The future of Bots?
 

Lately i came across a newspost on cs banana. It was about a waypoint pack and one of the comments on that was "who is using bots nowedays?". That also got me thinking.

Cable/asdl internet connections are growing fast. With even wireless (satelite) sollutions we eventually will have most of the people having a good internet connection to enjoy a good internet game.

So, how will bots fit in this future? I know bots are used to get people joining, but that is not a very popular method. Bots can be used for practice, but then again, internet can be too.

Bots can probably stimulate the 'enemy ai' in general to get more tough, smart, etc. But you see this development on-going already.

I am wondering what we, as Bots-United can do about this, or better said, how we will deal with this situation. I think this new game we want to develop will eventually have more feature then our United Bot? I don't know, but somehow the statement of that guy scared me a bit. :(

Re: The future of Bots?
 

I think it'll take same time... many years.
For practice for sure, try to make people on the server stop attacking you, join opposite team and run around so U can practice AWP ;). I think clans use bots extensively, practicing on the net reveals your tactics. Bots that can be programmed to do what U want, or show them some tactics and then play/practice against it…

Bots are slaves (and this fact will always give them some advantages over humans, and many disadv.) and human never should be and never will be especially on the net :D

Re: The future of Bots?
 

I have DSL and I only play bots unless I am playing CAL. For many reasons

1. When I die I can end the round so I don't have to wait
2. I don't have to worry about people cheating hacking or acting dumb
3. Increases skills that you can't get by playing people. IE Reflexes oe Headshots

Re: The future of Bots?
 

i dont know about other countries.. but very few dont have good connection.. i live in a really small town.. and we got really good dsl here.. still only 1mbit.. but we can get higher in a few mounth..

Re: The future of Bots?
 

I don't know for you Stefan but for myself my intents (as a coder) have always been this:

make a bot that plays smarter than any human opponent.

When I will play against just one bot and I will realize that I'm unable to outsmart it, then I'll consider my task finished. :D

Isn't that a challenge ? 8D

Re: The future of Bots?
 

I think the bots are already outsmarting me :D
well I think my goal is to create a bot so human-like that if you put them on a server with humans, they would never know that they were playing against bots =)

Re: The future of Bots?
 

here in new zealand we only just got adsl and wireless connections started up last 2 years...............

we have no cable or anything like that and the majority of ppl are still probably 56k

the best price for an adsl connection is $80 for a 256k 10gb max limit connection...a month...not including set up fees....which is alot of money :'(

so i'm pretty sure bot's will be around and used alot for at least the next 5 years.....=)

also game dev's will able to make better ai for games like cs:cz where u can have a single player mission as well multiplayer online. and the bot's don't get scripted to do certain things..

imagine finding barney type guys and them being able to move and shoot and kill..run when they come under heavy fire on their own instead of acting like hostages and dying so often :(

and a bot thats able to be used in any game will mean u'll almost never have to search for a bot :D

Re: The future of Bots?
 

I always thought bots were a way of AI creators giving a true product, something a user could use and interact with, that wasn't just a chat screen with a robot that would simply repeat user phrases.

AI is growing tactically within the bounds of the gaming community, but I am a firm believer that the developments and fundamentals created within the gaming community will be far more reaching than the ways we look at them now.

Re: The future of Bots?
 

Also, there might always been gaming companies out there looking to improve their single-player opponent AI- B-U would be a good place for them too look, and who know, maybe at some stage someone is going to be recruited here ...

Re: The future of Bots?
 

I have a great adsl connection, but I kept on using bots for two reasons:

Training and fun

The game play between humans is very diffrent than humans against bots. Even if the bots simulated human play perfectly, the game would still be different because we know they are bots and we know they are not cheating (more or less) and they'll always be there, round after round.

I think people will always have a use for bots. The better we make em, the more use they'll get.