Some Dota 2 players will receive a special gift from Valve as part of the game's current Frostivus holiday event: a thoughtful, gift-wrapped, permanent play ban Dota 2.
As warned by Dota 2's latest patch notes and the Frostivus 2023 event pageplayers will receive a special seasonal reward called a Frostivus Gift in their arsenal during Valve's holiday event. Some players receive free cosmetic items, while others are banned from playing for smurfing or account sharing. (Smurfing refers to creating a new account to play against low-level players, or deliberately losing to get into matches with lower-level players.)
The unwanted version of that special Frostivus surprise is a highly toxic coal that informs players that they will not be playing Dota 2 this holiday season, or each holiday season. Some players receive a temporary ban as a warning to correct their behavior in the game.
The most high-profile incident of a permanent ban involves a former pro Dota 2 player and two-time The International competitor Bricklayer “bricklayer” Venne, who streamed the opening of his Frostivus Gift on Twitch on Thursday. The surprise inside? Not anymore Dota 2 for Venne.
As seen in the clip above, Venne's highly toxic coal informs him that he has been banned for “Smurfing or other violations of the Steam Terms of Service.” Venne immediately tries to test that ban, which he clearly cannot believe, and is rejected by Steam matchmaking and Valve Anti-Cheat. Him later took to the Dota 2 subreddit to defend himself and explain why he thinks he may have been banned, but he also admits wrongdoing in the form of increasing the behavior score. He says he has contacted Valve to file a support ticket, hoping for leniency.
Flap rolled out changed to Dota 2's behavioral scoring system earlier this year, a separate communication score was added that “reflects the quality of their in-game chat and voice interactions.”
Other players have also sent their messages of prohibition, in the form of receiving lumps of coal, to the Dota 2 subreddit to vent and gloat.
Why Are Dota 2 Players Banned?
According to Dota 2's patch notes for December 14 will issue game bans for players who have shared their accounts with other users or services (presumably meaning third-party services that would violate Steam's terms of service) and for players with alt accounts used for smurfing. Valve is also handing out chunks of coal with warnings to the main accounts of players linked to a banned Smurf account.
Other players will receive free cosmetic items, with “accounts with a higher behavior score receiving higher level items,” according to Valve.
Valve's Frostivus 2023 event page included this warning to players, stating that King Kringle will deliver presents to everyone Dota 2 players, whether naughty or nice:
There's no point in denying it. King Kringle knows. He's checked your behavior score twice and he's coming with his ban hammer to pulverize the Smurf accounts of all the naughty boys and girls before issuing fines to the corresponding main accounts.
What has Valve said about Dota 2 smurf accounts and bans?
A lot of. Ahead of the launch of Festivus 2023, Valve warned Dota 2 players that everyone on the developer's 'naughty list' will be part of a 'bloodbath'.
'Maybe you remember back in Septemberwe pulled out the ban hammer and permanently banned 90,000 Smurf accounts,” Valve said. “Since then, we have continued to invest in monitoring player behavior, both in terms of manual and automatic analysis. In recent weeks we have seen an even more aggressive ban wave, including many tens of thousands of Smurf account bans today alone.”
Valve said that this year at The International a pro Dota 2 players contacted the developer “to talk about their Smurf accounts.” As part of those discussions, “there is broad agreement among professionals that banning pro-Smurf accounts is a win for Dota as a community: the rules should apply to everyone, and from now on they will.” In its warning on Wednesday, Valve even specifically called out toxic players who are “hiring behavioral score farmers” – like Mason.
“As we've said before, smurfing (and other negative behavior) makes matches worse, and we want to make sure your matches are the best they can be as we move into the new year,” Valve said. “So we want one for everyone Happy Frostivus update! Except for the Smurf accounts, who we assume won't like the update as they choke on their well-deserved coal-flavored desserts.”
Frostivus 2023 arrives Dota 2 through January 11, 2024. I hope you get what you asked for!