[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Gabe Follower [@gabefollower](/creator/twitter/gabefollower) on x 210.4K followers Created: 2025-06-24 16:30:25 UTC Parasocial behavior like this is why almost all Valve developers stopped communicating directly with the community. This guy made bold claims while doing little to no research. Eric Smith, one of the core figures of the TF2 dev team, isn't playing CS? That's insane! IceFrog, the core behind balancing the highly complex Dota X and also (according to rumors) Deadlock, isn't playing on his "public" Steam account? I wonder why... Haix also claimed that he found and went through all CS2 developers' accounts (while making middle-school jokes about their real names), but he doesn't understand that having a "Valve Employee" Steam badge is optional. You don't have to add it to your account. A huge chunk of Valve developers are technically considered contractors, and they're not mentioned anywhere in official resources, even though they still work day-to-day. To be considered an "in-house" employee, you have to live in the Seattle area and be able to regularly visit the office. Even some of the core writers at Valve are considered contractors, while being an important part of the development teams. It's absolutely unhinged to make statements like that after going through ten accounts and watching one demo where a dev plays like an average Counter-Strike player. You don't have to be a top esports player to understand how the game works. It's also a common situation in the industry for developers not to actively play their own games. It's pretty easy to go down a biased path. From a development perspective, it's more valuable to see what actual players are saying. They are reading all the comments, emails, and reddit posts. "Oh, but devs aren't responding to them!" Exactly, because community acted like pieces of shit when they did in the past.  XXXXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [playing](/topic/playing) [bold](/topic/bold) [Post Link](https://x.com/gabefollower/status/1937548881593516501)
[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]
Gabe Follower @gabefollower on x 210.4K followers
Created: 2025-06-24 16:30:25 UTC
Parasocial behavior like this is why almost all Valve developers stopped communicating directly with the community. This guy made bold claims while doing little to no research. Eric Smith, one of the core figures of the TF2 dev team, isn't playing CS? That's insane! IceFrog, the core behind balancing the highly complex Dota X and also (according to rumors) Deadlock, isn't playing on his "public" Steam account? I wonder why...
Haix also claimed that he found and went through all CS2 developers' accounts (while making middle-school jokes about their real names), but he doesn't understand that having a "Valve Employee" Steam badge is optional. You don't have to add it to your account.
A huge chunk of Valve developers are technically considered contractors, and they're not mentioned anywhere in official resources, even though they still work day-to-day. To be considered an "in-house" employee, you have to live in the Seattle area and be able to regularly visit the office. Even some of the core writers at Valve are considered contractors, while being an important part of the development teams.
It's absolutely unhinged to make statements like that after going through ten accounts and watching one demo where a dev plays like an average Counter-Strike player. You don't have to be a top esports player to understand how the game works. It's also a common situation in the industry for developers not to actively play their own games.
It's pretty easy to go down a biased path. From a development perspective, it's more valuable to see what actual players are saying. They are reading all the comments, emails, and reddit posts.
"Oh, but devs aren't responding to them!" Exactly, because community acted like pieces of shit when they did in the past.
XXXXXXX engagements
