Your Marvel Rivals friends are probably bots as players discover offline mates puppeteered by in-game AI

Have you ever played Marvel Rivals and matched with a friend who is usually extremely chatty only to find out they’re dead silent? Well, it turns out that NetEase’s popular hero shooter may not only be placing you into bot-filled matches, but it’s also using your friends’ names as in-game AI.

Despite having millions of players as of Season 2, Marvel Rivals frequently places players in bot matches after a losing streak. However, players have now noticed that the game uses the names of actual players for their bots to make matches feel more realistic.

Your Marvel Rivals friends could be bots

In a post on the Marvel Rivals subreddit, one player discovered that a bot they were playing a match with had the exact same name as their online friend. Despite their friend being offline for months, their profile was being puppeteered by the game’s bots to make the match feel more realistic.

“I kept trying to talk to the them the entire time wondering why they were ignoring me as I haven’t seen them online for ages,” the player said. “After the match, it turns out it was a bot the entire time and they haven’t been online for months.”

Players immediately met the revelation with not only a quick sense of clarity over recent matches, but also annoyance. If player names are being used in bot matches, that means your name could also be used for a bot.

Taking peoples' account names for bots isn't right
by inmarvelrivals

“Taking peoples’ account names for bots isn’t right,” the player wrote. “That’s not cool to use another account’s username as a bot especially when the player is in my friend list.”

“I’ve seen bots with some insanely inappropriate names so I kinda assumed they used real player names,” another player said with a screenshot of a bot with an adult video site in their username. “Thanks for posting proof though.”

Marvel Rivals’ high reliance on bots isn’t new, but it does feel uncomfortable to have your online identity used by AI. Every Halo player knows the fear of entering a match and seeing Mint Blitz on the enemy team, but that fear would be instantly dissipated if there was a 90% chance of that player being a bot.

Of course, using your friends as AI isn’t too bad if players are aware that’s the case. Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon both use your friends as AI to fill out races with their driving data, but players are also told about this beforehand. With Rivals, it’s just kinda weird.

For more Marvel Rivals coverage, read about the new colour customisation feature and all the available colours. Additionally, read about how players are lining up to get slammed by Emma Frost.