Prevent automated land buying!

Speaking of abandoned land and auctions, what's with that funky shaped auction land on Gorbash?

This puzzles me. Last week, I saw a couple 16 sq.m. lots owned by Gov. Linden that had auction numbers assigned to them but they never showed up on the auction page. If I could remember where they were, I'd check back to see what happened to them.

There's a 512 Linden-owned abandoned lot that cuts through some land I own - it's on a sim edge and I own two out of three adjoining lots in the same sim. I sent an email asking if I could buy it and got no response. I assumed it would go up for first land because it was 512 - but now? Who knows. I'd be happy at this point if they'd just clear all the junk on it people have stacked up like I asked them to a week ago.

Does everything under 512 now include 512 since first land has done away with? I'm assuming that if any has gone up for sale, you would have been the one to get it.

(Sigh) Linden Labs will probably sell you that 512 sitting right in my land for $512 instead of selling it to me.

Yes. They put up two 512s last night for L$1/m2 and the bots got both.


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Vote for Proposal 2783. Stop automated land buying!
http://secondlife.com/vote/vote.php?get_id=2783

512 and a 496 to be more precise and they were in such a crappy area they would never have been first land anyway.

Still, people who own land in those sims could have used them for the extra prims. It kinda ticks me off that I've seen in a couple places now that LL says they offer the abandoned small plots to the adjacent landowners, and that's not happening. If something's sitting in the middle of my land, I thought I had first dibs on it if I asked for it. Guess I'll have to buy it from Elanthius after they sell it to him.

You're right, my mistake. A 512 and a 496. But they were almost flat grassland in a fine area. The 512 would have been first land.

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Vote for Proposal 2783. Stop automated land buying!
http://secondlife.com/vote/vote.php?get_id=2783

Congratulations! it looks like the Lindens have acknowledged this and are working on something. http://secondlife.com/vote/vote.php?get_id=2783

Hilarious. The proposed solution is very intriguing and will have the awesome affect of stopping everyone from getting any super cheap land ever again. Good for sellers, good for new players, good for 99% of SL. But catastrophic for Reverend Herzog and all his little land flipping buddies. Hahaha. I'm not sure what long term affect such a scheme will have. Maybe it will push prices up because everyone will be paying the most they can afford for it. Other than that it's all goingto be very amusing.

Actually it is bad since it doesn't differentiate the good plots from the crap. Atleast that was my understanding. It will become like the Lindex.

It'll become a new system of trading that only an elite few can get in on. Like land trading and currency trading. The margins will be tighter for land traders than they are now and the risk will be higher. But some people will still have the balls to try it out. Of course, I believe LandBot has 0 affect on 99% of the population so I certainly don't think this will hurt them either.

Something like this would be catastrophic for you more than Rev. He never had the prospect of his own monopoly ahead of him, only to have the brakes put on by LL. While this might not suit some realtors, this is at least fair, and to me fairness is the key to fixing the situation to my satisfaction. The bots are not fair. Even if money is made here, this is a game, just as professional sports are games, and we don't knowingly let professional athletes use steroids or let gamblers fix matches. Money is involved there too, but like here, fairplay is essential.

However, this needs to be done right. I'm thinking the bidding wouldn't be on just any type of land. That system would crumble fast. No one would take the chance of paying top dollar for lots barely usable for skyboxes. However, if the newer system worked on an auction like set up, where the potential buyers were permitted to see the land first, before they bid, that would work. Land could be an investment. You buy at market now, if you think the market for that type of land is gonna climb. Then sell it a month later or whenever. If you're right you still make money. It also encourages tiering up, which is great for Linden Labs. Maybe they will hire more staff members to keep the grid up and running for a change.

You could say that except unlike you and Rev I've been ready for LL to go bankrupt/get bought out/open source server code/implement CAPTCHA/build a better bot since day one.

So nothing could be catastrophic for me since I already expect all Lindens and land to be worth 0 tomorrow.

*Edit: BTW what you're talking about is 100% different from what the ticket is talking about. They literally are saying there will be standing orders in the market for /any/ piece of land at, say, 11.5/sqm.

So I guess it becomes luck of the draw then. I can't blame them for doing this. The land market has gotten beyond insane. Just hope this doesn't kill it or just send people running for their own private islands.

Has anyone considered the economics of this?

Everybody is basically complaining about the immorality of this and it's possible load on db servers. In this respect I agree because "at this moment" Elanthius is in a monopoly position as regards having a fully functioning bot that can operate at speeds quicker than a manual player. I myself have applied my full vote quota but only so that LL have this issue flagged up to them. I want it flagged up to them because of where this development will go based on market principles.

To start with as I have said Elanthius "at this moment" has some market primacy because of the edge he has developed. In the near future others will either make Elanthius an offer he can't refuse for his software (not a sleeping with the fishes one I hope) or they will simplly build a faster and better bot. Furthermore, there will also be others who will see the opportunity of a quick buck who will release a copy for sale at a peanuts price hoping for mass sales.

That given; in the medium term we will see these bots widely available to anyone for free or so cheap it might as well be free.

So what happens then? Well there will be tens of thousands of them skipping all over the metaverse land and making db enquiries. This is what LL should be concerned about because when that happens they had better be ready to cope or they will have serious problems and that is why I want LL to have a heads up on this development through the proposal.

As regards the land economy things will soon return to normal. Let's say for the sake of argument market rate is L$15 sqm. A thousand people and myself will set our bots to search for land at L$14 and after a day of searching our bots return nil results or maybe catch a couple sale typo mistakes and some badly priced land. What do we do? Well the next day I'm sure we would send them out at L$14.5 sqm and so on and so on. If there is high demand for land then at some point we are going to have set our search range above L$15 and thus set a new market rate and of course vice versa for a slump in demand. In fact as I write this it becomes readily apparent that we will all be sending many bots out, some to buy at below market and others sent out set only to collect data on the above market land.

Therefore, in effect the land economy will remain the same in operation and principle, but it will just be a lot more faster, a lot more responsive/sensitive and a lot more informed. The only advantage a human buyer will have is the appreciation of a view and the setting of the land and so the market edge will return to skilled human players; that is untill the bots start taking 360 degree snapshots! Therefore I propose that the biggest threat and what should be the biggest concern at this moment is the future db load these bots will create.

Elanthius is just in the "financially fortunate" position in being the first to think and develop this product and also in the "morally unfortunate" position in being the first to think and develop this product in front of his peers.

Regards - Enigma Cassavetes

Agreed.

Agreed.


Agreed.


Agreed.


Agreed.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-19

Criminy, what is this about? What if I want land in a specific area and not just any old land that just happens to be selling at a certain price?

THIS is the solution they offer? I'd rather have the land bots running loose.

Back to RL work for me.

I initially misunderstood this as being THE solution they were proposing. But now it looks more like it's just some random user's idea.

You're an idiot.

Yes it does, you got a halo...blah blah, f***in blah

I never did like you. I remember when you bought the plot next ta my old Club; Jester's Fun House and made a huge flexi flag that would fly INTO MY BUILDING every few seconds (see bottom of post for image)... on the one hand you responded & removed the flag when I complained, on the other hand, you laughing so much about it struck me as a little "unprofessional", since I didn't overreact about it or whatever. After that you added about 30 (more) lil L$1 boxes of freebies, but I turned that ta my advantage & increased traffic to the store & the club!

Now at that point I had never heard of ya til then so when your av kept hoverin next to the flag staff (sic) for 15 minutes, like you were waiting for me to leave, I stayed and watched ya. I thought you were some idiot playin pranks & risking his business by using objects for harrassment while tryna make money. It was late, I had nothin better to do.

Having dealt with you in person, read through your profile, and seen your OLD technique and speed...I can see why you're so smug about this NEW technique. On the other hand, tellin folks without bots to just "get faster" without a bot is bulls**t.

Yeah, business is business...Real Estate is where the money is...and I see others still buyin up plots at lightning speed so dont let this discourage ya folks.

Below is the image from last year right after my 1st time meeting anybody affiliated w/ Ninja Bank (Elanthius Flagstaff). The flexi flag swung all over the place, including WAY into our top floor. Granted this wasnt the biggest of Clubs (it got 6 lots bigger before I got bored & shut it down months later, despite SL death threats from regulars), but even a SMALL business should get a chance
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/calvinchaos/secondlife/NeighborsForSaleSigns_001.jpg

This is really starting to stink of corruption.

Throttling the searches only play into Elanthius' hand. He uses multiple bots, despite a limit on avatars and now has exclusive access.

Some people at LL, really need to get fired.

mm I sense owls on the moors.