Bot

In video game design, a bot is a computer-controlled player. Bots are distinct from NPCs (including mobs) in that the mobs have a specific set of abilities unavailable to the player and as such have predictable actions, whereas bots have the same abilities as the player, and as such emulate human behavior with them, leading to unpredictable actions. The purpose and function of bots vary between video game genres, such as a bot in an MMORPG compared to one used in an FPS, but they are usually included to enable offline play for mutliplayer based games and the multiplayer portion of various games, particularly fighting games. In some unfortunate examples, bots are made only available online via an Internet connection or offline via a LAN (local area network). Some bots are highly advanced and develop new patterns of behavior from analysis of human play and machine learning. Others are relatively simple, being designed only to follow a specified waypoint on a map.

Bots have received almost unilateral praise for their preservation of a game's multiplayer when the servers of a game are shut down or players cease to continue playing on a particular game. There are many advocates for the inclusion of bots into every release of multiplayer based games; this has largely been accomplished by fighting games, as nearly all of them contain bots. Many real-time strategy and shooter games also contain bots for practice and offline play.