[TF2] Revert disabling of sprays by default

[FelixWolf]

I personally think sprays are a big part of the culture of TF2, and am extremely disheartened by the disabling of them by default.
I've seen many sprays that paint a big picture of the TF2 community, from funny, to weird, and even helpful.

Sprays were disabled because, from my understanding, a few people claimed that bots could/were spraying CP in casual servers. However this is false, because casual does not allow sprays, the server wouldn't allow the client to upload the file.
In addition, if this is truly the case that it was disabled because of a rumor of bots doing this, why disable something that a majority of the community uses for non illicit purposes over the supposed use of bots using it? The whole reason the bot problem exists is because the people running the bots want TF2 to fall, they don't want TF2 to continue having the remaining community it has. I believe that the person who started the CP spray rumor has the same intent, wanting to create controversy over TF2 so that either people don't play it, or features the community loves is disabled.

Sprays are essentially no different than any other user generated content like chat, voice chat(one can argue about chat/voice chat being UGC), custom maps, or even decals on items such as the Conscientious Objector(and these can't even be disabled!). Decals especially, since they often contain similar, if not the exact vast variety of content that sprays have, yet these are enabled on casual.

I've actually seen custom maps way worse than any spray I have ever seen, yet server operators make this choice, which makes me feel that sprays should, if disabled, be a server operator choice to have them disabled by default.

By having them disabled by default, they are likely to fall into obscurity like jingles(the feature that allowed people to play small sound clips). New players will not be aware of them, and will have no idea what people are talking about. Other players may not know how to enable them, and may not even notice that they've been disabled.

As such, I request that sprays are reverted to be enabled by default, allowing the player to disable them if they wish. People who already wanted them disabled had disabled them, and that is a minority of the community.
Alternatively, allow server operators to chose whether or not sprays are enabled. If they have them enabled, they are willing to moderate them. A solution would be sv_disable_sprays where 0 is no disabling of sprays, 1 is soft disable(only enable it for players who choose), and 2 would be hard disable, no sprays are downloaded/transmitted and the player spray impulse is never handled when received by the server.

[CanadianJeff]

please also take this issue into cosideration

#3249

[RoonMoonlight]

Replying to #3661 (comment)

I think there is more solution to this issue, about making a dialog box for players whether or not to disable the spray when they are attempting to connect the server or starting a queue for Casual for first time

[exactsameproblem]

Hello,
Any updates on this? I haven't been playing tf2 for a while now, and sprays were always something which made the game funny. I never heard about any exploits, but wouldn't it be a better solution to ban the bots and/or fix the exploits instead of removing this feature completly?
Someone also said that it's part of a public internet space where we cannot control what everyone is posting, and that's so true... Would github turn off the comments because someone can say something bad?
Now it's totally useless to even load a spray, nobody has it activated by default. This makes me honestly sad, since I always loved this game for his fun aspects. And spray weren't just fun, but also useful... To me this is a regrettable downgrade.

[Chickenman456]

As much as I love sprays, I think they should stay disabled... They're a product of their time and are often used to expose people to porn unwillingly.

[exactsameproblem]

Hi @Chickenman456 and thank you for your answer.
I understand. But can I suggest an idea to give the sprays a second life?

I thought about only allowing 10, 20 or even 30 pre-made sprays to choose from. They could be useful sprays like "Need a dispenser here", or "Spy! Watch your back!". Or funnier sprays like "Nice shot!", "Missed!" and so on. I'm able to provide some examples if needed.

I even see how this could be extended later on, for example by being colored with the current team's color. And it may even be interesting to allow the community to submit their own sprays. Like for the maps or weapons.

And what about making sprays available for puchase? I really think something can be done that way while making everyone happy.

What do you think about this idea? Is there a way to forward it to the devs? Also I can survey TF2's reddit community for more ideas/objections if needed.

Best

[Chickenman456]

Your idea is honestly a perfect solution. Most modern games with sprays do the same thing. Fortnite, Valorant, Apex all have unlockable or default "sprays".

Not only would these solve the porn spray issue, but it could allow another monetization avenue for valve, possibly accepting community-made sprays on the workshop too.

Would Valve add that?.... i don't think so. I think it's easier for them to just disable sprays all together.

You can try emailing Eric Smith or someone else on the TF team. I think your best bet is making a "feature request" on this github

[exactsameproblem]

Thank you, I will do both of your suggestions.