Thursday, June 8, 2017

Human Heroes vs. Bot-Aspirants

Friends, let's talk about bot-aspirancy.

We've written a lot about bot-aspirants in these pages. In the highly acclaimed Why They Hate the Code series, the Common Bot-Aspirant received an entry--which was given a film adaptation by Sasha Nemtsov.

Nevertheless, so many people these days are asking our Agents about bot-aspirancy and what it entails. The term "bot-aspirant" entered the essential vocabulary of EVE players due to its appearance in the Code. The Code tells us:
"Bot-aspirant behavior is not permitted."
Bot-aspirancy is what it sounds like, to aspire to be like a bot. Rebels and skeptics claim that the bot-aspirancy clause is some sort of trapdoor in the Code, a catch-all term that allows our Agents to accuse anyone of being a Code violator. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only a bot-aspirant would think that everyone's guilty of bot-aspirant behavior. People who criticize the Code in this way are guilty of violating the Code.

What does it mean to aspire to be like a bot? Well, consider the nature of the bot. The bot performs a repetitive activity for the purpose of grinding isk. The benefit of a bot program is its ability to continue grinding isk autonomously, with little or no interaction required from the human player.

The bot owner's motive is twofold: He craves the isk generated by the bot, and he desires not to interact with the game to perform the task himself. Both of these elements are important. The first element is obvious; no one would use a mining bot if they didn't get the ore at the end of the day.

The second element is no less essential. Consider activities you enjoy: Eating a favorite meal, watching a new film that you've been looking forward to. Obviously, you wouldn't create a bot to eat the food or watch the movie for you. Nor would someone use a mining bot if they savored the experience of mining. They would spend their time mining, rather than activating a bot and going AFK.

The bot-aspirant doesn't use a bot--at least, not yet. He would if he could, though. Lacking a bot, he does the next best thing: He becomes as much like a bot as possible. Bot-aspirants automate the process as best they can, minimizing their interaction with the game and maximizing the time they can spend AFK. But it goes further than that.

The bot-aspirant tries as much as possible to believe that EVE plays itself. He imagines that he can exempt himself from interaction with other players. Think of the implications of EVE being a multiplayer game: You need to watch out for predators, stay alert, use tank modules, avoid spending too much isk your ship, gain allies, adapt to emergent gameplay, etc. The bot-aspirant puts all these things out of his mind. He isn't interested in a multiplayer game; he's not even interested in a single-player game! He wants a zero-player game, one he can turn on and leave unattended.

And so we see the signs of bot-aspirancy: An AFK pilot, an untanked ship, a blingy fit, a mining "op" with no defense ships, a refusal to recognize player-created rules... and a violent rage whenever any of these things are challenged.

The Agents of the New Order are exactly the opposite. They are the representatives of the spirit of humanity in highsec. And yet, the rebels and skeptics sometimes accuse gankers of being bot-aspirants. The charge is hypocritical in the extreme, but let's think this through. Are gankers like bots in any way?

According to the carebear, gankers perform a repetitive activity: Find target, kill target, tell target to calm down and buy a permit. Just like mining, right? Unfortunately for the carebear, the same reasoning could be applied to any activity, no matter how varied or complex. For example, consider the great powers of nullsec: Invade region, conquer region, defend region, repeat. Who knew galactic domination was so boring--or so simple?

We know that ganking is far more demanding than the carebears realize, for when the carebears occasionally do attempt to perform ganks, they invariably fail in hilarious fashion. In truth, ganking is deep; it's an activity that involves much learning, planning, and adaptation. In short, it requires a human.

It's possible to design a bot that locates a Retriever, approaches it, and shoots it within a certain range. This might be amusing in a sort of "Terminator reprogrammed to kill other bots" sort of way. However, such a bot would not be a successful ganker. Agents of the New Order are forced to deal with both CONCORD and the faction police. Because the faction police prevent gankers from remaining on grid for more than a few seconds, the ganking bot would not be able to warp to a belt and approach a target. He would need an alt to act as a scout, preferably one capable of cloaking and maneuvering in such a way that he creates a warp-in while not alerting the miners to his presence. Needless to say, no such "scout bot" exists.

In addition, the ganker bot would need to be able to scan and analyze miners' fits (without scaring them off), assemble fleets, and counteract the interference of third parties on station undocks, stargates, and ganking sites. If you're ganking freighters, you're also going to need a "bumper bot" and even more complicated warp-in procedures. But all that is the easy part.

Our Agents are far more than killers, though they are statistically the best killers in the game. The act of ganking, on its own, has never made history or created a civilization. A true Agent must be able to change the hearts and minds of highsec. They have a certain style, a certain charisma. They have heart. They have humanity. There will never be a bot with these qualities.

Or a bot-aspirant.

55 comments:

  1. Still a nerfed blog.

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    Replies
    1. Really? I don't see it that way. All I see are vast fields of top tier metagaming content!

      Delete
    2. You moderate emergent content on your blog you have nerfed your own metagaming content.

      Delete
    3. Your right anon 502 I don't see it that way either.



      Its Nazi propaganda.

      Delete
    4. Really? It sure looks like a blog about EVE Online, but hey that's just me!

      Delete
    5. Then you are most affected by it.

      Delete
  2. Virtuoso piece of writing, James; shields, armour, structure, all blown to pieces with one blog!

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  3. No dissent, only unity of purpose under the benevolent oversight of The Supreme Protector. Praise be upon Him!

    Bot-aspirants have no love of EVE and no interest in interacting with other capsuleers. They do not belong in our MMO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Except when they do interact with others, but you wouldn't know that Himler.

      Seriously you guys make this shit up as you go don't you no wonder people cant fucking learn to like you.

      Delete
    2. For a professor you act more like a sycophant.

      Delete
  4. Highsec carebears are fortunate to have James 315 as their Father.

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    Replies
    1. With a father like him no wonder you encourage people to become AN HERO's.

      Delete
    2. They are not 'people' friend, they are bots. What are you, some sort of "machine hugger"?

      Grow up. If some anon shitter is so weak they off themselves over comments in a video game blog, they probably did us all a favor. They most certainly helped future generations by weeding out some bad genetics. How stupid are you?

      Delete
    3. I'd hang myself as well if any of these guys were my family.

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    4. Anon 264 Again using death and suicide to insult people, Someone out there is copying all these posts and giving them back to you. The worst thing a person can see is their own reflection when they post such ugliness, and there you are promoting suicide and death.

      If you were a grown up you would know that saying people who kill themselves did everyone a favor is wrong, it shows that you have little care or love for life outside of your own.
      Also saying that it weeds out weak genetics sound exactly like what Nazis were trying to do with eugenics and cleansing so yeah it makes you sound like a Nazi.

      You prove your own ignorance by spewing this hatred.

      Delete
  5. What we do is a true labor of love. Just because space is cold, doesn't mean we have to be! Praise James! \o/

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    Replies
    1. Remind me to send condolences to your husband, with love like this I'd choose waterboarding.

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  6. Yes carebear bot

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  7. woah antigankers are failing hard.

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    Replies
    1. Code = carebear

      Delete
    2. Wolf Soprano: Still married to an AG and still having a fight.

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    3. All Wolf has to do is post the truth and rabid shitters show up to cry about him. He has total control over them and they can't even see it.

      Delete
    4. 1: Language, read your laws moron.
      2: Wolf has posted constantly like a copy/past about AG fails which leads one to believe that she is either married to one or is a bot.

      Delete
  8. Praise James 315, our democratically elected ruler of highsec! \o/

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    Replies
    1. I didn't vote for him, I don't see his name as an elected official in any part of the eve universe. He was not elected. You guys know that lying is a childish behavior.

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    2. Crying about not voting seems childish.

      If you don't like it, make a change. Or are you just another impotent hisec mining bot?

      Delete
    3. Yup, bots cant have erections therefor impotent does not apply, bots do not have feelings therefor cannot cry, bots do not care about zealotry therefor think only in logic. Change is being made like it or not. Look at your lovely little blog here and how it has been nerfed, showing you do not appreciate emergent content on your space, you have become hypocrites and people can see that. Look at the economics reports and see how every system you set up shop loses export revenue and begin importing like crazy. Look at how just months ago the average day would see 35-40k players on, it is averaging 30-34k. Player base is dropping, your presence in areas hurts economy and people are actually doing something about it that you cannot stop.
      Your smart figure out what it is.

      Delete
    4. Anon 7:37 - you have to read The Code. Ignorance is a violation itself.

      Praise James!

      Delete
  9. Jim, give us another parochial school lesson

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  10. A bot is a tool. So a bot-aspirant aspires to be a tool?

    Well Hell, it all makes sense now.


    LOL tools!

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    Replies
    1. Nazis were anti-miners? I must have missed the part where german national socialists played EVE online back in the 1940's.

      It's lulzy how mad you are.

      anon739, please try to calm down before you hurt yourself or your family. Don't forget you can join the broadcast4reps chan in game, they are there to help weak minded impotent shitters.

      Delete
    2. I missed the part where every agent in code was a moron, but here you are proving it yet again.

      Delete
    3. Did you not read the code where it specifically state not to use profane language.

      Delete
  11. The term "bot-aspirant" entered the essential vocabulary of EVE players due to its appearance in the Code. Not so fast there Jim, the term was used long before code.

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    Replies
    1. This should be easy to prove. Go for it! Make us wrong!

      ...or is ag going to fail... one ... more ... time ...

      Delete
    2. You poor ignorant miner, James said "essential vocabulary".

      Of course it was used before the Code, but it was surely not used, or even understood, by a large part of the community. It was only after the Code was published that the term was used widely and understood to mean afk miners.

      "Essential" vocabulary. Did you miss the essential part? Even after you pasted it in your crymment?



      Delete
    3. Essential vocabulary is any vocabulary that is used in the describing or defining of necessary game mechanic therefor when it was created by the game designers and entered into the vocabulary it was essential vocabulary, just because it was used later on by James does not mean he gave it new purpose or that he made it essential he simply used what was already there in his description of things.

      Schooled.

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    4. Crymment is not english

      Delete
  12. Minerbumping.com has increased content by 85%!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please show your math with actual numbers.

      Delete
    2. Invisible ink does not count. Please use a visible media and actual numbers.

      Delete
  13. Everyday I violate code laws and you can't do anything about it! GIT GUD SCRUBS!

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  14. Nerfed blog = Code fail

    ReplyDelete
  15. ag posting tears here proves the Code has affected them. Most likely in their posterior.

    Every time some ag shitter shows up here crying and whining I can imagine someone in ag queueing up "send in the clowns".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny that's the song that announces codes entry into a system.

      Delete
  16. F2P shitters should be along soon to cry over being poor.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Some anonymous bot hugger went through and replied to every single comment with his own spiteful and uncharitable one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The charity here is bringing more content to your site.

      Delete

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