F2P News: Team Fortress 2

Well, it was announced the other day that Team Fortress 2 will now go free to play.  If Valve handles this the right way, this could be great for the game and it's current community.  I have been an avid TF2 player in the past.  And while I enjoyed playing through the extra content that has been included in the last year or so with updates to the individual classes.  The TF2 Fan deep inside of me is concerned about the F2P model for this type of game.  I think I speak for everyone who enjoys online games, in that the last thing we need to fill our game servers with are the flamers who try to spoil the fun for everybody else, either by interfering with the flow of a match, or by a poor attitude.

Certainly you have bumped into someone like this if you have ever played a FPS game online.  And with a F2P model it is much more likely this caliber of player will start to crowd the games.  I hope I am terribly wrong about this, because TF2 is an awesome game.  And with a title such as Team Fortress 2 being steered towards this route, it will be interesting to see what other titles may have to adapt to survive in the ever changing online game scene.

It seems almost as though every other month or so we hear word of another MMO going towards F2P.  And I must admit, I have found a lot of fun can be had with a solid F2P title.  So, we'll continue to watch these developments and see how things shape up for Valve.