Why and for What anti-bots/Alts Camping and Security devices???

Most will give up on camping for lindens and eventually break down and find better paying methods in world or buy the lindens.

Travis,

There are large networks out there devoted to tracking money trees, their locations, restrictions, payout histories, etc, for the sole purpose of gaming them. It wouldn't be surprising if the majority of that 80% are doing just that. Perhaps there are methods you could devise to compel folks to engage in something relating to the shelter prior to extracting the Lindens.. something short of restricting it to the group.

The general question, why restrict bots from camping.. this doesn't seem to me to have a universal answer.

Successful businesses will often employ a few camping devices in order to supplement their traffic. Something I am hard pressed to find anything wrong with. These folks would more generally prefer that the positions be manned by actual residents, because an expected benefit of that effort is exposure to the business and venue, and leaving an impression with the camper which might yield a future return. And in a way, it's a small contribution to the newb community, such that for a while at least, they can move a mop around the sales floor, or serenade patrons with a guitar or violin, making a few bucks while they sort out their place in SL. It helps the camping newb out with some extra L$, it helps the business owner, and it adds some ambiance for the patrons.

Others employ camping for entirely different reasons. If all they're really after is traffic, bots serve the need just as handily, if even not better (bots are not easily tired or bored), than human-controlled avatars. This is the sort of camping arrangement that generally will ruin a region's usability for others. It is important to note however that the problem is not the fact that there are *bots* manning the camping positions, but rather the number of positions being manned within a given parcel or region.

In no case do I necessarily agree that those who employ camping positions would prefer those who would spend money at their locale.

In the case of bots, that would more likely be a farming operation, probably on a fairly large scale, and it's safe to say that the ultimate beneficiary of those funds are not going to so much trouble just to patronize the locations wherein they park the campbots. That money is being collected on a large scale, and converted to RL currency.

In the case of human-controlled agents, I doubt there is much expectation on the part of the venue owner that these folks are going to get up from their camping chairs, and put the money right back into goods and services available at the venue. For these business owners, it's an opportunity to bring newbs in, give them "something to do" in exchange for a few Lindens, and hope that in the future when they do have money to spend, they will have kept that landmark, and return as a consumer.

Tim

I've seen the same kind of thing with my money trees, and the percentage could easily be a lot higher than 80%. But occasionally, I'll be near the trees and someone will thank me. That seriously makes my day. When I was starting out, I used the money trees as a way to get some game money, and also as a way to explore the world. That's why I keep them around. I know that some portion of the pickers are starting out the same way that I did. As for the tree farmers, if they live somewhere where that tiny amount of money is worth that much effort, then more power to them.

I think the money tree groups are actually providing a valuable service to the true players looking for trees, especially now that the Master Moneytree Directory has shut down. It was sad to go back and see such a newbie friendly place had shut down.

Money trees add approximately squat to the traffic count. The farmers tp away quickly, as do most of the real players. The ones that stick around are doing so because they are exploring the other things at the location. In that case, the money trees are more of an advertising device than a traffic device.