When Team Fortress 2 went the free-to-play route a few weeks ago, two things happened. First, it shot up to the top of Steam's most-played online-games list, which is only fitting and right. Three years after its debut, TF2 remains unsurpassed in the class-based shooting arena.

Second, a few TF2 vets started figuring out ways to lock out all those new players.

Never ask them to say "cheese."

The Free2bekicked mod, created by journeyman modder Asher Baker (at the request of others), has become the flavor of the month for those wanting to keep their private servers clear of all those dirty noobs. If you've ever made any TF2-related purchase, you're fine. Otherwise, the server blocks you from joining the game, and you take your mayhem elsewhere.

This doesn't actually prevent anyone from playing Team Fortress -- it's fairly easy to pick up a match on a dozen or so other, unmodified servers -- but it does create an effective barrier between those claiming a greater dedication to Team Fortress and those who just picked it up for fun. And that's a big, big mistake.

Don't get me wrong...the moderators who bought those servers have every right to regulate them and give preferential treatment to the friends they've gamed with for years. A blanket ban, however, only serves to isolate something designed to be inclusive.

I'll give you a quick analogy. Back in the days when most people thought America Online was the Internet, I co-hosted one of its most popular chatrooms, Hecklers Online. We never ran out of fresh meat even with AOL charging three bucks an hour. When they switched to a $20-a-month fee, we suddenly got slammed by a ton of morons looking for a stupid amount of trouble. We called it "the flat-rate plague." Hecklers went from rough to impossible and stayed that way for months.

Then it got better. We bounced the fools and hung on to the people who fit in. I wouldn't say we reclaimed the glory days, but we found a new equilibrium. People either invested or left.

Little less conversation, little more action, please.

That's the brilliant thing about the whole freemium business model. It draws gamers in with the zero-dollar price tag, and once they've determined the game has value, they'll often cheerfully pay to play what they're already playing for free. Demos work in similar ways. People invest emotionally (which helps lower the barrier enough that they might invest financially) or move on. Those who do stick around commit, and I'd argue that commitment far outweighs whether they've shelled out any cash for the game...particularly in the case of something like Team Fortress 2.

As a class-based shooter, Team Fortress 2 makes each player take on a defined role. Figuring out your role and how to capitalize on its strengths takes a bit of practice, a bit of trial-and-error. But once you dial into how the Medic can turn the tide of battle, or how the Engineer can single-handedly take and hold entire areas, that's when magic happens. And it happens whether or not you paid a single dime.

I laugh at your pain!

Free2bekicked sets a low bar -- whether or not you've ever spent money -- but a too-simplistic one. If you're playing a game, dollars don't count. Passion does. I still fire up Team Fortress 2 on almost a weekly basis, but I bought the Xbox 360 version (via The Orange Box) and never felt compelled to double-dip. I only switched over to PC, which offers more modes and maps, when I could get it gratis. Any server that looks at my wallet first will kick me, because I still haven't paid twice for this one game.

I'm fine with that. Doesn't hurt me. But if you're hiding behind walls in your little enclave, that effectively cuts you off from the very things that likely that drew you to hosting a server in the first place. New players with a fresh passion for TF2 just showed up in droves. They're part of the community now, like it or not. Sure, that wave comes with an assortment of cheaters and dolts, but I suspect plenty of those exist on both sides of the pay wall, and the majority will drop out shortly. Team Fortress 2 will find its new equilibrium.

And you'll miss it. But it won't miss you.