I am surrendering my crusade against reigning in the bots.
I realize they are here to stay and I can only hope in the future the developers of the game will come up with an authorized bot program so the bots are both properly rewarded but also follow acceptable rules.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still pro-human... but the humans will have to accept (like me) that bots are better at playing more matches, maximizing the utilization of their card investments, and in many cases playing the game better.
I still love the game and still think its fun, but from an investment standpoint I have lowered my expectations. There was once a big hope on my part that the brilliance of the game would naturally create a snowball effect and the game would go viral. To achieve that though, there would have to be a high retention rate to go along with the quality of the game. And this is where the bots have caused the biggest problem in my opinion.
From the day I noticed the bots were playing in the quests, I can remember the frustration and complaints from my teammates. One time when 
Well to make a long story short, the game survived... and prospered! While the bots created stumbling blocks that frustrated the humans, the amazing things being done by the developers overcame the negatives on balance. Sure we lost a lot of players over the years, but at the same time we also gained enough new ones to make it a net gain. On top of that, with each additional upgrade (such as DEC system), the mistakes of the past were dwarfed by the promise of the future!
So this brings me to now.
While I would suggest they pay more attention to the feedback of their players, it is not my game to manage. I admittedly have a lot of respect for the quality of the game and feel that their ability to overcome obstacles is incredible. So if they feel the bots are welcome, then how can I fight it any longer?
The bots are clearly part of their strategy, and they have said many times that they support the rights of people to bot the game. I have stubbornly refused to embrace this concept because I have seen the impact from the churn of players that leave the game over it, and I have taken a hit relative to the others because I didn't bot myself. I have not maximized my investment out of stubbornness, clear and simple. I had some weird belief that the devs would realize the frustration of the humans over the bot issue was holding them back, they would fix it, and then this game would go viral. But now I see that isn't the case, and will not be the case for a very long time.
While of course the bot issue is only one issue out of the many they face each day, but to me it was the biggest. However I can't be stubborn any more, and I can't assume that I know what's best for the game. As I said its not my game to manage and what I want is not important.
I will from this point forward explain my thoughts on botting this way. It is legal and supported by the developers, so get used to it. If you like to play the game, then great. If you want to bot the game, then that's fine too. If we have churn from people that don't like it, then I will live with them leaving. I will stand behind the game as long as I feel it still has a chance to be huge one day (which I do by the way).
There are many wonderful things about Splinterlands and I'm still super happy that I have been involved as a player/investor since the beginning. I will leave the policies to the leaders of the organization, and I will instead focus on what makes me the happiest and the most money (for me and my friends).
So the white flag of surrender has been raised and you won't hear me bitch again about bots in the future!
