Edited in Canva Pro.
Bots are computer generated programs that are normally used to automate tasks. In Splinterlands, botting, or the act of allowing a program run your account and battles are legal. You can do botting without any violations.
However, players don't like this as they think account owners who have multiple accounts run by bots, called bot farms, are ruining the system since they have to share with these accounts the rewards they should get.
Splinterland players wants that someone has to put in the work in order to get these rewards and not share these to so called bot farms.
This is the topic of this week's proposal. Anti Bot system for Splinterlands.
Proposals are submitted by account owners who has SPS in their accounts. Also, the SPS holders are the ones voting if these proposals pass or fail.
I would like to convince you why this proposal may ruin Splinterlands future and why I think Banning bots are bad right now, although majority of the players think bot elimination is good.
Please note that by the time this article is posted, the proposal might already have passed.
Proposal History
theukm's proposal said that he wanted a temporary ranked mode with anti bot measure whihch has 50% rewards pool for the rewards. This would then be merged in the future once the bots and humans can compete equally.
Honestly, I don't understand if this is proposed to help bots or humans due to the last part. If your end goal is to make bots and humans compete equally, then you are proposing this until the bots are as good as humans.
Yes, bots can make the most efficient combinations for each battle but that is only on paper. The more cards, rules, abilities, factors are added in the game, the more the bots will struggle getting the "optimum" line up. Even if they are AI and can learn, human adaptability is still faster. The only time bots would best human in this game is if there is no update on the game whatsoever for 2 years or so. That way, bots accurately, with high percentage, learn what is "best" for each rules, with each ability, with each underlying factors.
And then, once an update comes, like new packs, bots will need to recalibrate again those 2 years of work because a new factor is added. Humans can determine the best line up in like a week at most.
Yabapmatt's Proposal and Changes
Screenshot from Splinterlands Website.
Since making a new game mode or format will essentially change everything from the UI to the system, he said that it was unrealistic and too big of a project. He then proposed that instead of a new ranked format, let the anti-bot system be applied in the Modern format only. He then added that the Wild format, where the bot will end up, have only 50% of the rewards gained.
I don't agree to this as well. What about the people who are playing Wild Format that aren't bots? Why would they need to be sacrificed? The players on Wild are the people who have been with you since the beginning. After all, they can only play the Beta and Alpha cards in the Wild format.
I am really against these bots changes and I will say more on the following parts. Just chill for a moment and wait until Land and the Tower Defense gets finalized. I don't really see the rush of fixing the bot problems as implementing these changes affects not only bots but other human players as well.
This looks good in paper but when you really think about it, it is a bad proposal. Bots, whether you agree or not, is essential in Splinterlands due to lack of active players. In paper, there are probably 10,000 active players BUT how much do you think of those were bots?
Without bots, the Splinterlands will not be playable. I don't think anyone will play this game if you need to wait 30 seconds for each game. You are sure to fight humans, yes, but waiting 30 seconds to fight humans versus 3 seconds to fight bots for each game, which do you prefer?
This proposal also separates the "active players" which would result in what I said above. Players will need to choose whether to play Modern, fight with humans with queue time of 30 seconds per game or play Wild against humans and bots with queue time of 3 seconds but at 50% rewards. I can tell you that I would rather wait 3 seconds of 25 games meaning 1 min and 15 seconds queue time (not including the game itself) than have 25 games of 30 seconds queue time meaning 12 mins and 30 seconds of waiting (again not including the game itself).
Community Proposal System is Becoming Splinterlands Fatal Flaw
Proposals implemented in the game, such as rewards changes, pack release, everything is made by players of the game with SPS holdings and the game devs actually have little to no control over these matter.
In addition to that, the SPS holders are also the ones casting votes whether the proposals will be passed or vetoed.
I think the battle against bots should be implemented until Land comes online so investors or whales who mostly got farm accounts can dump their DEC and rewards to Land instead of just quitting Splinterlands.
The problem with Land is that there is no clear date on when it will be released and there is an end to people's patience. If the whales decided to not wait for land because their bot accounts becomes useless due to these continuous bot changes, Splinterlands will die even before land comes out.
Bots are important in Splinterlands as most players in the game use bots on some or all of their accounts. If Splinterlands keep fighting, banning bots left and right, the real active human players in the game are probably 3000 max. This means banning bots will also be the end of Splinterlands due to the reasons I mentioned above.
Also, while the community proposal is good, giving them also the power to vote is, I think, too much. It's kind of like saying to the community, "Make your own rules since you are the ones playing the game." even if the "community" are "only" playing the game and the management is still different.
This reminds me of the Elite 10 system in the anime, "Food Wars," which eventually had the power to even fire and change their school's headmaster as per their school policy.
"Great power comes with great responsibility."
This "power" should never be given to anyone just because they have SPS holdings.
However, these are my opinions only. Time will tell if I were right or I am only over thinking.
I just hope that when that time comes, we, the community of Splinterlands, won't regret our decisions.
If you're interested in playing the game, support me by registering using my referral link here
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