[KaVir]

Their fun came from the botting, not from enjoying the game content - because they don't experience the content that they bot.

The assumption here is that the game content is something that the competitive player would normally enjoy (because if it isn't, then that is the problem). If they bot, they will miss out on the game content which was specifically created for their enjoyment. If they don't bot, they will fall behind those who do bot.

One player will always have an advantage over another, whether it's because he has more time, more money, more skill, a better connection, or whatever else. The point isn't whether the players will be on equal footing, but whether there is an incentive to skip content in order to be competitive.

After all, if one competitive player bots, then they'll all bot - it cancels out, and is no different from nobody botting. Except that nobody is enjoying all that game content you painstakingly created over the last few months/years...

No, the point is that there shouldn't be an incentive to skip game content. It's like rewarding people for not killing any monsters in a HnS mud, or having magic items worse than being naked in a mud which targets powergamers, or having a roleplaying mud where the only way to progress is to participate in strictly non-RP activities. A game should cater to its audience, not work against it.

If your target audience are rewarded for skipping your game content, what's the point in having that content in the first place?