If you play Splinterlands, sooner or later you encounter a bot to play against. You might not realize it right away, but if you encounter players with similar names (or the same name and a different number) then you can be certain that it's a bot. There has been on and off discussions in the Splinterlands discord if bots are ruining or saving the game. So let's have a look at the pros and cons of botting in Spinterlands:
The Pro
There is really only one aspect as to why bots bring some benefit to the game and it's actually a pretty important one: Queue Time
Splinterlands has currently a player base of around 12,000, which in itself is not a small number. But since every game only takes about 3 minutes, you don't want to spend a lot of time searching for an opponent. Depending on daytime there can be immense fluctuation in player activity. So without bots it might be that you have to wait a couple of minutes to play a game (which sometimes even is the case for high Diamond or Champion player).
This would frustrate a lot of players, especially in lower leagues, because ideally you want to jump into a game instantly (as it is currently the case for most leagues) and that is because bots can play 24/7.
The Con
One issue that was currently addressed by the Splinterlands team was the leader board abuse by bots. Because bots can play 24/7 they can get much more games in a season than a normal player. Therefore it is easier for them to take the top seats (at least in the lower leagues) and thus frustrating real players who try to go for the top spots in those league.
The frustration losing against bots is another huge issue. Losing in itself sucks, but losing against a bot is even worse. Especially if it happens multiple times against the same kind of bot (just with a different number). Understandably you can start to hate bots and deem them unfair, because they don't involve the same skill a real player needs.
Why do people use bots?
The answer is quite simple: To earn the rewards. You don't necessarily have to treat Splinterlands as a game, you can also treat it as an investment opportunity. You earn cards through daily and end-of-season rewards, as well as DEC for won games. If you don't want to play (or don't have the time to) using a bot is a good alternative, because it will earn you these rewards automatically.
But nothing comes without cost. If you play to earn your rewards, you need to invest money. If you let a bot play, you either need to pay someone that created a working bot or develop it yourself.
Is using a bot worth it?
That differs from person to person. Some are fine paying for a bot others start developing one their selves as a challenge. The payoff might be consistent when you use a bot, but the essence of the game gets lost. You're not playing for fun anymore, you're just playing for the rewards. Everyone needs to decide for themselves if that's worth it.
In my opinion...
... bots will stay with us for a long time and I consider them a necessity. They are not even a necessary evil in my eyes, because of the following reasons:
They make the user experience better:
I don't want to wait 5 minutes for a game or get matched with players far above (or below) my skill level, just because I play at weird timesCreating a bot takes a lot of effort (if you want a decent one)
There is no fast and easy way to develop a bot. There might be some help from other developers, but you will still need to put a lot of time into it yourself. So if you get to develop a decent bot, then congratulations you should be able to use it.Paying someone to use a bot for your account:
This is no different than delegating your account to let someone else play. People will only use the services they like. So if a bot does a good job when you delegate your account to it, it's developer should get a fair share of the earnings.Bots need to buy/earn/rent their cards as well:
Even if you have the best bot out there, you will still need to provide it with a good collection. Otherwise it will just lose games because other players have better cards. So you have to invest even more into a bot than into a "real" players account. (At least up front)The Splinterlands team does a good job in addressing issues with bots:
They introduced to Capture Rate to decrease the earning you get from excessive playing and they reworked their point system a bit to make it more difficult to climb the ladder just by playing a lot of games. Additionally they already hinted that the land expansion will have some additional barriers for bots.Winning against a bot is the best kind of winning
Winning alone is awesome. Winning against a bot gives me even more satisfaction, because I outplayed an algorithm specifically designed to win the game.
Overall I am quite happy with the state of the game, but I'd love to get your opinions.
- Do you hate bots?
- Do you like them?
- Do you not care at all?
Let me know in the comments.
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