The Wizarding Times
The Benefits of Botting
(or The Pros and Cons of Botting)
A couple of years ago, towards the end of summer, a question came up at HOL: what would you like to do in this coming school year? Part of my answer was that I wanted to learn to play Quidditch. Ah, yes, Quidditch! And Quidditch, in addition to anything else, to me means botting! Lots and lots of botting.
I found out, through regular botting sessions, that my ability to navigate mIRC improved. After all, I had to register my nick! I wanted to have colors (sometimes), like the other players and botters. But those are just things that anyone who gets on mIRC will learn, if curious enough.
The actual botting benefits are many. Some are more obvious than others.
*Long botting sessions build endurance. I always wondered why the practice, or game, wouldn't end when *I* was tired. *g* I had the opportunity to play Seeker in a practice session a couple of times, and now I am totally astounded that any Seeker finds that snitch in under an hour's time. So there is a reason to have long botting sessions; one gets used to continuous pressure to come up with answers for more than 5 or 10 minutes! Just like in any athletic endeavor, mental muscles need a workout too, and conditioning.
*Double botting (running more than one bot at once) builds up speed, both WPM (word per minute) and FAST (how fast you can get the answer back to the bot). Of course, if you type an answer for one bot, and the answer for the question on the 2nd bot is that answer, you might have an exceedingly fast time and/or wpm!
Lots of botting means that you get to see more of the questions that might be asked in a practice or at a game. Botting like a 'crazed' person means that you not only see the question once or twice, but often enough that eventually you learn the answer. *G*
*What not to do: if you are at #huffquid, and observing, please DO observe whether that person is having a nice streak. As a total newbie, ignorant of the manners of the system, I once watched Gwen Owens as she was astoundingly answering question after question. I was so impressed, and then a question came up that I knew, and she was slow to get (not that she didn't know it, more like she was getting a drink of water or something!). So I typed the answer. Do NOT do that! She had a streak at somewhere in the 60s! Her only comment was something like ARG, but when it was explained to me what I had done.......... I felt like digging a hole and pulling it in after me.
Speaking of which -- if you are at #huffquid, and want to bot, and someone else is botting, do ask if you can join, instead of just starting to bot. Sometimes folks 'need' some quiet, non-competition time to get into a swing; also, later on, in the season, folks will be needing to get their required 'quota' of points for the week.
Back to benefits of botting.
*Botting gathers the strangest assortment of HP fanatics together. Sure we all go to HOL Hogwarts, but how many folks, really, remember what the staircase of Hogwarts is made of? Or what kind of wood the front doors are made of? When botting, you will encounter other HP nerds--and most likely develop some nice, strange, friendships because of it.
Oh, the Cons of botting?
There aren't any.