To the 'OP,' so-to-speak: In my experience, you can ask yourself this question: am I talking about an activity that an 'entry-level' server admin might engage in with their 'community' of close friends? If so, you are hereby declared at ease. All of the seemingly-hardline policies you may have seen discussed on this list are in place to address edge cases, exploits, and unforeseen consequences -- not to prevent situations like yours -- which are not really even an offense of any kind!
If I understand correctly, you're describing the act of having 'regulars' connect as clients and idle to give the appearance of server pop.. but the fact is that they are actually increasing server population either way. Where a bot responds to triggers or conditions, a player can 'hop in' immediately. Worst-case scenario, an inattentive idle player is still better than a mediocre (read: largely idle) bot. Another way to look at it: Valid accounts can occupy space wherever they want, as long as they want; if it has a steamid, it can park anywhere. If your question was about artificially stimulating 'server pop' by planting bots and reporting them as players, I think we all know the answer.. but that doesn't seem to be the case. One final note on the matter: If you operate a server (or group of servers) large enough to represent a 'noticeable' chunk of the player population, there's no way that you will experience 'judicial action' without some indications that you are breaking a rule. If you operate a server (or group of servers) small enough that your presence on the social globe is a mere blip, then enforcement will be proportionally unlikely.
_______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds
