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No Valve games had official servers and automatic matchmaking prior to Team Fortress 2 (may have been added in updates) to my knowledge. It's possible to disable downloading custom files in multiplayer settings, but this only prevents you from connecting to a server running a custom map, not to a server running mods (the infamous "ERROR" sign is displayed if any custom textures are in use)! For instance in Day of Defeat: Source, "parachute" and "medic" mods are commonly used on active servers — essentially tweaking the gameplay based on the host's preferences. I'm not aware of a way to filter or even mark the servers in the browser, the only method I know is to always check if the server is running an official map. "Tags" can be used to inform players about mods, but I don't know if any are automatically added to a modded server.

"ERROR"

user598527
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    Tags are only automatic for things built into the game; for example, Team Fortress 2 sets a tag depending on what game mode is being used. – Powerlord Feb 27 '19 at 16:41
  • @Powerlord: So all custom tags are optional? Also, could you as the server host intentionally use misleading tags (even if the server isn't running any mods)? – user598527 Feb 27 '19 at 16:48
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    Yes, custom tags are optional and servers can use misleading tags. There are only a few tags (which vary by game) that the server will remove if a server operator tries to manually set them. – Powerlord Feb 27 '19 at 17:09

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