The Anti-Champion
I was playing some Splinterlands last night, as I do most nights, or when I have time and I finally scraped into Champion 1, then stopped. With two and a half days to go, I decided just to rent out my cards (the ones that haven't been played) instead of keep playing - Which is sad. But, I just don't want to get knocked out of the league again, as I battle bot after bot after bot.... then not make it back up. I really find it a bit depressing that so many people use bots to play a game. Sure, it is better than them, but do they hold the same attitude with who sleeps with their partner?
So anyway, this is where I am for the end of the season. Currently sitting in 77th position (that will not hold), a shitty ratio well under 50% and 83 Season Chests. Which I used to think was good, except the people botting are getting well north of 100 with far less rounds played - and they don't even have to watch the rounds.
Champions?
As you can see, the botting annoys me. Not because they are better than me, but because it takes so much away from the game, without putting anything in. Farmers and extractors. It is going to be interesting to see what happens if they are able to reduce the bot usage or perhaps, punish it somehow. Let them "live" in the ecosystem, but decrease their percentage rewards for chest rewards, or handicap their cards somehow. Make them like my Doctor Blight - largely useless, as it barely afflicts or drops poison.
It is funny how the mentality to bots in gaming has changed due to crypto, where instead of them being the tools of wankers and cheats, they are tools for farming. And I guess that is what it comes down to - it isn't a game, it is a farming mechanism, so as long as the people who have the power are able to farm the most, they don't mind. Skill used to be talked about in regards to Splinterlands.
That was a while ago.
It is also interesting how little engagement there is by the "top players" in the communities where they could be seen by new players, or perhaps be part of onboarding fresh faces. One of the side effects of those who use bots are lot means that it isn't only their gaming that becomes passive - they get passive too. They stop supporting the network that has given them so much. All of their actions are to maximize their holdings, even if it comes at the expense of the game itself.
This is crypto.
I really wonder if there is any crypto community that will overcome the maximization of the individual problem. I think the closest so far perhaps, is Hive, and I think that this is because there is some face to the name, not just blind accounts - people who actually connect with people - through creative efforts. For the user base, it makes it far more attractive than say, EOS....
All those bots.
Even @dan couldn't take it. And he is half bot himself.
He apparently got so lonely, he looks to a God to save him from the automated life.
Maybe that is the automated life.
Living via proxy.
Looking for someone to save us. Relying on something other to play the game for us.
Life has dealt us cards. In stead of playing our hand, we are handing our hand over to a set of rules in the hope it will maximize our returns, even though we get no experience of living life itself.
That is the trap though, isn't it? We see others benefiting while we miss out, so we start to let ourselves slide into routines, slowly stepping ourselves away from active participation, into passive consumption. We no longer need to think for ourselves, or wear the weight of decision making, the good book of bot has it all outlined. We just have to give up control, and follow along.
Who knows, perhaps at some point I will just give up and set a bot to play my cards or, just give up and sell my cards, or rent or whatever. At this rate, my engagement with other players will get so low that I will have no connection to it at all, so it becomes a farming mechanism for me also. Don't worry - my investment isn't worth that much now - the markets would survive a little longer.
We reap what we sow.
Sleep sounds good about now.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Oh, i do not like them at all. Even in Diamond, they are a mess. I just play the same formula like the bots, if my cards are better, and yet, i lose sometimes.
I feel like I lose a lot to RNG also - like I am "in the red" on my stats. I guess everyone feels that, but I wouldn't mind getting a view of how "lucky" players are.
we can always try the modern when the bots are off.
Congrats on making it to Champ 1! My hope is the bot ban coming to modern can make the experience much better for players all around.
I hope it does too. Though it will likely affect prices of cards more, since a lot of the botters are renting or will sell.
Completely agree with you
I have always considered bots a real and serious problem for Splinterlands.
Is there a game that has been successful because of bots?
No there isn't and this shows how wrong Splinterlands was to tolerate bots.
Fortunately at least in Modern Format anti-bots measures will be introduced and I hope this will be a first step towards the total elimination of bots from Splinterlands otherwise I don't see a good future for my favourite blockchain game.
I really liked your post and I'm glad we have the same line of thought on bots.
!discovery 20
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 2/52) Liquid rewards.
It is going to be interesting to see how they plan on identifying and combatting them. I also think that it might be worth buffing them some how. For example, in Brawls there are multipliers and additions like extra mana or +/1 speeds that the guilds get through building levels. Could this logic apply to bots too?
In the brawl I played 2-3 weeks ago, the guild that ranked first was called XBOT.
There are bots that are very efficient and also play in brawls and probably burn cards to receive DEC...
I too am curious to see what the anti-bots measures will be like but I think they will be measures that will prevent bots from entering the game like in other games so a bots will not be able to start a battle.
As there are efficient bots so there are many efficient solutions already used by many web 2.0 and web 3.0 games.
For example in a web 2.0 game my daughter plays there are bots but they are game company bots that only come into play when there are few players.
In my opinion there should be the same situation on Splinterlands:
Sadly I stopped playing several weeks ago again, maybe for good. All my stuff is just renting out and I don't even bother playing the market, adjusting things and all that lol. I don't pay for those bots managing my assets but the good thing I guess is that we have a rental market.
The bots are indeed problematic, but the challenge as well is if they are removed, how will we guarantee battles for the players in every single league? I don't know if we have enough human players at this point to do that.
I use splinterrents for my extras (on a different account), because I just can't be bothered managing it so closely now myself. It is too difficult and with all the costs, I would do a bloody poor job.
And this is the interesting thing - perhaps we should be attracting new players more than keeping old players happy all the time?
That's really depressing when people use bots to do their task, i don't know why they do this?? On hive many people also use bots to run their accounts i think it's the wrong use of technology
Amazing blog @tarazkp
Check out my new travel community Wanderlust Explorers.
You are invited to to join the community.
I don't play but sounds like all the fun is gone from the game for you. Hopefully they do something to improve upon the bot situation. I know many talked about how they enjoyed playing Splinterlands at one time.
I still like playing - but I dislike playing against bots and I play enough to recognize most of them.... I used to love playing people I know and having fun talking about a win or lose. That doesn't happen now.
I can understand that. Do you think if they eliminated the bots people would start playing again?
Sigh, that is the sad reality of the game today. Bots are taking the fun out of the game for me for sure. After putting in the hard work day in and out to hone the skills and strategies, these bots out there are just killing it with some ridiculous set up and it is really demoralizing 😢
Amazing that you're playing at the highest level! I have yet to break in Champion 1 before, so far only achieve Champion 2 at max!😅
Yep, it is like no matter what I play at times, they play something better, even when my lineup is left-field.
I can't guarantee staying in C1, so I stopped - if I could get there a bit earlier in the season, I would aim to climb the ladder. C2 is great. It wasn't until the change in tokens that I was able to get to C1...
Often, when I believed I had the battle under control after simulating various potential setups my opponent could employ in my tiny brain, I was left astonished by an unorthodox lineup that completely turned the tide against me 😑
What's that?
This is sad. So far I have no plans of quitting. But one of the reasons why I am still staying is greed. My splinterlands posts earn much more than my art/gaming posts... Perhaps one day the boys will be gone. But probably that is just a wishful thinking.
Greed seems to be the driving force of the botters too ;)
Bots are everywhere. They are also available in the CHAOS/HIVE trading pair on Hive-Engine. But I don't let them make a lot of money there.
I first encountered bots in 2007 when I was trading futures on low-liquid instruments. It was easy to deceive them. Since then, the algorithms are practically the same.
Trading bots are similar and different - in gaming, bots kill the game. In trading, they are the game.
Congratulations on champion league and I don't blame you. It's tough to fight sometimes and getting champion chests will net you better rewards next season. I struggle in Silver/Gold league and the bots are there but I don't think it's as bad as champion/bronze hell due to the fact that some of them don't have maxed level cards.
champion is crazy, as the oldest players are the ones botting and they have decks that are near unbeatable. It will kill the game eventually, but they are in it for the short gains it seems.
I am one of those cunts who bots and never watches any of the games. Ban all bots I say!, I am right there with you.
...Let me sell the XBOT token first before it plummets...
Would be nice to see a little less automation, and a little more human community. I am not even interested in the discord conversations now, as they have very little to do with the actual playing - it is all just about how to get the value of DEC up.
There's that battle-helper to deal with if bots were banned. I have used that, but no longer do for Brawls. A little playing is good.
Many use it for brawls now it seems - people that used to be very good.
I used it until it became chargeable per match. I then started using my head instead..., makes a change?
Mi juego favorito, lo conocí hace algunos años con steemit cuando comenzó y todavía tengo mi cuenta.
Don't worry they are in every league at the moment. I remember the days where the bots were all stuck in silver and once reaching gold again the bots were gone and playing also seemed easier at that point.
Now they feel like they are in all leagues, and I really have issues with levelling up the leagues honestly which kind of sucks. I used to be a gold/diamond playing player and now more than often stuck in silver (or my skills started sucking as well...def an option :D)
But indeed...when all bots are gone, I doon't believe it would be good for the game as well, but a middle way should be good. Good for investors, good for players...but what that is? surely don't know :(
I don't know what the solution is either, as there aren't enough human players at the moment, but perhaps buffing the bots a little would handicap them enough :)
I think if Splinterlands wants to limit the use of bots, they need to make it easier to find your cards. Quite honestly, there is just way too much bloat. Either give us more time to pick our cards, or give us a better way to sort them down. I can't remember what every card does and how the synergy works between various cards when there are so many of them. I barely scrape by getting my team set in the 2 minute window sometimes. I can see where bots can do that much faster. My guess is for some people, they aren't using bots because they don't care about the game, they just can't keep up with it. I rent out most of my cards, I keep my GF cards free so I can use them in brawls (my favorite part of the game right now), and the rest I bot with. It's kind of a hybrid method that works well for me. I never make it out of Gold in the season, and I usually finish pretty low at that since I don't have a max deck. If it were left up to me, I doubt I would make it out of bronze each season.
I don't think more time, but it would be nice to be able to set up preferred lists and then, secondary lists.
And then with three rulesets. I often miss one of them and only realize once in the round that I am screwed.
You could hire a scholar :)
Yeah, there needs to be something especially as they continue to add more cards. Being able to set favorite lists would be great. I often miss a rule set too.
Only fact, No Fiction
Adaptation is allways the key. I play everyday and I went from hate to love fighting bots. My new aim in the game is to find new tricks to beat the bots and increase my fighting win ratio from 57% to my historical level of 60%. I only have a set of shitty cards that let me barely play in silver I league, renting one or two low level summoners im the season. This makes fighting these bots on steroids more fun.
With my poor win ratio, it ends up being too expensive to rent much these days, without it being a large cost. And, with my sucky chest openings, it isn't going to make up for it! :D
I'm pretty sure you can increase your battle win rate just by reducing the chances of bots reading your cards. Crypted message: The elapsed time is more of a suggestion and your best ally is trial and error.
i hate the bots so much as you, but it the money of other person and if he want spend dollars to play with bots let him do it
I've been trying to avoid playing with bots for a very long time but my win rate got lower and lower and finally I gave up. I set up a bot and now my results are much better... I made tons of SL videos in the past but this also fell away. Who wants to improve their gameplay when the bot is so much stronger? Now even in brawls I start not te be competitive anymore because others are using the helpers. It's a pitty after playing the game so long. Some days I miss the game play and I play a couple of games manually which always results in a lot of frustration with a win rate that is mostly below 30%...
Been reading quite a number of posts with similar views as you have highlighted here. Seems like the botting in Silver (more specifically Wild Silver) isn't as bad as the top tiers. My win rates are still ok (between 55-65% for me mostly) but I don't play as much these days, more due to a lack of interest rather than frustrated by the bots. Cheers!
Looking forward to seeing how no bot modern is gonna look like. Most of my Splinterlands engagement is on Twitter. Mav Chat is just a moan fest. I'm the same as you. I enjoy playing and don't bot. I'm not going to either. Takes the fun out of it.