Quick definition:A computer-controlled player or program that acts in a game, either as an opponent or teammate used to fill matches, or as an automated tool used by real players.
Meaning
A bot is a character controlled by software instead of a person. In shooting and sports games, bots fill empty places in matches, give beginners somewhere safe to practise and let a player test a map without needing friends online.
Their skill is usually adjustable, from clumsy to nearly perfect, and some imitate human mistakes so that they do not feel mechanical. Designers use routes, objectives and simple decision rules to guide them, and a good bot behaves believably without being unbeatable or obviously predictable.
The word also describes unauthorised programs that play on a person's behalf, for example to collect resources in an online world while they are away. Developers treat these as cheating and try to detect them, which creates a constant contest between those who build bots and those who ban them.
Origin:Bot is short for robot, a word from early twentieth-century fiction that came to mean any machine performing tasks automatically. In computing, bots were programs that act on their own, and the word reached games in the 1990s through computer-controlled opponents in multiplayer shooters. It now covers both official opponents and unofficial automation. Example:Not enough players are online, so the game fills the lobby with bots. Lina's team includes two of them, which follow set routes and shoot with average aim. After the match, she checks the scoreboard and notes that a computer-controlled teammate outscored a human player who stood still the whole time.
Did you know?The word has two almost opposite uses. Developers add bots to give players something to practise against or to fill empty slots, while the same word describes forbidden programs that farm resources or play for a person without permission, which most games ban.
