Botting in RuneScape is like Rank Hacking in Modern Warfare 2. Sure, it's great to have every weapon unlocked and not have to wait around. But at what cost? Who else is being affected? Quite a large proportion of RuneScape players have at least tried botting. Whether it was the good old AutoClicker that would click the same Willow tree, or the same Iron filled rock. Or more advanced NeXuS bots which change its instruction set based on the data input.
The purpose of botting is to gain levels or money that you don't think you could do without help. I bot because I enjoy the feel of RuneScape, but don't want to have to sit next to a bank for hours whilst I make 350,000 Yew Longbow's for 99 Fletching. I want to be able to walk around and flaunt what I have and be able to fight stronger NPC's.
In my opinion, there are two types of botters. Those who bot to sell the account or gold they make from it. And there are the ones who cannot be bothered to constantly go back and forth making Nature Runes from the Abbys and only make 9XP Per Rune crafted. The botting itself doesn't destroy the game. It is the Real World Trading that goes along with it that does. Botting has increased the amount of resources in rotation. This allows even legitimate players to profit off getting their levels up easier without having to scavenge for items such as Bow String for Fletching, Coal for Smithing, Nature Runes for Magic, or even Gold Bars for Crafting.
Botting has an equivalent effect as Machines Taking over human jobs in real life. They get the job done faster and more efficient. Without bots, would you be willing to pay 300GP/ea for Pure Essence? I know I wouldn't.
With the most recent bots buster that is currently being implemented into RuneScape. This will not stop them from making them more advanced and sophisticated. Currenly, bots can do quests, respond to users in chat, and even make human-like decisions like those seen in iDungeon Pro. From here they will only get more human-like. Every bot will have completely ranzomized mouse paths. They will be able to walk from one side of runescape to the other and even say hello to people along the way. They will soon be able to train one skill for a couple of hours, then run to another location to train another. It's only a matter of time until you won't even know if a player is a bot or human.
If bots were freely allowed, this would be an issue. But the thrill of being sneaky enough to not get caught while being online for 24hrs+ is great for some users. RG user Nick even attempted to bot Dungeoneering from one Tuesday update to the next.
The current price of RuneScape Membership is about AU$10. The multitude of botters all purchasing Membership credit for all their bot accounts, would certainly be a large profitable turnover for Jagex. The subscription cost for the 2010 financial year was above 90% of the total annual turnover! How much of this do you think is coming from botters or someone who has used a bot in the last 12 Months? This is shown in the graph below:
(Image thread source: http://www.stellardawncentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16966)
In closing, I disagree that the use of bots within runescape affect the gameplay of other users.