talking about the fans of a piece of media in your sincere criticism is silly, but with TF2 the social aspect is kind of integral to the overall experience. this isn't completely bad, you will get those fun matches where everyone will just decide not to play the game and do some goofy friendly shit or ones where you start beef with an enemy and focus them as Spy while they cry in chat. there's a theatrical potential here no other online shooter like it has ever come close to capturing, TF2 is a game where anything can happen. unfortunately, a lot of what does happen is getting called slurs. if you're playing this as a woman and even exist online you're gonna get vote-kicked, sexually harassed, and called slurs only remembered by cave-dwelling creatures studying forbidden scrolls from the dark ages. those rare, high moments of fun and comradery are hard to come by and nearly extinct if you're not a guy. instead, those highs and lows will be buried in an endless ocean of mic-spamming, meme-consuming, shower-avoiding, discord-grooming goobers who are more familiar with the ins and outs of reddit posting than with friend-having.

none of the playerbase's problems matter to the core gameplay, of course. it doesn't change how i feel about the actual game itself, just sours my mood with it sometimes. its unkempt, diseased community does sadly reflect the game's current state however. TF2 is a good 'ol Source title released 16 years ago, and while its timeless art-style and characters still hit hard as fuck today, its performance issues, market, UI, bugs, and all-around design definitely don't. this game introduced the world to loot boxes, it plays like the immune system of a child with every disease, and its gameplay is riddled with weird mistakes and design decisions but goddamnit, i still love it. no 'hero shooter' cast feels like it has half the variety TF2's mere 9 classes do. each have their own distinct role on a team, are more endearing than the vast majority of all fictional characters, and (sorta) have a surprising amount of depth and customization. each class has subclasses and an arsenal of alternative options that completely transform how you play. but for every battle engineer and market gardener, there is the jank of TF2's melee and hitregistry with the demoknight and huntsman sniper. so much shit in this game is broken to this day, either in the code (Scout's babyface's blaster) or just in design (the Heavy overall.) most of the maps are bad, new players will be confused and lost enough already with the game's default, outdated settings and UI but seeing them play on an uncurated map playlist is just cruel. the variety in its gameplay, the depth it can have, is enough to push past that sometimes.

i dunno. this game's foundation is cracking and it's not what it used to be, but no other game like it has a character as fun and creative as the Spy.