'I kept trying to talk to them': Marvel Rivals players are finding their friends' names are being used by bots
Finding bots in Marvel Rivals isn't unusual. A few months after the game first launched, some players started to realise that after losing a few games in a row, they'd be placed into bot matches on the down-low. Given the sneakiness at hand, the devs grabbing friends' names to be used by bots isn't all that surprising, but that doesn't make it ok.
"Taking people's account names for bots isn't right," Maleficent_Roll3450 says. "I was in a player vs AI match, and someone that I have on my friend list was in the match as well, and I kept trying to talk to them the entire time, wondering why they were ignoring me, as I haven't seen them online for ages.
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"After the match, it turns out it was a bot the entire time, and they haven't been online for months. That's not cool to use another account's username as a bot, especially when the player is on my friend list. Excited for no reason."
The whole point about player vs AI matches is that it's meant to be players vs AI. If people wanted to play against a bunch of AI on both sides, then you can just go into a custom match and make a game for yourself. The fact that it's so easy to create a custom match also means there's no reason to fill player lobbies with bots; simply redirect players to custom matches if you're concerned about queue times.
While players may not be happy with this new discovery, Marvel Rivals isn't the first game to do something like this. Forza will take your friends list and use their names for bots while you're driving around, and Fortnite uses bots to fill empty slots, usually for new players, when it could be difficult to fill an appropriate lobby. But it doesn't necessarily make the practice ok just because other games do it.
Also, if you connect the dots, it wouldn't be outlandish to assume that some bots in Quick Play matches will also copy player names. As I said before, players coined onto the fact that NetEase was placing those on bad losing streaks into bot matches in Quick Play to hand them an easy win. So if there are bots in the matches, and they're designed to be awful at the game, there is a possibility that someone, somewhere, thinks that you're god awful at Marvel Rivals.
But I think the most important thing to remember is this: If you see someone with my name playing like an idiot on Emma Frost and completely throwing the game, just remember that it's not me, it's a bot, trust me.