bot
n
[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/.
3. Term used, though less commonly, for a web spider. The file for
controlling spider behavior on your site is officially the ?Robots
Exclusion File? and its URL is ?http:///robots.txt?)
Note that bots in all senses were ?robots? when the terms first appeared in
the early 1990s, but the shortened form is now habitual.
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