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shasarak · 07-23-2008, 06:42 AM

To elaborate a little more: suppose you're playing a game of soccer and someone on the next pitch along decides to play their own version of the game in which you're allowed to pick up the ball: why would that bother you?

Even if they come up to you afterwards and say "hey, I'm a really great footballer!" all you have to do is smile and say "kid, the only person you're fooling is yourself" and walk away. You know the truth of the matter, so why do you care what anyone else thinks?

The only time it becomes a problem is if someone tries to play by different rules on the same pitch at the same time right in the middle of your own soccer game and ends up disrupting it. That is certainly antisocial activity; but that has nothing whatever to do with 'botting. A good 'bot is virtually indistinguishable from a connected player, so, by definition, you cannot have any objection to any effect that a 'bot has on the game world without having exactly the same objection about other actual, real, connected players; and if you object to the presence of other players in the game, then why are you playing a multi-player game?

I think some of the objections people have to 'botting are to do with what they perceive to be undesirable consequences to the game world; things like wiping out every single mob in a zone, or harvesting all the good equipment. But the thing is, a real, connected player could do exactly the same thing if he chose to, and you would object to it just as strongly if he did. So 'botting is actually a red herring in that situation: what you're really objecting to is griefing. There may well be a legitimate case for controlling or banning certain types of in-MUD behaviour which make the game less enjoyable for other players, but whether that behaviour is carried out by players or 'bots make no conceivable difference.

So long as 'bots don't prevent you from playing the game as you enjoy playing it, why do you care if other people choose to play it differently? The only sense in which they are "cheating" is that they are cheating themselves out of an enjoyable gaming experience. That's their problem, not yours.

07-23-2008, 06:42 AM	#18
shasarak Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Emily's Shop Posts: 60	Re: Triggers, scripts, and bots To elaborate a little more: suppose you're playing a game of soccer and someone on the next pitch along decides to play their own version of the game in which you're allowed to pick up the ball: why would that bother you? Even if they come up to you afterwards and say "hey, I'm a really great footballer!" all you have to do is smile and say "kid, the only person you're fooling is yourself" and walk away. You know the truth of the matter, so why do you care what anyone else thinks? The only time it becomes a problem is if someone tries to play by different rules on the same pitch at the same time right in the middle of your own soccer game and ends up disrupting it. That is certainly antisocial activity; but that has nothing whatever to do with 'botting. A good 'bot is virtually indistinguishable from a connected player, so, by definition, you cannot have any objection to any effect that a 'bot has on the game world without having exactly the same objection about other actual, real, connected players; and if you object to the presence of other players in the game, then why are you playing a multi-player game? I think some of the objections people have to 'botting are to do with what they perceive to be undesirable consequences to the game world; things like wiping out every single mob in a zone, or harvesting all the good equipment. But the thing is, a real, connected player could do exactly the same thing if he chose to, and you would object to it just as strongly if he did. So 'botting is actually a red herring in that situation: what you're really objecting to is griefing. There may well be a legitimate case for controlling or banning certain types of in-MUD behaviour which make the game less enjoyable for other players, but whether that behaviour is carried out by players or 'bots make no conceivable difference. So long as 'bots don't prevent you from playing the game as you enjoy playing it, why do you care if other people choose to play it differently? The only sense in which they are "cheating" is that they are cheating themselves out of an enjoyable gaming experience. That's their problem, not yours.