I emailed steam, they told me I had to spend $5 in the shop before my account was deemed secure and not a "dummy" account
:( rip friends
~ @builderjunkie012
Weird, once I joined Steam and got TF2, they never told me anything about having to spend money.
There's two different players in the game. They're called "Free-to-Plays" (F2Ps) and "Pay-to-Plays" (P2Ps). The F2P's are generally made fun of for having really bad items and not having any good cosmetics. P2P's purchase Steam Cards, which they can use to buy items in the Mann Store and on the market.
I don't know why Steam emailed you about having to spend money. Don't listen to their advice. There is no need to spend money on TF2 unless you really want to. If you have any questions, just ask me in a private convo.