Land Auction Abuse

When I spoke to a Linden Labs Representative on the phone (before I got hung up on 3 times) I asked the representative to define 'exploit' ...

She stated that I used a fault in the system to give me an advantage against other players...

This acusation is flatly denied.

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Sometimes, when a mistake is made, it's easy to get lost in the correct actions of other people, based on that mistake.

Actively going to the MAP and looking for land to bid on was not a mistake.

Going to that land, listed as up for auction, and getting the auction number (in About Land) was not a mistake.

Looking that specific auction number up on the website, was not a mistake.

Bidding on that Linden Land auction was not a mistake.

Selling that land was not a mistake.

Using that land for our home was not a mistake.

Other people found those auctions and bid against us which was not a mistake.

People bought that land at a lower price which was not a mistake.

The Linden economy will get stronger, which is not a mistake,

More people will pay land tier, which is not a mistake.

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If I was asked how I got the land listed for $1... I told them ... I explained how you research the lands by going to them and finding the auction number... I showed them other auctions that I had no interest in... all information that Linden Labs had made publicly available since before I started playing the game...

How does Anshe Chung get her lands? I don't know... I would guess that if she had actually visited the lands, she would have seen the same things... OnArt Land Holdings? ... I'm sure the same way... etc.

are thier lands taken away?

are thier accounts closed?

Your Auctions Pages say that bidding is a binding contract... Does That work both ways? ... do I have to ask a Judge?

In the user agreement ... Section 7.1 you say that you can cancel any account, for any reason, without warning, at your own discretion.

I'm not trying to get something for nothing... I'm not trying to rip The Lindens off... Hey, I consider lots of different Linden's, Friends.... I educated my fellow gamers to the way, I thought, the auctions worked... it sure looked like that was Linden's intent... to make auctions easy to find so that sales would go up... The FAQ states that auctions that are not bid, are released into the public... ok... I bid... I won... what's the problem?

The auctions worked just fine... you SHOULD be able to type in an auction number and find an auction... you SHOULD be able to see 'No Minimum Bid.' auctions... you SHOULD keep the prices of the land barrons in check by not letting them bid on land that they did not properly claim when thier bids were over the last time... You SHOULD give back the ability of the little players to buy land, without forcing them to line the pockets of the Anshe Chungs of the game... and the users SHOULD have to work for it... go to the new lands... find the numbers in About Land... and then go to the web site... how is that wrong? ... what was the ERROR that was 'ABUSED' ?

There Never was an Exploit... in the Auctions at least...

I'm just asking... who made, what mistake?... The only mistakes I see... were made by the Abuse team, after the auctions were over... reacting, without investigating... kneejerk responce to questions... not even complaints... as to why something wasn't displayed in a users lap...

That's not what SecondLife is about, not to be spoonfed... not to sit in camp chairs and get something for nothing... if anything... the complainers are using a Social Engeneering Exploit ... if they question something that does not immidiately benifit them, they can stop it and get an advantage over people who actually put forth an effort and try. Close those accounts...

Mezentius Speculaas

I totally agree with the posting of Mezentius Speculass.... Is not whats good for one bidder good for another...will all lose the land or just a chosen few that cannot afford to fight back??

I do not see the problem with this other than a LINDEN mistake was made and people with a lot of time and money in the game are affected by this..


Because someone at Linden Lab didnt put the minumin bid on land...the people that bid on them suffer..has the company forgotten the people that made them rich.....or is it a scam to obtain the land to sell again as all accounts of the ppl involved have been frozen..I am only one person and w/o these people in the game it is meaningless to me...


It is not fair to the people that bid on these auctions...the minimum bid would have been honored if it was posted... Mistakes happen... and tomorrow or the next day people will not even remember what the mistake was...but they will remember the reaction Linden Lab had to it and playing God only works if you are God...

Thanks

Summer Montale

I agree with what has been said about this suposed abuse. Because Linden Lab neglected to put a minimum bid on certain lands that were up for auction, the people who bid on and won the land is now suffering. In my opinion, Linden Lab should admit their mistake, give these people their accounts back, and move on.....and make some attempt at not making this mistake again. Seems to me that they don't want to admit they themselves made a mistake. These people won this land fairly. Let's move on and allow these people play the game.

can you say scam! this is not right! people if you bid on a auction and win weather it had a min bid or not Linden Lab would hold you to that bid. it is not the fault of the players that bid. they were just playing the game. i point the finger right where it needs to be at the one that broke there own contract thats right people it was Linden Lab.
this is nothing short of fraud on Linden Lab's part.what of the land that was bought and sold well LL's answer take the land . ya! thats fare to the guy that paid for it!
and how fare is it for LL to sell the land they stoled from that guy hmm

this is what should happen LL should give the bidders there acounts back!
admit they mesed up and make sure if they want a min. bid on the land they put it on there. get this right people this is what happened all it was is LL did not put a min bid on the land and they want to call this a glitch in the game wrong!!!

the bigest glitch is the fact that ll jumped the gun and cancled alot of good players
for there own greed fact is they will resell the land again and are still holding the money and accounts of the last bidders hostage!

Excuse me, but I find the actions taken by LL a ridiculous overreaction. Many people purchased lands from auction at 1$ only to return to find their accounts canceled. LL sees this as an exploit. I dont see how that even applies. In a game like SL which attempts to foster a laissez-fair capitalist system, you should expect people to attempt to find the best deals available. If you allow, via any mistake, for us to find a better deal than normally available, do you really expect us not to take it?

You listed the price, it was available to anyone who had the gumption to go around and look personally at the land. Those people who did have the work ethic to actually personally inspect the land and find the deals have now lost their accounts and hundreds of thousands of man hours in this game. Because of your mistake. You implemented a system that encourages low-price hunting, and then punished those who found good deals.

It is also ridiculous that the purchasing agreement we have to completly abide by doesnt work both ways. If we place a bid on a land and we want to revoke it because its too high, you laugh at us and hold us to our bid. However, if you list a price so low and we bid on it, it suddenly becomes our fault, and we get banned. Am I the only one who sees the rampant hypocrisy in the system?

LL, do the right thing and reinstate and refund their accounts, if you must take the land back and re-list the lands at the appropriate price, but dont punish the innocents who did what the game is made for them to do - make money.

This has been been a concern for me when I read it. Since it could be used so arbitrarily.


I'm not sure about the specfics of your cases, and I'm not sure if you did anything that would or would not warrant your accounts being canceled if thats what happened.

However Section 7.1 does make me wonder, why should I invest my time and money in SL? Since an action that might be fully in accordance with the user agreement could really upset LL and I end up having my account canceled, and lose property fees, L$, USD$, etc.

Geez willow, how many alts do you have to defend you?

What you did was take advantage of a bug, exploited a bug in better words... These sims were not set for auction, you found a way to start an auction on sims that were not yet listed on the besite, you knew exactly what you were doing, you also know the value of a $L and the value of an entire sim, you took advantage it... Greed is a horrible thing... so is bad karma...

LOL! I was just thinking that!

no glitch it was LL fault for not putting a min bid do you buy a coke for 100.00 or 2 for 50.oo

Haha, yeah, that's a lot of alts with their first post.

Additionally, you're all full of crap. There's no way you can pretend that you didn't know getting a sim for $1 USD wasn't way out of bounds. You're just making yourself look like a fool trying to defend your actions. You'd have been better off with a public apology than this lamefest. Next time, I recommend you switch on your brain before doing something obviously illegal and then, you know, don't do it.

Drugs are bad, mmkay.

was there a min bid no was it linden lab job to make it a min bid yes

Yeah right. The sims weren't ready for auction, that was the whole point. I'm fairly certain you didn't find them listed at http://secondlife.com/auctions. You bypassed it and started the auctions prematurely. LL would have put a min bid on WHEN THEY WERE READY TO AUCTION IT.

Who do you think you're fooling?

who is the fool they were on auction be fore and chung won but didnt pay up

Oh well, just let him keep lying to himself.

If it wasn't ready for auction, it shouldn't have been shaded purple for people to find by looking at the map!!!!!

If the Lazarus sale is tomorrow, why did they put the signs out today letting us know what was going to be on sale!?!?

I just hope they bill you the minimum bid of $1000 for each one, I also hope that you have the money to pay for it...

Yeah, I concur. Out of curiosity, Mez, how many sims did you steal this way?

How do you start an auction prematurely, if you dont mind me asking? So when I use the map function to find Land for Sale, and go to it, would I be breaking a rule? Because it was listed there under the map function as 'Land for Sale'. If it wasnt intended to be sold, why exactly was it listed there? That would be another error on Linden Labs part, not the users.

Knox you know exactly how you did it, all you are doing is reveiling all your alts, and I am sure they will banned right along with your main...

http://secondlife.com/auctions/
But you used to be able to edit the URL with the auction ID, but they have fixed this. People have had enough common sense to know not to do that though. So let's see, you're Thunder's alt, so where's Mez's alt? Oh wait, they're the first 7 or so posts.

I hope they do.

That is some funny shit. How many alts you got buried away there, to come up with the same crap defence?

You truly are ridiculous. You are saying that Mez found a way to break the system, to hack the core functions of the game to purchase the land? Please, go try, because no one has been able to do it. Have you noticed, the accounts didnt get banned for using a malicious script? That would be the only way to 'break' the system.