Artstyle

TF2's artstyle has evolved throughout the years, there's no doubt about that. What was once a cartoon-ish 60s and 70s industrial setting became more and more colorful over the years, always drifting further away from the original style.

Here's my point of view of the situation: currently, most creators are mass-producing cosmetics that require the least amount of effort in the hope of a quick buck or a self-made item. (That or they want to spread their kinks, though I admit that this happens less often.) This and a poor quality control has led us down this road. Most items that get in the game now are pretty ugly and I believe this to be an objective statement.

The idea that people are entitled to create whatever they want has probably forever corrupted the interactions between the creators and the players. Criticizing is not welcome anymore, even though what is made clearly doesn't have a place in TF2. It seems like a lot of item makers do not understand anymore why people criticize their items. Is it because they were raised with the idea that everyone ought to be welcoming and wholesome?

Because yes, the artstyle really is something a portion of the playerbase cares about, very vocally sometimes. I don't think it can be blamed: with other games always becoming more colorful to monopolize the forever shrinking attention span of gen-Z/Alpha, of course there's going to be some resistance, and rightfully so.

Additionally, I believe the artstyle not to stop at the visuals only. The general mood of the game (and surrounding it) also matters a lot. So it was sad to see map makers breaking the 4ᵗʰ wall and hiding references to transgender rights in the Smissmas 2023 update. Yes it was an insignificant joke told through a door's name tag, but, being expressly made to taunt players not sharing the same viewpoints, it has caused a lot of unneeded noise, as expected by the authors. (Well, if the end goal was to slander lgbt even more, that was a pretty good way to go about it.)
Edit: for the summer 2024 update, an item maker has this time decided to hide pride flags in their model's textures. It's completely invisible in game so this shows that the only purpose was to sprout unnecessary debates online.
Edit2: The pride flags have been removed on August 15.

If the situation had to be changed, I believe the first action to take would be to remove any incentive to create content: no more money, no more self-made items. This way, users like Square or NeoDement might stop making items and most workshopers that were only in for sparkling effects and cash would move on. But this is wishful thinking.

Anyway, if people (like me) complain about the game's artstyle now, it means there's sadly no going back. The added items cannot be removed, so the only thing left to do is to dilute the nonsense with submissions befitting the standards we've known before the game's infantilization.