Valve bans over 40,000 Dota 2 players caught cheating by using ‘honey pot’ patch

The developer of Dota 2, Valve, has permanently banned over 40,000 player accounts for using third-party software to cheat in the game. The banned players used software that allowed them to view internal data in the Dota client that would normally not be visible during gameplay.

Valve’s main priority was to fix the issues that enabled cheating, but the company also took action against the players. The game developer released a patch that created a “honey pot” section of data inside the game client that was designed to catch cheaters. The accounts that were banned had accessed this “secret” area in the client, making Valve confident that all the bans were deserved.

In a statement, Valve mentioned that it wanted to make an example out of the banned players and would not tolerate cheating in Dota 2. The developer took things a step further and stated that any professional players caught cheating would be banned from all Valve competitive events.

Dota 2 is a free-to-play game, and in IGN’s review, it was noted that the game’s free-to-play model created a level playing field where skill and cooperation were key to success. Valve’s recent action against cheaters reinforces the importance of fair play and maintaining a balanced gaming environment.