Bots in Clubs? yay or nay?

First, thank you all that took time to answer my last club related question!

What I am interested to now know is the public opinion of Bots, as a club patron, do you mind the use of bots as greeters? How about as automated Bartenders? Any other thoughts you have on Bots is greatly appreciated

For those of you that have not seen a Bot here are two examples below:

https://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1612837

https://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1422172

I think bots are incredibly good - everyone should have at least one.

i like scripted agents better..cause you can get them to play pink panther with you and you never know where they are hiding..

You get home.. The second you are relaxed thinking everything is just fine..out of nowhere... kungFUUUU time!!!
it's secrete scripted agent an you fighting for your life..man popcorn just gets all over the place

Seriously..i don't like bots in clubs..registered or not..i think they have done enough damage to clubs already..well not them actually but the people that abused them have..

A bartender bot is one thing; nobody goes to a club in SL to order drinks anyways. However, a greeter bot just smacks of complete lack of concern on the part of the club owners. After all, a first impression is very important. If the very first person that addresses you when you arrive is a bot, you're probably going to, at the least, wonder who else in that club are bots.

Greeter bots are spam.

Most people go to clubs to socialize with other people, not to get automated messages from bots.

And most people aren't going to wait around long to go on an expedition to figure out if all the other avatars are bots too. Many people who are coming for the first time are going down a search list. It only takes a few seconds for them to decide to click on the next club on the list.

thats as true as it gets..as easy as it is to get people to say high..I remember if we got caught letting people come in without giving them a welcome..we had a good talking too coming to us..
clubs used to be one of the most fun public places on the grid..they used to be about communicating with people and making them feel welcome..it's all turned cold and like herding cattle..
then you get there and they can't even bother to be there to say hi to ya..

come to the greatest club on the grid!! where nobody is around but you..

Helloooo!!! elloooo elloooo elloooo....

Is anyone here??!!! ere ere ere ere..

I guess not! ot ot ot ot

No bots

No way

No how

All the time.

ESPECIALLY not as greeters or chat spam spewers. If you have a bot, put duct tape on its mouth.

hehehe how many people remember hearing..
Welcome to Bad Girls??
I thought it was neat the first couple of minutes..then it just wouldn't ever stop lol
Still loved that club

I stopped going to Blackhearts because I finally figured out the greeter (who) was typing too fast and always said the same thing, was a bot. Each guest...HELLOOOOO so and so. Welcome to Blackhearts! in huge letters...

Shame, it was once a nice place.

Hate Bots

That club is the reason that I turned off sounds in my audio settings, some two or so years ago, and sounds have remained turned off ever since.

Me too LOL

Bots are usually too boring except Hal.

What exactly is a bot? I must confess, I only have an idea. Perhaps you folk could enlighten me.

I suspect that bots are alts, logged in, and made to appear as dancers, bartenders, hosts, etc.

Am I on the right track? I can certainly see why that would be regarded as spam.

ya they have to have an account to be in sl..the account is an alt of someones..
i guess there are ways to log some of them on without using viewers though so they don't waste a lot of sim resources..
but basically they are just alt accounts

Bots are typically run from a client that uses fewer resources. Their use predates SL with MMORPGs and they can be programmed to have many useful functions so there is nothing inherently bad about bots.

oh i wasn't saying that at all..i was just remembering how some are logged on from what someone had told me....
i was just answering the question the best i could showing they are alt accounts of someone rather than something you just go out and get and bring into the grid..they need an account basically to run in here..

The information sent to the viewer from the SL servers and from the viewer to the SL servers is structured in a certain precise way. The set of rules describing how the data is structured is called a protocol.

If you know the protocol, and have sufficient programming skills, you can write your own program to interact with the SL servers.

Writing your own code to interface with the SL servers directly, using just the protocol rules, would be very difficult owing to the complexity of the protocol.

To make it easier, one writes wrappers, program functions that allow you to supply relatively simple inputs to the functions, which then do the complex work of using the protocol rules to interface with the servers, and provide you with relatively simple outputs.

The set of wrappers, or helper functions used to make bots is called libopenmetaverse , or for short, libomv. It used to be known as libsecondlife, or libsl, but the name was changed owing, I think, both to the need to avoid use of the trademarked SecondLife name, and to the desire to indicate that the code could be used to interface with simulators and grids other than Second Life.

Armed with the code known as libomv, a person of relatively low programming skills can download a free compiler and take the source code for libomv and compile the code. The libomv source code includes code for basic "bots", programs that you can use to log in to SL servers and interact with the servers and thus with the grid and other users of SL. With a bit more programming skill, and some work, you can then modify and extend the sample bot code, or use the code library itself to make you own totally unique bot.

From the libomv wiki "TestClient is a libsecondlife application that demonstrates basic bot controls through a user-friendly command line interface. This project is included in the main solution file for libsecondlife."

There are a number of different such bot programs.

Here's a link for those who want to try their hand at making a very basic bot: http://lib.openmetaverse.org/wiki/Use_libSL_to_login_to_the_SL_grid.

I suppose a viewer could be considered a program created to allow a human to interface with the servers continuously, in realtime, while a bot is a program created to allow a human to interface with the servers asynchronously, while the realtime interaction is handled by the program.

A bot of this sort requires a regular account to operate. The bot software supplies a first and last name and password to log in. Bot software written using libomv would not have a graphical display like a viewer would. If properly written a bot can be logged in to the servers and consume much less server resources than a regular viewer. If badly written they can cause problems, just as a badly written viewer can cause problems.

Some bots make little use of the avatar that is viewable by other users, such as for example a group inviter bot, which might have the accounts avatar sit unmoving in a hiding place somewhere. There only function is to invite people into groups that are invitation only.

Other bots are made to trick people into thinking a place is filled with real human users. This can be just a matter of making green dots on the map, which can be done with simple bots that hide under the ground or up in the air, or it can be done in an even trickier manner, as has been described earlier in the thread, using "chatbot" software to generate text chat, and with care given to make the bot's avatar look normal, with a proper skin and clothing, and perhaps even a filled out profile made to trick people into thinking it's really an account used in a normal manner.

The Honda corporation had an bot running as part of their artificial intelligence efforts. There've been a number of chatbots around; I think one was named God, if memory serves.

The same libomv code library that is used to make bots can also be used to make non-graphical viewers, programs designed to let humans interact in realtime with the servers in a way different than the normal graphical viewers. An example of this is the chat client MetaBolt. This program lets you chat with people in Second Life but without the processing demands needed to draw the world on the screen.

Thanks for that, Suezanne. First time I have seen a good step-by-step explanation of bots. I feel a little less dumb now.

Why don't you answer your own question, OP? If you call a support line do you want a recorded message or someone who is interested in solving your problem?

Pep (is considering getting a forum bot which would automatically point out poor grammar and spelling, identify ESLers, highlight over-emotional rather than logical arguments, retaliate against lolcats etc . . . but what would *he* do then?)

I quite like the dancebots, you know, the people who are always there, in the same place, sometimes always in the same clothes, and never speaking except in green words.

They're put there for friendly purposes and they are sometimes the butt of peoples' humour in chat. In a sense they are different from the rest of us because they don't have a real life. Sure, someone created their account and avatar and logs them in, but that's where it stops. People put in their profile 'remember, there's a real person behind every avatar' - but in the case of bots there isn't really.

There is one place that puts a couple of dancebot women on a stage most of the time.
Sometimes I go and dance there while my inventory is sorted (the music is good) and people probably think I'm a bot too because I'm set to 'busy'.

Ditto!

And while we're on the subject of clubs and greeters, I really don't see the need for insipid women (non-bots) standing at the entrance of clubs and greeting people. If they have managerial rights and can eject, etc. if needed that's one thing, but I usually see other people around with "Manager" tags on that I assume are doing that duty.

The greetings almost follow a loop: "Good evening, Miss X, what a lovely dress," - "Hello, Mr. Z, enjoy your evening;" - "Good evening Miss Y, thank you for coming to (club). Ah, now I recall why I've largely quit going to clubs.

Never. ever bots. Unless your're doing things scripts just won't allow. Group-inviters are ok. AI research is ok. 'Models' are a waste of sim resources and any bots that actually try to interact are BAD, BAD, BAD.
Get rid of the bots. Really, other that using them for research they are a drag on resources at best. While I can think of non-traffic-gaming reasons why people want them I can't think of any reason I'd want to buy from the people who use bots.

I always liked being greeted while going into a ballroom type of club (the few times I went.) Considering most of the place is filled with silent wallflowers (male and female) and couples in IM, it was nice to have my existence given a nod. Even for someone to notice, or pretend to notice, what I was wearing. But that's just my experience. I always felt like they must have eject powers, too. Why wouldn't they?

As for a good use of bots, the only one I've seen is on Tooter Claxton's land. That one's pretty funny.

I don't use bots and won't. People come to my club for a chat and an ogle. While a bot can look really good, it can't carry on a good conversation. Besides, hiring bartenders opens up jobs for men, which are pretty hard for them to come by in SL as it is.