There's been a lot of different talks about bots and how it's ruining the game. The recent proposal that recently passed is also geared towards lessening the scope of what bots can do. Some argue that it might be too heavy handed and might create situations where there are no players to go up against but that will all be revealed in time.

To play devil's advocate though, it's interesting to consider the flip side of things. Let's look at some potential use cases we can explore where bots can help enhance and improve the gaming experience instead.

Gameplay focused

The recent Town Hall touched on retention and getting leads being a big concern. This is definitely the case and they mentioned that it usually would take 7 days where users start dropping.

The question becomes, how will bots help in this regard? Well, the first would be a different type of bot utility. XBOT has recently released a practice bot helper where you can go against a bot using the decks of specific players. This is good for practice and won't cost you any energy while also giving you time to figure out your own strategy or meta testing.

This becomes very helpful as the first 7 days, especially for new players, can become a significant experience in helping them love the game even more by providing diversity and experience against different people with different decks.

If SPL can create something along the lines of having a bot become a practice target for new and old players alike, it could potentially be game changing.

Settings would include something like:

• League Selection - Players can select which league they want to test
• Deck Selection - Players can select between different editions or owned only

Deck Exploration

Aside from being gameplay focused, being deck focused is just as important. With SPL being a TCG, collection is as important as gameplay. New players will of course always look at the Modern format first but maybe in the first 7 days, they'll also be curious about what the Wild format is like and what the cards over there are.

We touched on it on the last section but having a mode versus a bot where you are able to play with specific editions like Alpha or Beta or Untamed, or go with all editions will go a long way in enticing players to stick around as meta changes not only per league, but per edition as well.

Since we expect new players to come in and just go to the Modern format, that means they'd have no experience with other potential meta. Wild meta could be where they thrive like having the Alric Stormbringer meta with magic damage owning with a water deck. If there's an option to have these types available against a bot where you don't spend energy to explore, it could enhance the gameplay experience of new comers significantly.

The recent Nifty Tourney where all cards were available is a good starting point and I think majority of the players who joined that tourney enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

Retention Use Case

The two above examples already create a good potential use case for having bots in the game. It doesn't necessarily create an advantage against players or automates matches for you but can enhance the gameplay significantly while also providing an avenue for players to explore the other aspects of the game which is usually limited due to card ownership or inability to rent cards.

While this might not be part of the play to earn aspect, having players experience the game in a more holistic approach will show the world that the game is multi-faceted and is a far more enjoyable game at its core. Just giving an avenue where players are able to toggle settings they usually don't have access to or can't afford to get will create a more dynamic experience which would potentially further lead them to either moving formats, buying or renting cards and expanding their collection.

There is already a Practice feature in game but it's currently limited to Wild format and the enemy is novice level only, I think. If we can build on that out further, that would be the best place to start. I do understand that it would take resources to build and maintain this but I think it would be a worthwhile investment to tackle onboarding and retention.

For some, this could be a hot take but I feel that it's also important that we consider the other side of the story. Bots aren't all about playing ranked battles, there is so much worth exploring that can help with the overall experience when done right.

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments!

All images provided by Splinterlands in game.

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