Bot Identification
You recently declined a persons suggestion (on/off toggle to identity bots)
This after event scenario does zero to help during a group ride, event, etc. to be able to chat with other riders, ask questions, etc. We need to know Bots from real humans DURING the activity.
Today's group ride, several riders seemed frustrated to who was a real human and who wasn't. This was a group ride, not a race, so being able to 'talk' is something leisurely riders like to do.
It is hard to ask a rider to come back to the group or help them to know how to handle a hill or chase, etc. when that 'rider' may simply be a Bot off the back or a Bot attacking out front (yes, Passive Bots will surge ahead).
Please reconsider have some way to tell who is real and who is a Bot.
Thanks
Paul
shared this idea
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Mark
commented
I am coming over from years on The Sufferfest (SYSTM) and 2 months on Zwift
It could be that not having years of Zwift indoctrination is why I find not knowing whether it is a bot or human doesn't bother me. In fact I kind of like it. It keeps things exciting and more interesting. I like that bit of randomness.
I really don't see how knowing whether the avatar represents a human or bot has a negative impact on texting. Surely it is something that is figured out after just a couple responses?
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Priita
commented
You can always organise events with no bots.
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Maksymilian Kapica commented
Taking away the ability for users to distinguish humans from bots is ethically questionable. People have the right to know the truth. This right can be translated into one simple option in the game: "I want to distinguish humans from bots".
Moreover, people gather on platforms such as TP Virtul, Zwift, Rouvey, because they want to have contact with another human being. Even if this contact is limited to a name on the playlist, they assume that there is a human behind the name. If they did not need confirmation of the correctness of their views by finding themselves in a group of people with similar habits, then the platforms would have no basis for existence.
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Andrew Walker commented
Another idea. Allow an organiser of an event to either identify/not identify bots and humans. I think it would quickly become self evident what was preferred and organisers would adapt whilst there would be a niche and ability for the minority preference(which I feel would be non identification).
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I'd add that generally in a race we will ask in the chat 'who is real here' and the humans will generally respond. So tbh either humans or bots might as well be marked as such since not everyone has an available keyboard to respond and say 'hi I'm human'. Most folks like to know, although it may not seem that way on the discord as there are a very loud minority of folk shout anyone down who mentions bot identification.
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Gregory Hoch
commented
I agree that the bots are so good it is difficult to determine which avatars are "real" and which ones are bots. While I understand that you may not want to identify them during a race (why even allow bots in a race?) but it would be nice to be able to identify them in a group ride or group workout. It is hard to know in these events if you are riding with other humans or bots. It is nice to know that you are riding with humans that can make human decisions, chat, etc.
As a side not it would also be nice to have some identification of the group leader in order to tell if you are ahead or behind them.
Thanks.
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mj o commented
Hiding the real users from the bots has been the main factor stopping me from using Indievelo. It’s cool that the bots are there but don’t hide the real people please.