Have you ever experienced the fear of being dominated by robot players?

Written by: Raf

Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News

Robots are often seen as villains, exploiting loopholes in systems built for humans to cheat. But is that the whole story?

In fact, robots are the unsung heroes of games, working tirelessly in the background to make systems more dynamic and engaging. They may not be heroes in the traditional sense; they are more like targets or cannon fodder, but their contributions are significant and cannot be overlooked. Most importantly, when combined with the permissionless deployment and data availability of blockchain, they become even more interesting.

Essentially, robots are just process automation. The tasks they handle are theoretically ones that humans could do themselves, but on a scale and efficiency far beyond human capability. Most robots are far from autonomous agents; they are scripts that react to specific inputs, adaptable to state changes or data feeds. They are tools: their value depends on who uses them.

Take Googlebot as an example. This ubiquitous web crawler is a silent worker, indexing the internet and maintaining the relevance of our search results. Similarly, spam filters that scan emails or arbitrage algorithms that keep financial markets efficient are rarely criticized.

In games, the presence of robots is much stronger than most people realize. For instance, they can provide services within the game. Non-player characters (NPCs) in single-player games are essentially robots. Whether they are quest givers, enemies, or allies, they enrich the game world and provide players with content to interact with. Think about games like The Legend of Zelda or Dark Souls; without robots, these immersive worlds would feel incredibly empty.

They can also disguise themselves as humans, filling empty slots in lobbies during matchmaking to ensure games can start quickly. Additionally, they can serve as companions for less skilled players. For example, in Fortnite, a significant portion of players in any match are robots, placed there to balance difficulty and ensure you can enjoy the thrill of defeating opponents.

However, when robots shift from being guides to direct competitors against human players, it crosses a line. The issue is not with the robots themselves, but with the environment in which they operate. First, they cannot fully leverage unique factors that differ from humans, such as speed and stamina. They can react to changes in game state in milliseconds and are energetic, requiring no sleep. Secondly, they compete with humans for some form of scarce rewards. No one complains about the sluggish companion bots in Fortnite, nor do they complain about the highly efficient Googlebot; it simply performs a very boring task for our benefit. When these two characteristics coexist, robots can steal our "fun."

Blockchain Robots

In the blockchain environment, MEV robots (Maximal Extractable Value robots) have emerged. These robots operate in competitive DeFi systems, profiting from their ability to read memory pools and execute trades faster than humans.

But the problem is: MEV robots do not break the rules. They exist because they adhere to the rules: the scarcity of block space, the visibility of memory pool transactions, and the prioritization of transactions through gas fees. They are simply playing the game by the rules. When robots suddenly appear to seize opportunities desired by humans, people may feel cheated, but the robots are just utilizing the existing system more effectively. This state is no different from factory workers feeling replaced by robots on an assembly line. Robots are better suited for the task; they are faster and more consistent.

If we look at the core mechanics, this tension between humans and robots in games becomes clear. Games are built around a cycle of goals, challenges, and rewards, known in game design terms as the OCR cycle. Players need to complete a task, overcome challenges, and receive meaningful rewards. Typically, players focus more on the rewards themselves: experience points, gold, loot, rather than the challenges. But the real fun comes from overcoming challenges, even if it doesn't feel that way at the time.

Depending on how challenges and player abilities are structured, robots can easily bypass challenges and go straight for the rewards. This creates conflict with human players who are striving to complete game challenges. Take gold farming bots in MMOs as an example; these robots perform repetitive tasks to collect in-game currency that can be sold to other players. While this doesn't directly harm other players, it disrupts the game's economic mechanisms and bypasses the intended game loop, which is a problem for game developers.

Robots as Game Content

However, the real missed opportunity here is that robots, especially those in blockchain games, can themselves become content. By carefully considering how we design games, we can transform robots from exploiters into objectives: players can compete with robots for resources, challenge them, or even collaborate with them in novel and creative ways. The issue is not that robots are efficient, but that the systems they operate in have not yet adapted to integrate them as part of the fun.

Let’s assume a game similar to an MMO, where resources are gathered in certain locations and converted into items that can be used to attack other entities (players). This is a very common system, and we have seen it appear in various forms (hero fantasy, pirates, spaceships, etc.), with varying degrees of complexity. My point is that if this system had some basic rules to constrain and limit robots, they could become part of the game content. After all, they are subject to the same rules as human players, so the challenge lies in crafting rules that leave room for interesting automation. In this sense, here are some fundamental principles I believe in.

• Vulnerability and Ownership: When a wallet (or entity)’s health points drop to zero, the items in the wallet are lost. This means any robot could become a target and potentially be robbed. Carrying rewards can make them a valuable challenge.
• Geographical Limitations: Wallets (or entities) will be bound to a location and can only interact with elements in adjacent locations. This imposes significant restrictions, requiring robots to move around to interact with different game elements.
• Inventory Limitations: Wallets (or entities) have limits on the assets they can carry. This also restricts the impact robots can have, forcing them to make choices when combined with geographical limitations.
• Energy Consumption: Wallets (or entities) must spend energy to perform actions. This creates another condition for making choices, and importantly, it can change the priorities of robots. When fuel runs out, it becomes a higher priority than the robot's original goal, forcing it to change behavior.

This is not a perfect game recipe to solve all robot issues and turn them into a new form of UGC. These are some ideas around rules that limit the overwhelming advantages of robots and make them another way to play the game. We should not design rules aimed at weakening or eliminating robots, but rather focus on creating systems that encourage human players to interact with robots—whether through combat, trading, or cooperation.

For the eternal question of "Why develop games on the blockchain?" robots can become one of the defining features of the game, a natural part of the game world that adds complexity, challenge, and appeal. They may not be heroes in the traditional sense, but they can still play an important role in making games more vibrant and engaging for human players.

Ultimately, robots are creations of our own making. They can be intangible competitors that exploit loopholes and frustrate human players, or they can be integrated into game systems to provide content and create new interactions. Especially in blockchain games, this shift could transform robots from a nuisance into powerful tools for innovation and entertainment.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。