[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 {nick}s
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://<somehost>/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.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {annoybot}{jupiter}{robot}{spider}]