So I got Section 8: Prejudice on my Xbox yesterday and have been having a blast in it. Since its online community is virtually dead, I had to play against bots.

Then it got me thinking: some of the best multiplayer games ever made all had bots as an option*. Think about it.

Timesplitters had bots (and an entire map editor)

Starwars Battlefront had bots

Unreal Tournament had bots (and is one of the best arena FPS's)

Battlefield had bots (a few did, forget which ones)

Even CoD has bots in BO and Ghosts.

But then I read about dev's saying they wont be included because they take away dev time. And I hear players say they shouldn't be included because FPS gasmes are for real multiplayer.

I'm asking you, how do you feel about bots in these types of games?

For me, I like playing against them much more than I do real people. I can have a fun game without my sixuality being questioned or a bunch of 12 year olds shouting things that would make their parents want to disown them. In fact, in some games (like Unreal), the bots are more insane that real people would be.

*This is all Opinion

EDIT: oh god, the typo's

I think an option for bots is a good thing, but they should be kept out of real multiplayer. Have an offline mode and an online mode. Simple as that. They need to be good bots, though. If you're gonna do RO2 style bots, don't even bother.

I think the bots in Battlefront made the game more fun.

Not everyone has Internet 24/7, or internet good enough to play on.
Not everyone wants to play online.

"Taking way dev time" is an excuse to introduce/indoctrinate players into DRM/spyware is OK. They've already fooled people into getting season passes, now the game is convincing players that "Always online" is accpetable and "The way of the future." There are bots in Single Player campaign modes, and they often follow the same programming as multiplayer bots. But, the introduction of the removal of single player means that "pesky Dev time" can be spent on other things, like making DLC and Micro-transactions. Or you can have soemthing like GTA, where the game is still in Beta, and has at least 7 sets of AI logic.

Fair enough. I'm sort of in the camp where I like the idea of being able to just stick a bot in a player slot if you've been waiting for a bit for a player to show up.

But for offline, I think they should always be included. If I have a friend over, I want to still have massive matches against them, but don't always want to go online.

I don't really agree with the first bit. I think they're using the same logic as to why split screen isn't often included anymore: it costs money and time to set-up. I'm not talking about removing SP entirely, I mean offline bots. Most, if not all MP games have LAN capability, so I don't think the DRM thing is really true.

Well, on my Unreal Tournament, I can never find any real players to fight (I mean, the ONLY time I got an actual PvP match was when the opponent was sitting across the table from me). Anyway, the bots are actually pretty damn good--anything above Skilled difficulty and I have trouble beating them.

So, go bots!

I like Bots. I know Battlefield 2 had bots for sure, it's what I played against for the longest time before going toe to toe with human players. And Since I'm not a huge online multiplayer player I prefer non-human opponents anyway.