GoldSrc Bot
A bot (short for robot) is similar to an NPC in a multiplayer game, usually designed to behave like a human-controlled player.
Long Version
Given the team-based competitive nature behind many first-person shooters, a player who plays offline games, presumably limited or no internet access, will be missing out a huge portion of the game. To remedy this, these games usually come with bots, which are NPCs that behave like a human player.
Another distinct definition of bot is that of a computer program which is commonly designed to perform monotonous or hard-to-achieve tasks such as "farming" and raising levels in RPG-type games. As a result, most RPG games have banned them from use because it is considered cheating. In FPS games this type of bot is also known to be a form of cheating. It helps players achieve better scores by improving their aim and reflexes which, in the extreme case, are completely controlled by the bot software.
Related Console Commands and Variables
All games with bots have ConCommands and ConVars to control them. These might have slightly different side effects per game.
| ConCommand / ConVar | Description |
|---|---|
| bot_add | Adds a bot to the server. Parameters can be used to set the name, team or difficulty of the new bot. This command might do nothing the first time if bot_quota_mode is set to fill. |
| bot_dont_shoot | Determines whether bots will intentionally shoot at enemies or not. They might still shoot for example if they are blinded by a flashbang or if a func_breakable is in their way. |
| bot_kick | Remove all bots from the server. Parameters can be used to target only specific bots. |
| bot_kill | Cheat command that makes all bots suicide. If a parameter is given, tries to kill the bot with that name. |
| bot_stop | If set to non-zero, bots won't do anything. |