AI Bots - Love Them or Hate Them?

[Gusington]

I didn't make this a poll because I (and others) would probably enjoy seeing why you do enjoy playing with bots, or absolutely despise it.

I have played Verdun and Tannenberg with bots only, because MP gaming is the devil's den.

So what say you? Bots for all old timey curmudgeons like me? Or put on some big boy gaming pants and get down to it with some MP?

Also - if you do utilize bots...which game do you use them in?

[steve58]

Not a lot of experience playing with/against bots other than on World of Warships.  I prefer playing against human players on WoWS (usually harder, but more fun), but having bots to fight against for a few quick games (bot games are almost always quicker) is OK...mostly to grab the daily rewards  :P

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I like having the option of adding some of them into an MP game to flesh out teams.  Gives cack-handed flailers like me a chance to get a few kills in a round while still keeping things challenging and unpredictable by having some humies on the other team.

[Gusington]

'Cack-handed flailers'

[ArizonaTank]

One big reason I like bots is not because I like playing 'lone wolf' (although sometimes that is case) and bots are easy targets.

It is because bots are the closest you can come to real-life unit behavior in MP. I think the best use of bots is when games allow MP players to command a unit, and the player can give the bot unit group commands. When you have 15 human players on a side, each commanding a handful of bots in coordinated units...then you have a battle.

In non-bot, FPS MP games, the vast, vast majority of MP players don't train as units (however, I have seen this on a very rare occasion or two). Usually MP battles consist of players randomly disgorging from the spawn point towards the objective. If the individual MP players are cooperating, it is mostly ad hoc.

The result is that most MP games without bots just remind me of "team-building" laser tag with your office mates. An uncoordinated gaggle with laser fire firefights degenerating into wild laser brawls.

Not all bot games are interesting to me however. Bot games that have bots just as extra targets to fill in the gaps...don't interest me as much.

[al_infierno]

I like shooting bots, but generally not having them on my team.

[W8taminute]

I'll post my thoughts on this later when I have some time but I do love having bots as an option.

[Trooperc7]

Overall, I would prefer full server with humans. However, that being said, I enjoy playing Verdun and Tannenburg with bots. They Play rather well and enhance the experience.

[Gusington]

'I like big bots and I cannot lie?'

I'll see myself out.

[W8taminute]

^LOL

Overall, I would prefer full server with humans. However, that being said, I enjoy playing Verdun and Tannenburg with bots. They Play rather well and enhance the experience.

When I do play Tannenburg I play private matches with bots that I setup.  I can't seem to last for 5 seconds when I play a match against humans.  Even against bots I'm lucky if I live for more than 2 minutes.  I have a learning curve to hurdle on this game for sure.

Now with Heroes & Generals you can opt to play in matches that are mixed with real human players and bots.  I find the luxury of chilling out easily killing bots to grind xp while at the same time having the option to focus on going after human players all in one match to be quite satisfying.

Then there are the all human player matches that I go to after I get warmed up fighting bots. 

Games like COD, Battlefield, and Hell Let Loose are filled with nothing but relentless human players who know how to kill me in nanoseconds after I spawn.  My fist shakes wildly at the screen as I sink into an unholy anger filled rage.  My wife walks into the room to see if I'm ok, my tantrums can get so bad.  Then I tell her that I'm ok, just relaxing playing some games.  No, seriously.   :)

Yeah, I really need bots in my life to calm me down.  I also need to play shooter games that let me play with bots and have human players that aren't all mega rambo killing machines. 

[Gusington]

^I've been killed within minutes in Tannenberg with just bots too!

I love the ideas and look of Isonzo but I fear it would be pretty much the same. I'll probably pick it up anyway on discount at some point since I can't resist and have always been fascinated by that WWI front.

[FarAway Sooner]

Sir Gus-a-lot has spoken! 

I think it really depends on your play style and how much you play.  My son, who plays at least an hour or two of MP games with a few of his friends every day, prefers exclusively human-v-human games.  But that's because he and his friends have played together enough to recognize and respond to each other's style.  They're young enough that they're not always professional about gauging results (e.g., "We always scream at Josh not to go charging in but he always does and gets killed, so we mostly end up playing together in 3-v-4 team matches"), but they very much develop a sense for who can do what and when.

If you play more casually, and/or don't play with the same set of people, I think there's a much larger role for bots. 

It also depends on what your will-to-control is.  Some people like God Games, where you can control every little thing and the challenge is coming up with the best approach.  Others enjoy a more reactive play style, where the game world evolves rapidly and figuring out how to respond is more than half the challenge.  This instinct can also drive how much of different game types one plays (e.g., WoWS vs. RTS games vs. TBS games vs. 4x games).

[SlagDog]

Great Topic!

Back in the day I played a mix of bots and players in Counter-Strike/Quake/Unreal tournament/etc. LOL the real players were usually my three girls. To this day we meet each December to have a Unreal Tournament slugfest and they are all in their 20s now.  I like playing with RL players when they are not being complete d#cks. I completely rage quit Squad because of the jerk unit I got into that had no patience for a new player learning the ropes. It was a miserable experience. A lot of my past MMO playing were with good people with the occasional jerk. So for me if the players are cool in game then I usually enjoy the time. And I'm usually the guy with the negative score due to being capped more then doing any capping myself.

But I agree with all the sentiment about Bots. Occasionally, I do enjoy setting up a game with the bots at a lower aggression level and going around the map feeling mighty OP ;D.

[Gusington]

^That's the spirit!

[Skoop]

Great Topic!

Back in the day I played a mix of bots and players in Counter-Strike/Quake/Unreal tournament/etc. LOL the real players were usually my three girls. To this day we meet each December to have a Unreal Tournament slugfest and they are all in their 20s now.  I like playing with RL players when they are not being complete d#cks. I completely rage quit Squad because of the jerk unit I got into that had no patience for a new player learning the ropes. It was a miserable experience. A lot of my past MMO playing were with good people with the occasional jerk. So for me if the players are cool in game then I usually enjoy the time. And I'm usually the guy with the negative score due to being capped more then doing any capping myself.

But I agree with all the sentiment about Bots. Occasionally, I do enjoy setting up a game with the bots at a lower aggression level and going around the map feeling mighty OP ;D.

I feel the learning curve would be less in games like squad and hell let loose if they had all the maps with bots so players could practice all the game mechanics.