts are hard to define and harder to spot, and are arguably the most harmful bot in the game.

These bots look like normal players. They have non-bot sounding names, they are innocuous enough, and even have basic chat functions. However, they are quick to make "botcusations", aiming votekicks at legitimate players. (As a sidenote, I've seen players say that they'll votekick other bots, but I haven't seen it for myself.)

As I've been telling people in game, when you're looking to votekick someone, discuss it with the team (and server at large) before you do it. This way, you can prevent yourself from catching an accusation. The bots are (currently) unable to do this themselves.

In addition to making accusations, these bots have something that I like to call "auto-plead". When a votekick is called against them, they will send messages almost immediately to beg players not to kick them.

If you happen to be catching a votekick from a bot, don't panic, primarily. Send a message to all-chat, with something to indicate you're a human. The longer the message the better, as these bots can't (again, currently) form very long sentences.

Finally, when a number of these bots are together in a server, they will often spam "f1" or "f2" to instruct players what button to press. (For reference, F1 is in favor of kicking, F2 is against. You can put it together, lmao.)

I can only assume that these bots are designed to open spots up in the server for other, more malicious bots to join after human players are kicked. Though, it should be noted that I have no evidence for this. They may just want to sow distrust and make it hard for people to actually play.

Kamikaze

Kamikaze bots are strange, to say the least.

They don't tend to have the finesse that aimbots have, nor the malice that lookouts and impostors do. They tend to just run into the enemy (or as I call it, "int") and try to wreak havoc.

I've most often seen Engineer bots of this style, walking into a team and critting with their wrench. They don't tend to make it very far, but they do just cause issues.

I've seen Scout and Spy bots with the same m.o as well.

To be honest, like the chat spammers, there's not much else to say. They're just strange, and seem to be pretty primitive. Perhaps once they've gone unnoticed long enough, they evolve into more malicious bots, but who knows.

Best Practices and TL;DR

So you've got a bot in your game.

What do?

Firstly, communicate with the lobby.
Establishing communication with other humans is the best way to coordinate against these bad actors.

Second, make it very clear you intend to kick someone who you think may be a bot.
This works twofold: One, it prevents you from catching a botcusation, as many bots these days will call votekicks out of the blue, and it gives the player a chance to defend themselves if they're not a bot. (I've been told today that f2p players can't actually chat, which is a bummer. In this case, f2p players, make an effort to make it known to someone that you are human by shooting a teammate once or twice. Hopefully they'll get it?)

Finally, call the votekick and don't fall into the trap.
Bots now can come with "auto-plead", meaning they'll send basic messages to try to dissuade players from kicking them. If the player you've just voted to kick immediately sends a message begging to not be kicked, they're probably actually a bot.

But I'm not a bot and I'm being votekicked?!

Hooboy.

First, don't panic.
If you're a human, you've got nothing to fear. Use the chat to explain that you're not a bot, and send a few messages to all-chat. A good trick is to actually refer to other usernames, but not by the full username. For example, if you've got someone named GlacierFreeze in your game, just say "Glacier" or "Freeze" as you refer to them.

Second, communicate to the player that voted to kick you.
You can see this by looking in the top left of the votekick window. If they're human, they'll most likely apologize. If they don't respond at all, there's a good chance they're a bot themselves.

Third, if they did not respond, refer to "So you've got a bot in your game".
:)

Miscellaneous Bullet Points

• Bots cannot (currently) respond in chat.
  
• If someone spams "f1" or "f2" in chat without anything else, they may be a bot.
  
• Bot profiles tend to be set to "Private", disallowing anyone from viewing their contents.

Closing

In the end, the "war" against bots is won by informing players about them.

TF2's survived for nearly two decades now (which is insane on it's own, great job Valve) and we can see it into its next sunrise if we all work together.

You can help out directly by reading the guide, and sharing it with friends and players in game. If you'd like to help contribute to the guide, drop a comment down below and we'll talk! I intend to update the guide as more stuff becomes known to me. I'm probably painting a target on my back by producing this, but hey. That's what I get.

Follow these practices, and the game will be better for everyone!