very good points made!
I have been trying to set up my son (13) to play splinterlands but he gets frustrated as it is not a nearly fair competition for newer players in bronze. Also the Spellbook sale is pretty low on volume compared to new player numbers the recent PR brought.

Nontheless bots also are part of the journey, but yes its an advantage for some aspects, and disadvantage for others.

One idea to make both sides happy.

Maybe it is possible to give bots -1 speed?

But it remains the verification process of when a bot is playing without a human.