PUBG: What Are Terminator Bots?
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds' (PUBG) newest update has introduced what the community has dubbed “Terminator Bots”. Described by the developers as “upgraded bots”, it seems that these bots are a little too advanced. The PUBG subreddit is flooded with clips of these bots absolutely destroying human players with their impossible tracking and aiming skills.
Surely these advanced bots can’t be as bad as they sound, right? Let’s take an inside look at PUBG’s new Terminator Bots.
Click to enlargeWhat Are Terminator Bots?
Terminator Bots is the community-dubbed name for the newly upgraded bots added to PUBG in Update 12.1. Previously, PUBG bots were rather weak and dumb. The old bots posed no real challenge to players and were nothing but bullet fodder to practise your aim on.
Update 12.1 hoped to change this, giving bots more realistic movements and actions. But what came next was much more than that. These formerly worthless bots turned into murder machines.
Described by the developers as “upgraded bots”, these new AI were at a level far past that. Now, running into a Terminator Bot feels no different than encountering a wall hacker or aimbotter. These bots track players through walls and laser them down with pinpoint accuracy.
To make matters worse, these new bots love to thirst. Terminator Bots target downed players and finish them instantly. These bots give players no opportunity to revive their teammate and get back into the fight. This is extremely frustrating considering how much of an investment a single game of PUBG can be. No one wants to loot for ten minutes just to get thirsted by a bot.
We can paint a general picture with words, but you’ll need to see footage of these Terminator Bots in action to truly understand the ridiculous power they possess.
Terminator Bots In Action
This clip is a conglomeration of a Terminator Bot’s worst features. The clip begins with the bot blatantly tracking players through walls and terrain. Once it encounters some players, the Terminator Bot instantly hip-fires them down in mere milliseconds. The two real players had no chance against this advanced AI. Both human players were dead before they knew what hit them.
This clip happens so fast you have to watch it back a couple of times to realise what occurred. A Terminator Bot snaps between targets and one-shot kills its victim with a flick quicker than any human player could ever hope to pull off.
Are you spectating a hacker or a Terminator Bot? It’s hard to tell the difference. These bots move in ways strikingly similar to how a hacker would—flicking their aim around, instantly locking in on targets, tracking targets through walls and terrain, etc. Dying in this way to a human player would warrant a report. Unfortunately, this is standard gameplay for a Terminator Bot.
Community Reaction To Terminator Bots
As one may expect, the PUBG community is not happy with these new Terminator Bots.
The addition of bots, in general, is already a polarising topic. However, players were finally getting used to them and had begun to accept the standard bots. But no one is okay with these new Terminator Bots.
PUBG die-hards have taken to the PUBG subreddit to voice their frustrations. One player claims that they have played nonstop since launch and sunk thousands of hours into the game. With the addition of Terminator Bots, this player claims to be putting PUBG down for the first time in years. “The new AI has created terminator bots, and it is effectively like playing with a lobby of hackers.”
Speaking of hackers, PUBG was finally making headway in that department. Cheaters were getting banned at a high rate, and their numbers were beginning to dwindle. The developers had at long last found a solution to a problem that has plagued PUBG since its inception.
Terminator Bots have destroyed all of this progress. There’s tons of testimony online from disgruntled players arguing that there’s no difference between a Terminator Bot and a cheater. Both have wallhacks and aimbot, and both are dreadful to play against. The cheater problem was finally starting to subside, and then PUBG developers go and essentially add their own version of AI cheaters into the game.
Click to enlargeSolution To Terminator Bots
The obvious solution to Terminator Bots is to revert them to their previous state. Players would much rather face off against mindless AI than the overpowered machines that are Terminator Bots.
There’s also the option to remove bots entirely. One PUBG fanatic boasting 4,000+ hours played exclaims, “REMOVE THE BOTS, all of them, lame ones and Terminators.” People play online competitive multiplayer games to face off against real human opponents, not bots. Save the AI for single-player games. Matchmaking times may be a bit longer, but the removal of bots would lead to a better gameplay experience overall.
At this point, it's unlikely that the developers will completely remove bots. Our best hope is that these Terminator bots receive a swift nerf or are reverted to their previous state. Otherwise, the playerbase will be forced to bow down to our new cyborg overlords.
Images via PUBG Corporation | Orion Pictures
