Cheating in video games has been around since the start. People just can't help themselves and put aside their pride in order to boost their K/D or whatever pointless score they crave to boast about.

This guide should help you notice who's cheating and what to do if they are. Follow these simple tips and you should see at least one bot thrown out the door in your match.

So, imagine this scene - you're running/flying/dying around on Team Fortress 2, when suddenly out of nowhere the enemy sniper, raspgoose.jose.340, gets a sweet headshot on you. This isn't usually a problem, plenty of raspgoose.jose.340's out there, probably with good aim.
Except you were invisible as a spy.
People who use bots aren't very clever and often are just in it for the free 100 - 300 kills their bot gets before it's perma-banned. This usually makes them disposable, meaning people get careless attempting to hide their cheats. If you notice weird behaviour such as:

• Insanely fast spinning - the player will rotate at insane speeds before stopping for a perfect headshot. Weird.
  
• "Moonwalking" - bots may be looking up or backwards whilst moving in a different direction flawlessly, as if they were looking forward and playing normally. Hard to describe, but you'll know what i'm saying if you've witnessed it.
  
• A third eye - the bots can see all; invisible spies, deadringers, scouts behind corners ready to flank and soldiers mid-rocket jump aren't safe to their code. A sniper that's a little too wary of their surroundings may be a bot.

This has become the usual attire of bots everywhere. The skull hat, Gibus and pyrovision goggles are often seen on bots. They may also spam "Nice shot!" every few seconds without rest the moment they spawn.

Remember that bots don't restrict themselves to the Sniper - a bot could be playing any of the 9 classes - even the Medic!

Some bots are coded to copy a player's name and use it as their own. This is an attempt to avoid detection, but they are betrayed by one huge flaw...

This is the main giveaway - no profile picture is an obvious clue that this person has not only recently made their steam account, but also has no care for it.
Sometimes, bots will use profile pictures to try and blend in - here are the most popular fake profile pictures for bots.
If you find any that I've missed, make sure to send them to me! I'll be sure to add them to the Hall of Lame!
Note that bots have been reported to use different variations of the steam TF2 avatars - make yourself familiar with how they look so you know if a bot is using them.

If a name-changing bot is in the game, look carefully for these differences to ensure you kick the right player.

Those of you who have faced these bots before know that some bots that are in a game will immediately DDOS the server if they aren't kicked in time. These sort of bots have made an annoying return, and one that twists your arm so that they get the last laugh either way.


I was playing some casual payload with a mate and we noticed a new bot with a unique user name that threatened to DDOS the server upon a votekick. We immediately votekicked the coded creep and true to it's word the server started suffering from severe lag.
The lag only lasted around 3 or 4 minutes but it was still extremely annoying. That amount of time can really eat into a game of casual, and even ruin some end-game pushes completely.


I've been fighting bots since around 2013 and in all my time I haven't encountered something as annoying as these bots. Most bots can be kicked quickly to avoid any gimmicks and tactics that they might use, but these new ddos bots get the last laugh regardless. Until ValvE steps in, casual may become borderline unplayable if these bots start to grow in number.


The other interesting thing I noticed was the profile picture of one of these bots. Some of you may have noticed it and be reminded of a certain cheater...
[VALVE] Twilight Sparkle is a nasty piece of work and one of the many cheaters banned by ValvE. He often makes alts so he can keep playing, and often shows off his hacks and cheats on his youtube channel. It wouldn't surprise me if some of these bots could have something to with him - he's got a history of using DDOS to attack people minding their own business.

You've seen this profile picture around quite a lot if you're active in the KOTH gamemodes. These bots are the easiest to identify and kick - the racial slur in their username, fake use of '[VALVE]' in their name and repeated profile picture across all variations of the bot make for an easy kicking target.
For example:
Here I press TAB to bring up the leaderboard, allowing me access to all the users currently playing in the server. You can notice 3 different variations of this particular bot - note the matching profile pictures.


OMEGATRONIC bots are about as lazy as you can get with bot design. They're easy to identify - the robot head is on every single OMEGATRONIC bot. They also share the same name, but this will appear different if you inspect their barely-touched steam profile. You'll need to act fast so that they don't swarm into the server. They can cast fake votes, so make sure you're paying attention to who's being kicked when they're in a server.


As of recent, there's been an increase in bots called Enderblitz. I haven't heard much about these bots, but they're most likely recycled from an old batch. These bots are made to mimic a user who is also called Enderblitz, who also has a similar profile picture - I doubt these two are connected, so please don't send any hate to the original Enderblitz. This could be a movement against Enderblitz to try and get people to mass-hate him - I'm not entirely sure.



Here's what most of these new Enderblitz bots look like. You'll notice the low level and lack of content on their profile. These bots seem to be adept at joining a singular server rapidly until it's full of them. Your best bet is to kick one as soon as you see it, or you'll end up with a lobby full of them within a few minutes.



Completely overthrown! Your best bet is to switch to a nice community server if you run into consistent bot-filled games. The community tab offers endless fun gamemodes and trade servers. I'd recommend looking some up on Youtube to get started.


Another method bots use to avoid detection and kicking is flooding the chat with spacebars everytime somebody speaks. My main way to avoid this is to fight fire with fire - copy and pasting a sentence over and over such as, "raspgoose.jose.340 is a bot!" everytime the chat gets wiped can sometimes help and let the other/your own team know who's hacking. Your message will usually linger for a split second, which is sometimes enough for someone to read your message and be updated on the situation.

It's also important to keep your cool - the person using a bot is most likely trying to get a reaction out of you. SImply vote to kick the bot, and enjoy your game. If the game is overrun by bots, don't fight back - leave and find a different server full of normal people who enjoy the game.

There's no need to spend 5 minutes slowly crawling through the chat to find the bot responsible - you can easily find who's spamming the chat using the console. To bring up the console in-game, press "`" on your keyboard. If you haven't enabled the console, follow this useful guide by Avaray!

Now that you have the console opened, you can scroll a much shorter distance to find out who's spamming the chat!
You can't see how fast it was, but it only took me 3 seconds to open up the console and find the bot who was spamming the chat! Do note that if it keeps spamming, the console will update, so don't forget to scroll up a little! Use this info to help your team identify and kick the bot.

Yet another useful way of silencing bots is by using the MUTE feature. It is a feature I've rarely used, but after dusting off the cobwebs, I found it to be pretty useful! If you want to mute a bot so that you can see the chat again, simply:

Open up the menu by pressing ESC.

Go to the "MUTE PLAYER" button. This button is right next to the "KICK PLAYER" button. Both of these buttons are very useful. Click the "MUTE PLAYER" button, and a menu will pop up.

This menu lists all of the players currently in the game, regardless of team. Here, you can click on a user and select the "mute" button the mute both their voice in-game, AND anything they might try to say in the chat. Very useful for silencing spam bots! It can be difficult to select a player due to the menu not showing their profile pictures. Be sure to memorise the bot's name before muting.

Select the mute button, and the game will show you if somebody has been muted by the "MUTED" text next to their name. You can now freely use the chat. It might be worth checking the chat to see if anybody has identified the bot.
Note that the bot will only be muted for you, and not other players - if other players have done the same thing as you however, it should make getting rid of the bot even easier!

Time's have been rough, right? Just as Corona rears it's ugly head, as do another wave of annoying bots! I've cleaned up the guide a wee bit to offer better advice, and I've also added a (slowly growing) list of bots I've encountered - if you could report a few of them, that'd be pretty helpful!

Anyone who's been playing TF2 for a certain amount of time can recall a moment when they've been accused of hacking or using an aimbot. It's a bold claim to make - a lot of players are happy to slam F1 the second any sort of vote option pops up.

That's why I've added this section to the guide - the tips you see below should help you collect some extra evidence and form an opinion on the matters at hand - possibly saving someone from an unfair kick!


It goes without saying, but taking a moment to read the vote can help you understand several important things, such as who's casting the vote and who's being voted out. Since the entire purpose of the voting system is to remove a player from the match, it's important that you know what the votekick is trying to achieve.



For example, above you can see who's casting the vote (red underline) and who's about to be kicked (red arrow). Pay attention to who's casting the vote - if you know it's a bot casting the vote, try to alert others and make sure you press F2 to vote NO.

Another handy tip is to check the suspect's steam profile. I'm sure some of you have done this before when suspecting somebody of cheating, but for those of you have never considered it or don't know how, here's how to do it.



Since you'll be checking this profile in-game, you'll need to bring up the Steam overlay by pressing Shift + Tab whilst in-game. With the Steam overlay open, click on the "Player List" button. This will bring up a list of players you have met, both in your current game and within the last few games you played.



Since the bot is causing trouble in your current game, make sure to click the "Current Game" tab. This will bring up all players currently in the server.



To go to the desired profile, click on the small profile link. Now that you've selected your suspect's profile, it's time to gather some information...



The image above gives us plenty of useful information. For example:
The VAC ban - almost never a good sign, VAC bans are a permanent stain on a player's profile. They act as a warning to others that this player may not be trustworthy.
Low levels - nothing wrong with being a newer player, we've all been there! A throwaway profile made for a bot will almost always be a low-level, however.
Very few/similar games - if the few games owned also happen to only be shooters, it can be a dead giveaway that the account is used only for botting in shooters.

Now comes the most satisfying step of all - ruining some nerd's day by kicking his butt bot.
If you aren't familiar with TF2's menu, here's how you start a vote, so long as a vote currently isn't in progress. Note that you cannot do multiple votes without a short cooldown.


First, open your menu with ESC.


Then, scroll down to this part of the menu. It will have a small patch of text appear when your mouse hovers over it, letting you know what part of the toolbar you have selected.


Click it, and a new menu will pop up. This shows all players on your team and NOT the enemy team. Click on whichever player you assume is the bot, keeping the tips from earlier in mind.


A small menu will pop up underneath, detailing three different reasons to cast a vote. Select "PLAYER IS CHEATING" and hit call vote to trigger a game-wide vote.


If somebody else has done these steps, you'll see the vote query appear on your screen.
If you're sure the player is a bot, hit F1 on your keyboard. This will select yes. Hit F2 if you know the player isn't a bot, and voice your thoughts in the chat to warn others.

As the seasons change, bots do too! Over the spooky season of October, there was a sudden rise in Heavy aimbots called spoooky braaaap that would target halloween maps.




It was satisfying to see the community on their toes this season, as I saw a lot of bots getting kicked before they had a chance to kill anyone. Those of you who understood the tips earlier may notice the lack of effort that the bot's steam profile has.

With Smissmas around the corner, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a new wave of festive bots pour into casual servers. Use the advice in this guide (and a sprinkle of common sense) and hopefully your games can remain clean!

Sometimes, either due to there being multiple bots in a server or due to other players being bad sports, bots won't always get kicked. You can either resume playing until a bot is kicked or leave and find another match.

Some bots are scripted to leave the game before the kick can remove them. This is because being kicked from multiple casual matches can result in a ban. Note that a bot that leaves a casual game is unlikely to rejoin the same one - meaning you've beaten it!

Give it time - a match-wide vote can take about 30 seconds to take effect. Check the leaderboard to ensure the bot is gone before rampaging through the chat.

If you have a microphone enabled, use it to alert your team that you're the real player. Also use your microphone to alert others as to who the bot is. If not, try and use the tips shown to alert others to the bot.

Just leave the game - leave the scraps to the dogs, find a game with normal people, and enjoy your life.

Some legends decided to unleash bots into casual that only focus on other bots - these usually have distinct names, such as "Bot Extermination Services" or something along those lines. You can actually help these bots by protecting them from the enemy bot, and providing them with healing. They usually leave when the enemy bot leaves.

Bots seem to swarm around KOTH matches due to the smaller map size and shorter match times. If you keep finding bots in your games, spice it up! Find a different game mode, or make it harder for them to beat you by playing Medieval mode.

From my experience? No. Bots will go straight for the head regardless of the conga, kaztosky kick or victory lap taunts. There are reports of bots not attacking taunting players, but this may be due to the bot aiming at other players. I personally wouldn't start dancing at a bot, but I can't stop you.

Ignore the bait - the bot was created to troll and it's comments are binds. Simply try to kick it or leave to find a better server.

Bots don't talk aside from binds. Explain yourself to others, both in the chat and using a microphone if possible, and avoid using one of the profile pictures that other bots often use. Use a simple name, or a name that you share with other games. Trust me, Tuna Chump is far more believable than raspgoose.jose.340!

Weird question, but i'll bite. Nothing repels newer players more than a game they don't understand, and being constantly headshot and taunted by bots is no way to begin Team Fortress 2. By making new players aware of these bots, we can increase the chances of bots being kicked from games, and increase the chances of bot accounts being banned! Whilst not in it's prime, Team Fortress 2 is still a fantastic game that doesn't deserve to be flooded with bots.

Quick thank you to these folk for helping with useful information! Give them some +rep!

This dude for the tip with using the console to find chat spam bots!
This guy for the battle plan of using the Fists of Steel with Vaccinator medics to steamroll those pesky bots!
This amigo for the useful info on using mute to stop chat spam!
This madlad for providing me with a big list of cheating bots! Make sure you report all of them, even just one report on one profile could help get them removed.

Make sure you check out this super useful and well-made guide! It includes advanced tips for fighting against bots, such as using cover to get close to them, and a neat quiz that's actually super helpful!
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1956296736