What's So Bad About Bots?

@JudiKay
Reading through these forums, one can find quantities of complaints, talk of apparently-glitchy competitions, the same cheating reactions / response video over and over, bizarre discussion rules, conflicts bw users, and - fundamentally - a site staff that seems to be way out of its depth at handling the social styles and personalities of such a large and diverse community. (Honestly, the human side seems like kind of a mess around here 🤷‍♂️)
I have an irl friend I’d play occasionally when she was on but - placing those games aside - the site is overflowing with lessons, drills, puzzles, bots, analysis, and a number of other developmental tools.
Training and playing as a hermit was easily the best decision I made coming into this. If those who know better say it’s not perfect - that’s fine - as perfection is not my goal.
Run your own show 👍

It is totally fine. I play against the engine a lot. Do not worry what others say.

It's not a simple question. It is a profound question.

Forget "bots" that are programmed to make mistakes randomly.

Chessmaster crank up the plys is very realistic.

The primary difference is guile. You can't fool a computer. You can hypnotize a person into moving where you want him to move. The computer cannot be hypnotized.

There is no guile against a computer. It is almost like playing chess against yourself. You cannot set a trap that you know it's a trap.

You cannot use deception, you can only use perception.

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Extend the metaphor.

Google Translate is mimetic. It's not rules driven like other translation programs. I use that word purposefully. It comes Terminator 2 and more importantly Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

It is quite sophisticated and quite good. I use Google Translate and only have to tweak it a little bit to make translations from English into Vietnamese imperceptibly perfect.

I only lived in Vietnam for 10 years. America 40 years. And I don't speak Vietnamese with anyone.

With Google Translate, I can craft a perfect counterfeit translation.

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I also mine colloquialisms from "trash" novels.

Something out of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, when humans go into a Hollo-novel and speak the colloquialisms of the Gagnsters Era, like "Dady-o, gat (gun), broads (women, who have broader hips than men), etc . . .

I can pull it off. I can correct a colloquialism of a Vietnamese person who just came to America. The fake correcting the real!

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Man has always been fascinated with creating a mechanical person that can pass for the real thing.

I have that fascination too.

Playing the chess program Sargon II on the Commodore 64 started that process.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles nailed it for me.

I once chatted with a Morocan French speaking lady via instant messenger using Google Translate.

I knew enough about language to correct Google Translate imprecisions.

Basically you don't use English words that can be double entente like in sitcoms like Three's Company.

You don't input: Is it hard?

You input: Is it difficult?

I was able to chat with her in real time for 5 minutes.

Then I told her I use Google Translate.

She said, "You fooled me!"

I passed the Turing Test.

I played bots at first because I was nervous of playing real people. Now I play both bots, especially the coaches, and people. Bots are no pressure and you can always learn something. Been on a really losing streak lately, so chess has not been what I call relaxing. So a bot can be a bit of break, win or lose.

you can disable chat-so no need to see people being mean.

When I play bots- i don't play them in timed games.

The computer thinks so much faster, than a person.

Chessmaster 6000 purposefully slowed the computer down to mimic human timing.

Machines can mimic humans.

Each bot has a different style of playing and how well they play at it depends on their elo . You mostly can't improve just by playing with bots because to defeat them , you just need to know how they play and play accordingly to each one's weakness. This however reduces as you move to higher elos and the bots start playing tactically but a beginner won't be able to improve by playing with them much less win. Playing with humans is better for growth because they don't play in a fixed way and thinking on their moves and how to counter them gives you a better understanding of how people play and gives you a basic idea for an approach in the next game . But playing with bots is helpful too , they can help you discover/practice new openings, tactics , moves which after learning you can imply in your games.

The only problem is that at a specific point, they will self-destruct letting you win, unlike humans, which will play until a draw or win.

Bro I asked for Levy Rozman's how to win at chess for Christmas

JudiKay same as me. I play bots but when I try like a 400 Elo player they seem like a GM to me. I don't know what is happening when I click on game review and they have 0.1 more accuracy than me . They always "seem" to know where to move their pieces and checkmate me. 1 out of 10 times when I am playing I win a chess game AGAINST A PERSON. But, for bots, maybe 9 out of 10 although I play like 1700 bots and win. I don't get the logic.

Apologies for attending to an old thread, but I found it useful and feel I have something to add.

The one and only issue with bots, I feel, is that they don't replicate human psychology. It is the very nature of potential miscalculation that makes 'dangerous' and exciting play possible. You know for a fact that a bots will play the best move regardless of what you do, apart from the aforementioned random crap moves. But a human will respond to moves an entirely different way. They will worry they haven't seen something you have, for example.

Playing against bots doesn't teach you the vagrancies of human deception which like in poker, can mean all the difference.

They don’t really play like a person. I can beat a 1300 bot but can’t beat a person who plays like that. Also all bots have weaknesses that you can pick up subconsciously so if you’re constantly playing the same bot it doesn’t teach you to get better but rather better against that bot. Their good if you have limited time tho

They can be very fun to play but they don't make the same moves like a human, it's hard to put into words but you can see the difference in play. They go from really good to suddenly a bad move.

I do like how Chess.com makes these new and interesting bots, cause they have their own personality and playing style. But, the thing that I kinda don't like is when the the bots' become, kind of like super-critically-strong, their rating become kind of weird. Like, the Mittens bot, rating 1, at first glance even I thought that,"Oh... I can beat him in just 2 moves..." and suddenly, it punished me with a BRUTLE checkmate. The Elo Martin, rating IMPOSSIBLE, who even uses letters to show the rating? In the Hippo bots, there are ratings like Easy, Angry, and hmm... I don't remember, even some bots have a question mark (?) as their rating.Then another worst thing, my nice looking background and the board and pieces style changes, this kind of frustrates me. So, I request Chess.com to give their bots their exact rating, I think, there is no problem with the changed theme with most players, but still I kinda... suffer with the rating problem. Other than that, this was my only request. From:
Username: GMRachitMandal
Real name: Rachit Mandal
Nationality: Indian

I am sorry, if I was rude in my text, then please forgive me.
Other than that, Thank you all if you are supporting my message.

And by the way, I am not a Grand Master or any other master, its just my username.

Bots are good

When I joined in chess.com I was a just a beginner. My first out opponent was Jimmy when I played with him I win easily but then I played with other bots It was so fun until I lose. Then I realised my real level that where does I stand. I think bots helps us to know our level and one thing I love about is they always encourage you. I love to play with them

I think as long as you are realistic that the "elo" on the bots shouldn't be taken seriously. For example, my rapid elo is currently sitting around 1150. I can regularly beat a 1800 bot, but that does not mean I can beat an 1800 human. That would be a completely unrealistic expectation right now. So beating the bot can inflate your ego into thinking that you are better than you really are. And though that might make you feel good, it's not helpful to improving.

Also, playing bots does nothing to improve your time management which is a huge part of competitive chess. You can set time controls but it's still unrealistic because the bots play moves instantly while your time ticks down.