I know some would disagree, but indeed bots contribute to force a false perception of population activity. It is deceiving. You play, quest, explore on your own or perhaps with a few friends, and you'd come upon a field to participate in finishing a Task, or you're just gathering herbs or minerals. Then suddenly you see a number of players pass by a road all following each others, behind one another and moving in a perfect synchronization like a snake. The thing is that I have been the witness of actual real players whom never noticed such bots as they did their farming thing (the bots) and it all occurred right in front of them (the players) until I (or usually someone else) cares to type in Say chat (if not Map chat) about the fact that "those players" are bots. Then follows the unbelievable reaction of disbelief and/or surprise by the "unsuspecting" players. It goes as simple as "What the hell is that skill they use to teleport around like this?" (asked by the players whom perhaps never noticed one before) followed after some time by someone else (or me) replying "Dude they are bots...". Then if it's new to them or they never expected it, they usually react with and reply "Really?".
Well yeah, really....
Yes, I am generalizing, but I am not exaggerating in the sense that bots are literally everywhere. There is not a single zone not even within WvW without at the very least a few dozens of them. The thing is that not all of them are named Fsdhyuitk or Totallynothuman. They are not always obvious, and they are not always stuck within one same area. Which of course I suspect is done in the code or by choice (by the user of the bot) to ensure a minimum amount of "safety" by moving from farming location to another to avoid suspicions. Now, some bot users (or simply bots themselves) are in a guild with known/popular guild tags (which I won't name here, but did mention to ArenaNet anyway, for what it's worth). Some players use their "main" character with a more serious name with a guild tag and they just happen to bot on those characters too from time to time (yeah, can you imagine that there is such a thing as a "casual bot"?). Most of the bots which happen to be completely automated, seemingly all day long non-stop, usually are indeed named after something that doesn't make sense or is just a random mix of letters put together. Additionally, some bots work in a pair. Those in pairs are often seen with one being named for example "Mrjoe" and the other named "Joemr", they just reverse half of the name for one bot, and the same name reversed to the next variant for the second bot, while both work in tandem to kill mobs as they spawn.
So, all of this to say that as you play around, think twice when you truly think that the character(s) (not to say players) that you just saw pass by are human players. They may be, or maybe not, which is the point (the point being that you can never be sure, which is silly on its own right). Is that fun when you play? Of course you can possibly "not care" about how a bot farms a bazillion karma or other currency, whatever it happens to be and doesn't affect you, or does it? Doesn't it contribute to add to the feeling that the map (at the very least, if not the whole game in general) feels deserted unless you idle in Lion's Arch to finally see some humans type on their keyboard? I mean if I want bots in my games I could as well just launch Unreal Tournament. It's not like bots in GW2 are actually fun to watch or frag, they're just the product and consequence of lazy players who prefer not to play and let them do the work, or dare I say do play the game but also multi-box their game with bots on one side doing double the work as they play anyway on another character with another account and another key.
Maybe bots do not severely affect the economy of the game, or one of a particular server, yeah maybe. My problem isn't even that, my problem and to repeat myself again is that bots, for me, add to the feeling that I am playing pretty much a single-player game and from time to time I happen to spot a human player. But... usually, I play around doing my own stuff on my own and just... well feel alone. Wait, what is that, a player doing a quest? Let's go che.... ah never mind, he just teleported, screw that. Well of course I could just "ignore" all of it and just indeed play around on my own but then... it doesn't feel nor looks like a MMORPG. To be honest so far anyway I feel that as long as I do not stand anywhere in Lion's Arch I do not see much difference between GW2 in terms of human population and Diablo 3. I'm exaggerating? Well yes I am. But anyway... I cannot be certain that a lone player even with a seemingly "natural" or "serious" name, or if a player even in a known guild isn't a bot, or "botting" (away from the monitor or not).
I guess I was naive... if anything can be put on my shoulders. It's the price to pay when you want to stay spoilers-free (as much as possible anyway) before buying a game. I did not even buy it until they re-opened their digital purchases fairly recently (not sure it's even be a full month yet). Had I know, had I read more of their forums (and here), had I watched more videos about GW2 in general (of all types, including those of "complaints" which might have included the bots issue)... had I been fully aware that the problem of bots was so rampant I truly would have stayed away from the game. But what is done is done and thankfully there's no monthly fee.
Am I going to stop playing... not really... not "stop" per se but... there's much less incentive to do so and I'm not even Level 80 yet, and I hear and read that also on its own the end-game aspect of GW2 (completely regardless of bots) is also problematic (not to say "lacking") so... yeah I don't know. I'm playing still but I guess I'm taking everything with as much of a grain of salt as I can pretend to, when I know I don't and it does affect the game in general. Good for those whom are completely oblivious to the situation, I am actually jealous of you guys out there, care to share the secret? Close your eyes about it and accept it? Live with it? Pretend the game is single-player and inhabited by NPCs some of which are merely more obvious than others?
Meh... I think I'll just go back and play and force some sort of bubble of acceptance about it otherwise I would ruin what I think is still a good game experience. I truly think that GW2 is a great game, sure not perfect there's issues (not just bots) but I am really enjoying most of it. I just don't like it when I can barely distinguish human players and bots anymore, I'm not sure of anything unless "finally" someone types something in Map chat, at which point I take a deep breath and think "Survivor... Survivor!" (akin to "New land... new land!!!").