Since removing the achievement-based item system, Valve has had about all the grief they can handle from unruly players. Where the old system led to players creating achievement servers just to unlock the goodies, the new system made prevalent the use of idling programs to attain the items.

Well Valve’s not happy with that second situation. They don’t want you idling your way to glory any more than they want you hacking, so they’re removing the items attained by idlers, and giving non-cheating types a little reward. If you didn’t idle your way to items, check for a level 1 Halo in your inventory. The headpiece gives you a level 1 “Aura of Incorruptibility”

As for future cheating, Valve’s Erik Johnson says they will “adopt a zero tolerance policy for external applications used to manipulate the persistent item system.” In other words, don’t do it.