Are multiplayer bots in games a good idea?

What are your opinions on the idea of having bots in multiplayer? Games such as Gears of War 2 on the Xbox 360 and Killzone 2 for the PS3 have bots in multiplayer. What do you think?

I think they are a good idea like in the case of GoW 2 when somebody drops out at least you have something else for the other team to fire at on your side, even if its a crappy A.I. dude.

Great thing because then you can practice. Before you go online with other people you can test out the maps,vehicles,modes,and figure out where the best spots are.

Bots are the best thing ever, especially if you're alone :D

As for some bots online, that would be cool to see Humans vs. Bots (bots would be slaughtered)

Yeah i like the idea offline, i guess it can work online too but it will get to the point where people arrange to just fight bots to get to top of the leaderboard or whatever. But would come in handy when someone leaves.Strider_91

The only way i'd see bots working online is if they had great AI and were defaulted to the highest difficulty.

I think bots are hilariously fun. Not to mention they're good for practicing and screwing around.

I think its a great idea. It helps train the player and past time

I think bots are a great idea because then you have the option of playing offline by yourself if you don't feel like playing online. It also allows you to practice. I think it's a great option to have.

They can be good, depending on the circumstances. For practicing, they can be great. But you should always have the option to play with them or not and you should always be aware of whether or not it is a bot or a person (which is one of the many reasons SSBB failed online in my eyes). But if there is some sort of ranking involved, they should never be used, as they can easily be used to distort statistics. I can't speak about their use in GeOW2 though, as the disc didn't work long enough for me to try online.

I like them, they are great for practice.

When we have bots in Versus playing Left 4 Dead, the bots are usually far better than any of the random players you can pick up, haha. They can spot infected and special infected a mile away and gun them down, not to mention they are far more generous and willing to heal you, etc.

I think they're a great idea especially in gears 2 when people drop out and it's no fun for anyone!

Great thing because then you can practice. Before you go online with other people you can test out the maps,vehicles,modes,and figure out where the best spots are.

craigalan23

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[QUOTE="craigalan23"]

Great thing because then you can practice. Before you go online with other people you can test out the maps,vehicles,modes,and figure out where the best spots are.

Godofnerdyness

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Multiplayer bots and Online Multiplayer bots are different species of topic. I agree that playing bots for a few offline practice games is great and serves as the absolute best situation for all gamers. Gears of War 2 got a serious thumbs up for allowing nearly all multiplayer based achievements to be unlockable through the bot matches as I remember.

Multiplayer bots become an issue that is easily as bad as any cheat, mod or exploit when not extremely carefully implemented into the online experience. A stupid AI will drag the team down quickly as other players simply prey off it for extremely easy kills. An AI with too much skill in comparison to say a new player will end up in a team doing good, then doing even better because an AI on their team is nearly instantly getting headshots with a sniper rifle.

AI is more accurate then people at times since technically it can't help but read your movements. AI also has to follow patterns, meaning eventually everyone will just kill them off without thinking. The bots in GoW2 for instance, they are easy to predict. The AI behaves the same way EVERY time. You also can't ask an AI to help youand it wont ask for help back. Many large disadvantages.

I beleive Bot AI in Online Multiplayer is possible, but for the most part inconvenient. I have yet to see an AI bot that can correctly keep up with a team of players. I have even less hope since these will be teams hell bent on winning.

Although, there is one bright side. AI cannot be affected by lag switches the way normal players are. When someone trips a switch on it, it will most likely be immune to damage as opposed to standing still open to attack. At least, this is my current assumption based off of what I know and have seen about lag switches and such means of cheating.

I think theyre all right. Considering one of the oldest and most respected day of defeat clans started as three guys playing against 15 bots set on high difficulty. So as far as them being laughable... its all about what difficulty setting you put them on. Put them on max and the second you are within shooting range your dead even when they're not facing you.

I love bots in multiplayer.

I used to love bots in old multiplayer games such as UT, and wished that Halo would have included them when the game first came out. Now, however, I feel like they're no longer needed. Becuase of the ease of finding opponents with online gaming, you can get a room full of people in no time.

I truly wish that every multiplayer game would include an option for bots. Lets face it, playing online is great, but there are times when I want to enjoy a quick multiplayer match that is specifically tailored to my liking (excluding all the cursing and immature behavior we sometimes find online).

• Bots make the replay value of any game limitless.
• With bots it doesnt matter if you cant find enough of the right people to play a game...
• Bots allow you to play a map at its full compliment of players with no lag, slowdown, drop-outs, or any such negative effects.
• With bots you can practice ALL of the gameveriants and not just the ones which are the most popular.

I fully realize that bots may be extreamly dificult to program into multiplayer games, but I think developers should still seriously consider this vital addition...

It's a great idea and would actually make me more likely to purchase some multiplayer-heavy games. I can practice/learn the maps weapons, etc before I have to face real people. Or, if nothing else it will make the game last longer since I'll never have to worry about a game being 'dead' online.