I am a Bot "Hater"

I think I am the only one who seems really upset by this, but I have caught bots in my realm in the World of Warcraft.  I am not talking about the bots of Borean Tundra near Fizzcrank, not am I talking about the dueling bots that an engineer can make, I am talking about the more foul sense of the word.

A bot is someone who is using software to do something in game that you normally would have to do by filling a chair and running a character by hand. 

A bot, though, is software running in place of a human in control.  Whether it is farming materials for a profession, or getting reputation with one of the local factions, or some item for a quest, it is just plain wrong to "bot" a certain area.  First reason is that a bot is usually farming a mob needed for a quest as collateral damage of their botting.  Blizzard has set the respawn rates in these areas so that people don't have to wait a long time for a mob needed to spawn.  Second reason is that a bot is affecting the in-game economy.  Whatever mats or items the bot is farming is going to cheapen the items for those people who farm them by hand and turn them into the AH for a decent return on their time and effort.

Usually, you can spot a bot as simple as a kludgy robot in amongst humans.  They will have some aberrant behavior that gives them away. In my case, the bot I found was pacing back and forth in between waiting for respawns that is the giveaway.  A couple other signature reveals of a bot is the lack of response and/or interaction with other players.  And finally a third giveaway for a bot is when their software glitches.  They might be running around in cicles, make odd gestures in a repetitive manner, the list goes on.

Bots due to their limited abilities seem to focus on small areas where the respawn time of a mob or object is only a number of seconds.  You will rarely find bots in larger areas as it is hard to traverse the environment they are currently inhabiting.

The proper response at seeing a bot is to study it for a time.  I also warn the player by interacting with them initially.  After repetitive warnings I usually report the character botting.  I don't curse them, make choice remarks regarding their family heritage or make oaths about them perhaps jumping off the edge of outlands.  I report and leave the result up to Blizzard.