Yesterday, Valve finally dropped their latest update bomb on the Team Fortress 2 community, and boy, was it a doozy. Basically, the update has added tons of new items and weapons (including many made by the community), and most notably, a new in-game store to purchase items with real money. After all of the whining and complaining from people over the past few months about them never receiving randomly dropped hats, one might think this update would be a godsend, right? Well, apparently not. One look at the Steam Community TF2 Forum and you'll notice a constant stream of people complaining that Valve has ruined their precious game... you'd think Gabe Newell or Robin Walker had killed their family or something.
 
So what gives? Valve is one of - if not the - greatest developers in the history of video games. They have done more to elevate the quality of gaming than any other developer I can think of. Seriously, can you think of ONE bad game they have ever made? I am hard pressed to do so. As track records go, it's impressive (to say the least). I'm sure many people would point to the Half-Life series or Portal as their greatest achievement, but not me. Those games are certainly brilliant on every level. But to me, their crowning achievement is TF2, by leaps and bounds. I've been gaming since the Atari 2600 came out, and no game I can think of has given me as many hours of entertainment and fun than TF2. TF2 is Valve's grand experiment in the realm of ever-evolving game design, and it has succeeded at every turn. Since its release in 2007, the TF2 team has pushed out over 120 FREE updates. Yes, free. And on top of this, the game costs less than $20, and on several occasions, has been on sale for a mere handful of dollars. 
 
No other game developer would ever - EVER - consider taking this approach with one of their games. Perhaps there is one out there, but if there is, I certainly can't think of it.  No other developer has ever extended their hand out to their community as much as the TF2 team, either. The team reads the forums and takes community feedback to heart. Additionally, they even solicited that very community to develop and submit new items and weapons to be included in the game. Not to mention, these very item creators will also receive a cut of any profit on their items that are sold in the TF2 store. How cool is that?
 
Which brings me back to my original point -  the people complaining that allowing items to be purchased has ruined the game. To these people, I say: huh??? Each and every item that is available in the TF2 store is ALSO available FOR FREE within the very game they already own. Hats and weapons can be found randomly, traded with other players (also a new feature of the latest update), and created by using the in-game crafting system. The only requirement for these methods is luck (for random drops), play time (for crafting), or simply finding another player to trade an item with (via various available resources). No one who doesn't pay for an item will miss out on anything. And for those who don't mind spending money, or just don't have the time or will to put the investment into crafting, are able to take a shortcut to obtaining items for a modest fee. To me, that's a win-win.
 
One of the main arguments is that people can simply "pay to win". But that is total BS. Anybody who has ever played TF2 should know by now that none of the weapons that have been added to the game make you any better or worse than any other player. New weapons always have a trade-off. There is no weapon that can't be countered by some other weapon or class (and there's also a reason the word "team" is in the title of the game). There is no magic "WIN" button in the game. There just isn't. Any benefit gained by using the new items can be countered. The argument isn't valid. And people know this. At least, I think they do. So all I can figure is that the complainers are just jealous that anyone can get anything they want now, without any blood, sweat, or tears - and therefore, nothing is going to be rare or unique. But again, that's simply not true. As part of the new update, Valve also upgraded all existing items to be labeled "Vintage". In effect, all the stuff people earned the good ol' fashioned way up until yesterday is eventually going to be rare itself. I think that's pretty neat. And of course, Valve will continue to tweak the way items are handled as we go along, so I assume many of the complaints we're hearing now will eventually be ironed out.
 
In conclusion, I am extremely happy with the update and I think it will be a great thing in the long run. Personally, I am more than happy to support Valve, because they have never let me down with one of their products. I have even felt guilty for getting so much enjoyment out of TF2, when they haven't been making any real money on it in years. And because of that, I have no complaints about them trying to finally add some sort of revenue stream to the game. I gladly forked over some cash yesterday to get some new items - not because I needed them for any "advantage", not because I wouldn't have earned them anyways through normal gameplay (because I would have) - but rather, because it finally gave me a chance to really support the company that has given me so much enjoyment from a game I bought 3 years ago for less than $20. It's my way of saying "thank you", and I was happy to do it. And I hope the people who are complaining now eventually come around to see it this way, too.