link so i can listen

Wow. What an excellent (and depressing) podcast episode. I think most TF2 players wouldn’t expect the host of such a well-known podcast to have this much extensive first-hand experience with the game (Alex has played since 2010). Gimlet did a great job with producing this episode. I highly recommend listening to the audio, but for anyone who wants to read the transcript, you can get it at https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/emh36dn.

Some of the highlights:
[quote] In a world where something as beautiful as Team Fortress 2 actually exists, the very idea of having to go play APEX Legends instead is so offensive to me.
[/quote]
[quote] But in the interest of full journalistic disclosure, I have to tell you something: I love Valve. Every game they’ve come out with is a masterpiece. They're like the HBO of game developers — you know, Half Life, Counterstrike, Portal, TF2 — all of them are revolutionary.
And as big game developers go, they always knew how to make TF2 fans happy. They made it feel like you were a part of something. Die-hards would design the TF2 weapons of their dreams, and Valve would actually look at them, and sometimes incorporate them into updates. They just had this personal touch. Like every Halloween, the developers would tenderly decorate the game, give you new game modes and all kinds of crazy stuff, just a little surprise update every year.
And then somewhere along the way, Valve got more distant. They stopped saying what they were up to, they stopped with the creative updates. Us TF2 fans… this cone of silence fell over our world.
But like… why??
So I wrote an email to Valve. And they were friendly — they told me they have a lot of love for the TF2 community — but they also declined to answer any of the questions I had for them.[/quote]

Classic Valve. It’s so disappointing to continually be reminded about how much they simply do not care about this game outside of milking it for profit by adding community-made items once in a while and calling it a day. If only they could actually be held accountable for the decline of their game caused by neglect and rampant cheaters. All of us on this site love the game, so seeing Valve fail to maintain TF2 properly is like being punched in the gut repeatedly.

Also, fuck the cathook devs obviously.

Man that interview with the 16 year old cathook maintainer was frustrating. If you really love the game, why would you contribute to something actively worsening the state of the game? He seemed to think he was free of guilt because he wasn't directly hosting the bots, but I mean, you're still helping them by giving them the tools they need. Valve has shown that they won't do anything, so thinking that you're doing something to get valve to notice is so dumb. There are ways to create things for the game in a positive way that actually helps it grow and get better.

Aside from that, it was a good episode. TF2 as we know it is still inherently the same. Once you get away from the bots, be it in 6s, or a pub like Uncletopia, the game we love is still there.

I love reply all but have kinda stepped back from them when they switched from a technology and internet focused podcast to a social awareness one. (Nothing against what they are doing now, but i listen to podcasts mostly to be entertained, and social issues while important make me anxious thinking about them.)
This looks like a classic RA episode, gonna have to go check it. Thanks!