Is this a Zwift pacer bot? A cheat? Something else?

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1

Just for kicks tonight I logged into Zwift and tried Watching. I had never done that before.

After clicking around for a while it has me watching someone named “L.ZL +1S” from China. According to Zwift, This person has been riding for 18 hours and has ridden over 400 miles. He/she is still holding 4.3 watts per kg. He is on one of the Tron bikes.

Is this some sort of Zwift-sponsored bot? Is it some sort of cheating bot like they have in video games? Something else?

2

A level up bot. They get your account to higher levels for a bitcoin or two. Who reaaly wants to earn the next virtual kit anyhow. You’ve stumbled on the seedy underbelly of Watopia. Just tonight some guy flying a sled gave me a free draft on Zwift. Told me the next one will cost me.

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3

I didn’t have to read further than the team “+1s” to have a strong suspicion that the effort isn’t real. The rest just confirms that.

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4

I do not understand people.

5

You can use an ant+ simulator and have your avatar rack up the miles.

6

Ooops, sorry, when I said I didn’t understand, I wasn’t referring to “How?” someone would do this but rather “Why?”. Seems to defeat the whole purpose of Zwift.

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7

I’m willing to bet that they are too lazy to earn it or they have ego/toxic masculinity issues.

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8

There is an option to “flag” a rider in companion app for some reason.

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9

It could be someone that works for a bike part manufacturer stress testing their gear. I remember there was a video floating around of Tacx flux being driven by an external motor for 10k miles.

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10

while I fully understand why trainer manufacturer needs to test their equipment (using motor and so on), I don’t see any reason why they should be signed to Zwift (or any other public sw) and thus visible to other folks …

I believe they have their own advanced tools to log distance and all necessary parameters - watts, speed, temperature etc …

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11

With the proper name, it could be an ever present billboard roaming around the course all day…cheap advertising. :slightly_smiling_face:

12

I say if it’s not in a race and they’re just cruising… doesn’t bother me at all.

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13

Oooof! If that was not a problem before, it could be in the future…

I I tried to follow a female avatar hammering up AdZ a few weeks ago and just destroyed myself, limped across the top and then realized she’d done it a couple minutes shy of Pantani’s time. A rider who follows me did a 14 hour double Everest in a 200+ mile ride. I gave them a thumbs up thinking, “wow, what a beast!”, only to see them do the same thing again the following day.

It reminded me that I need to be cautious about setting my efforts based on what appears to be happening around me in Zwift. I’m not interested in being John Henry’d by some machine or bot-sled.

If avatars start flying “Eat At KFC” banners and riding endless loops, it could really undermine the sense of riding with a real human community. Then my Zwift experience will become more like my old trainer-in-the-basement slog; not as good.

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14

Those “bots” are present in all online games (as far as I know) and I don’t see any reason why Zwift should be an exception … Why they are there? Nobody can say it exactly, but the reason can be very, very different …

  • some players try to achieve a higher level and unlock some gadgets in “easy way”
  • some bots can be used for testing purpose … testing what? Don’t ask me … I’m just an ordinary guy …
  • some people like to create and develop bots just for their entertainment = read it as “challenge … brain training”… it’s not easy to create sophisticated bot … and believe me, in some games those bots are far more educated/skilled then common player … simply we should say “Great job!”

Mostly those bots don’t affect our own reality/game at all …and if it happens one day (maybe race ???), then it must be fixed by developer/Zwift … there is nothing we (as users/players) can do about it …

15

What bot? I would like to use it.

16

Maybe they need to test that the connection the trainer makes to third party software is robust and consistent across significant mileage and multiple connections?

17

No, that is simply not the case. Watts are watts. The trainer reports them. What the receiver does with them are irrelevant. No trainer manufacturer needs Zwift to tell them the accuracy or consistency of the watts they report.

18

Imagine having to cheat just to have the latest bike in the dropshop and flexing for… nobody

19

I never mentioned watts.

I was simply suggesting a valid reason for trainer makers testing on a public platform might be ensuring the hardware connection to third party software is robust and consistent when used as customers are going to use them.

20

Sure - but you don’t need to run your test at high power for long durations to do that.