Study: Bots in games ruin the mood for the game or make you stop playing altogether

Artificial intelligence is increasingly changing the world of video games, affecting the experience of players in multiplayer modes. A study conducted by SW Research on behalf of World Network showed that 80% of Polish gamers have encountered bots while playing. For almost half of those surveyed, this was a negative experience that forced them to either play less often or give up online battles. To maintain the quality of gameplay and fair competition, developers are starting to implement mechanisms to verify the humanity of players. One of such solutions was the introduction of the Razer ID verified by World ID system – a secure single sign-on (SSO) mechanism that helps verify the authenticity of gamers in Razer ID.

The problem of bots in video games is relevant not only for Poland. The World study, which covered more than 800 Polish players, showed that 8 out of 10 respondents encountered bots in the game, and every third encountered them regularly. At the same time, 14% of participants could not clearly determine whether they were playing with a person or with an algorithm that imitates the behavior of the player, but does not always adhere to the principles of fair play. Similar trends were recorded in the USA, where 71% of gamers said that they had encountered bots while playing. At the same time, according to last year’s Different Faces of the Polish Gamer study, most players look for partners among acquaintances or directly in the games themselves, which increases the likelihood of interacting with bots.

The esports community is also actively developing in Ukraine. According to NielsenIQ, the average age of a Ukrainian gamer in 2021 was 31 years old, and the ratio of men and women in the community is almost equal. Most players have a higher education, and 65% are married or have a partner. The popularity of esports is growing, and online games are becoming a part of leisure. At the same time, the problem of bots is becoming more relevant among Ukrainian gamers, affecting the quality of the game and the perception of multiplayer content.

Studies show that half of gamers have negative consequences when encountering bots. They emphasize that this causes frustration, reduces the enjoyment of the game and prevents fair competition. The main problems that gamers face include bots gaining an unfair advantage, unequal access to game resources, increasing the load on servers and clogging chats.

At the same time, 66% of respondents believe that they can distinguish a bot from a person. Among men, this figure is higher – 71%, while among women this figure is 60%. Polish gamers also give similar assessments, of which 65% are confident in their ability to identify a robot. However, the results of the 2024 Turing test, in which the Chat GPT-4 neural network communicated with humans, showed that 54% of respondents mistakenly recognized the chatbot as a real person, while a real interlocutor convinced only 67% of respondents of its naturalness.

The lack of effective mechanisms for combating bots directly affects player activity. According to the study, 42% of respondents reduced the frequency of play, 35% refused to use game chat, and 12% stopped playing completely. 69% of Polish and 71% of American gamers are convinced that bots destroy fair competition in online games.

At the same time, 58% of players consider it important to know whether their opponent is a human or a bot, and 75% note that this issue is becoming increasingly relevant due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence. 70% of survey participants are confident that robot recognition technologies will become an integral part of online gaming in the future.