[common on IRC, MUD and among gamers; from
`robot'] 1. An IRC or MUD user who is actually a program.
On IRC, typically the robot provides some useful service. Examples
are NickServ, which tries to prevent random users from adopting
nicks already claimed by others, and MsgServ, which allows one
to send asynchronous messages to be delivered when the recipient
signs on. Also common are `annoybots', such as KissServ, which
perform no useful function except to send cute messages to other
people. Service bots are less common on MUDs; but some others,
such as the `Julia' bot active in 1990-91, have been remarkably
impressive Turing-test experiments, able to pass as human for as
long as ten or fifteen minutes of conversation. 2. An AI-controlled
player in a computer game (especially a first-person shooter such
as Quake) which, unlike ordinary monsters, operates like a
human-controlled player, with access to a player's weapons and
abilities. An example can be found at
http://www.telefragged.com/thefatal/.
Note that bots in both senses were `robots' when the term first
appeared in the early 1990s, but the shortened form is now
habitual.
