Bots and Mechanization

One part of MMOs that most players find boring is the repeated gathering of resources known as farming. The tasks are repetitive and very formulaic In most cases they could be done by a computer program, or bot. The innate tension of these tasks is resource farming tends to be central to the in game economies, like ore in EVE Online, but bots tend to be hated by players and against the game EULAs. Essentially the developers and fellow players are try to force people to do the routine tasks necessary for the economy to function even though there is an automated way to accomplish the same goal.

This situation is completely dual to the issues surrounding mechanization in the real world. Every time machines replace workers there are always those who object even though it increases the efficiency of the system as a whole. This frees up labor to be used in other ways and for a wider variety of goods to be produced. In the modern world the progress of mechanization tends not to be inhibited by governments because in the long run it improves the situation of everyone.

The question is why, even though these situations are dual, do games not use the real world solution. I think there are two reasons for this. The first is, unlike the real world, games are finite. There are no new products or technologies unless the developers add them. This limits the quantity and variety of activities available. Hence letting the players restrict this further by using bots is harmful as the rate of new activity innovation is slower than the real world as there are fewer people who can bring new things into the world. Second, when people play an MMO, they expect to be able to interact with other players. Having some avatars be computer programs when people are expecting humans harms the social aspect of the game. This is why many EULAs forbid bots even though the real world analogs are beneficial.