Should Bots be banned?

And how can scripts replace the bots I mentioned?

Well my first experience with a bot has been horrible; it was a dance/AO animation shop, and they use a bot despite the fact that both the CSR and the owner are in the sim O_o. The bot does absolutely nothing other than repeat the same "hi welcome how may I help you" or "please try *insert really obvious thing here* to solve your problem" lines over and over again. This does nothing more than to annoy customers, and for sure I'm never going back to that store to shop again. That left a negative impression of bots. >.>

By allowing a scripted prim to render as an avatar, using the hypothetical llAvatarSystem() call.

How would the "scripted avatar" change clothes or set other avatar properties that can't be changed by script?

Same way it's created in the first place, by adding to what scripts can do until they can do everything an agent can. That's the whole point. Let me repeat what I said: "Scripting needs to be extended and improved until there's no need for bots. A script should be able to do anything an agent can, and once that's true THEN they can be banned."

For example, you'd just call llAvatarSystem(new_asset_list), and it'd wear the extra items you added to the list. Or you'd call llWearItem(santa_suit_jacket); The details aren't important, the scheme as a whole is.

In most MUD/Muck/Mush/Moo systems a user object is just a regular object that happens to have the type "user". That's the goal here. Once it's achieved, there's no more need for bots.

I thought bots were already banned?

I don't mind in store models or in store greeters, though. Bots or avatars just standing randomly and not modeling the clothes or anything - that's creepy, though. That's a Twilight Zone episode meets Dr. Who Christmas Special.

This is reminding of my feature suggestion "llSetAvatarParams".
"llSetAvatarParams would take a list as input and allow changing avatar height, shape, skin, tattoos, animation, position, rotation, gender, and other such things."

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It did not meet with an enthusiastic response.

I endorse this product and/or service.

(But then I would, wouldn't I? )

Ex ... ter ... minate!
Exx ... terr ... minate!!
Exxx ... terrr ... minate!!!

http://www.radiotimes.com/shows/doctor-who/gallery/vote-dalek-greatest-cover/001/photo_lrg.jpg

Except applied to the prim itself.

I've always wanted to do this, it should mean no need to waste an avatar slot on a sim for an NPC and if the scripting system allows me to do everything an avatar can do I can write a script for a group inviter that means I don't have to worry about bot hosting fees, although to be fair they aren't generally excessive.

There are data collection bots which are not run for the personal profit of their owner. For instance land survey bots can and are used to create publicly available statistics of grid changes. Of course if LL themselves published these figures ,as they used to , then there wouldn't be a need for may of these bots, but in the meantime they do provide a valuable service (At least I hope they do )

If LL produced that, then it would do for my uses, as long as there is no significant seeable differences between it and an actual avatar.

No. When properly used they are a good commodity.

Bots will end up being useful as a way to partially circumvent script limits .

If you can't rez that 30 script dance orb anymore you can just have an alt show up dressed as a dance ball since parcel and avatar limits will be completely separate.

Memory hungry scripts (random example: extensive visitor and other tracking) can be offloaded to a bot (or several for redundancy) as well and leave plenty of breathing room on the parcel.

At times they provide an invaluable service, especially yours!

Scripts need to be extended so that you don't need this.

Like, a checkbox for memory available to a script that goes all the way down to 1k. A super-efficient scripting language like Forth, for people who need to do useful things in a kilobyte.

Don't use a bot, use the script as a proxy for a simpler protocol, to access more computing services off the grid.

Give LSL the functions needed to get rid of them, then there would no longer be a need.

* At least for a lot of the uses