Bot rentals? WTF?

My very special friend has her home in a sim that's mostly quiet and empty. There are always a small handful AV's in a corner that never seem to move, so without actually checking I assumed they were bots or campers.

Well, last night, my radar went a little crazy reporting new AV's, and when I checked the map, it turned out there were 30 people in the sim. So I got a little curious, and after we said good night and she left, I did a little exploring.

In a corner of the map, at rougly 3km I found a house with about 2 dozen people in various costumes just standing around. Seemed pretty bot-like to me. But my radar reported another half dozen on the ground, so I jumped down there to check.

What I found was a very obvious bot rental shop, describing special services such as dancer bots and couple bots. Customization services. "Consumer info" such as a break down of traffic points for bots vs campers. A short article on the situation of bots being used for traffic increase gaming on the grid. Strategies, and even an article about LL's changing attitude toward bots.

OK, half of you are probably wondering where I've been, and I'll admit, I don't leave my granite beach much, but, wasn't there a blog post a couple months ago about how the Lindens were going to shut down traffic gaming bots and campers?

Did you dance with them?

So... I have to ask... did you dance with them?

Traffic gaming being the issue, LL love bots themselves.

there's a huge diff between a skybox with 70 ruth clouds to get your crap furniture shop in the top ten in search, and 2 or 3 bots to model clothes in your shop.

67 or 68

So, no one seems to mind this. Tho, I'll admit I'm a little surprised at the flippant answers to a joke so obvious I really didn't think anyone would bother. Tho, with the hive mentality I've seen in these forums all too often, I guess I shouldn't be.

Yes--Traffic gaming being the issue here. AND I suppose the Lindens oh so consistent follow through and enforcement.

And I'm not down on bots. I've seen the bot in your shop Brianna and (It was months ago, and I'll admit I don't even know if it's still there.) and THAT seemed like a proper way to employ a bot. I'm not against bots. But I don't like gaming the system.

I'll just keep my opinions to myself from now on.

A guy was here last week asking how long a parcel is taken out of search when you ave been sacntioned for traffic gaming, so enforcement is taking place, whether that enforcement is consistent is another issue.

At last week's office hour with Jack Linden he said they are pretty much at the point whereby people will be able to flag their bots so they don't get counted in traffic.

You're reading this wrong, and your insults are a bit offputting.

I'd like to hear some more about "the hive mentality". I don't really understand that comment at all.

Actually, IMO, he did take a few responses differently than I did, but I agree with him sometimes on the 'hive mentality' comment.


Overall, we are a decent group, but we have a few in the forums that just sort of "go along with the crowd - never really speak their own mind, especially if they have a different opinion that the majority might not agree with'.

Yes I understand the phrase... my confusion was about how it applied to this thread.

Let the bots live a happy life together. They probably just want to farm prims and raise 2 1/2 children.

WHO ARE YOU TO DEPRIVE THEM OF THEIR HAPPINESS?

i nominate myself as the queen bee of said hive...

Im the damn princess.

OK. I apologize for that. But the constant sarcasm is a bit off putting.

Looks like there's another business model shot to hell.

Just out of curiosity. How do you know these people are going along with the group and have a different opinion then what they are saying? And why would anyone do that? Hell I'll argue with anyone on these forums if I think I am right.

Me too!

Pep (It's OK, I am just pretending to be 3Ring. )

Jackass.

If I could get a bot that didn't count in the search, I'd use one as a model to allow people to see my works up close. I just don't like using even one to skew my traffic. I don't like it so much that I put my workshop as a separate parcel so that I wouldn't have my work time counted as traffic for the shop.

Yes, bots have great uses. I've seen them used in a wide variety of ways, including modeling shapes and skins. I could see them being used in animation shops to display the latest releases.

Because there are a small number whose opinion seems to change quite a bit depending on which direction a thread is taking and a few that just *always* agree with whatever is said -- though I suppose that second group might just not be able to think for themselves, so they don't really have a different opinion that what they expressed.


On forums, it is anybody's guess why anyone does anything

I would love this - there have been a few times where I was looking at animations and had nobody there to try them with.

Wow.