Is this true???????

There has been a lot of speculation and rumors lately concerning land-buying bots. I’ve been directly involved in several groups testing and investigating this situation to ascertain exactly what effect they are having and will have on Second Life. I’ve come here now to post some of what we’ve found out.

First, a bit of history:
Although Linden Lab’s decision to release SL source code has the potential to benefit the game in a lot of ways, it also has a dark side to it, opening the door to possible abuse by users.

Starting around January 21st of this year, many of us who deal in land started noticing that all so-called “bargain land” (land listed for sale below the average lowest price of the moment) was being almost instantly purchased by the specific group. A number of us started experimenting by listing parcels of land at bargain prices and observing the results. What we discovered is that usually within one second after the parcel was listed for sale, the parcel would be purchased by that group without anyone ever appearing on the parcel. A bot-controlled avi will detect the listing, tp to a remote part of the sim that the parcel is in, and buy the parcel … all faster than any human ever can since it isn’t hindered by human reflexes. These bots can purchase land faster even than someone standing next to the parcel at the time it is listed can purchase it. There is no way to compete with them. They are also is not content to snatch up only the lowest priced parcels, instead grabbing everything below whatever the average selling price of the moment happens to be, and likewise running bots 24 hours a day. The only time they stops is when the acquisition is so successful it outstrips the ability to sell the land and it runs out of land tier (of which he has a tremendous amount) or runs out of Lindens with which to buy land.

The result of all this is that this group has created a complete monopoly on land buying and has excluded every other player from a major game feature -- the ability to buy land. Sure there have always been "land swoopers" out there, but in the past it has always been possible for any player who was willing to put in even a little time looking at the land search results to get a land bargain. Now, for the first time in SL history, that is impossible. Now one player has the power to dictate the price of mainland. If he wants land to sell at L$18.0 per m2, he can set his bots to buy anything below that and all other players will be forced to buy at his price or go without land. One player or group can single-handedly manipulate the economy. There is a reason governments are so quick to break up monopolies in first life. Monopolies are the death of a free economy. Likewise the Second Life free economy is in danger due to monopoly's on the land trade.

The move by Linden Lab to open source and the resultant potential for the creation of things like bots holds a lot of promise for the enrichment of the Second Life community if used in ways that strengthen that community and the free economy that helps drive it. These bots are designed solely for the enrichment of the indivuals own bank account, and are a damage and danger to the community and economy.

Second Life lost a large number of new users who might have contributed wonders to the community due to the recent shortage of First Land. Owning land is an important part of the game for many. Think of how many more users, some long established in the community, it will lose if any sort of bargain land is impossible to find due to game exploits like land bots. I for one don't want to see Second Life become a world where bots and bot users rule the economy, and where the average player needs programming skills in order to participate in basic game features like buying land.

Currently, Linden Lab is dragging its heels about making a decision regarding whether or not to allow using bots to dominate land buying. In the meantime a lot of us are trying various tactics to combat this, spreading the word about this exploitation of the game.

If the fact that one person can completely take over a game feature like this bothers you, please voice your objections to the powers that be, urging them to put a stop to this sort of bot use would definitely be a help.

Thanks!

Utter Nonsense!

Understandable concern, But i think the post Violates the Forums terms of use by Naming the individuals involved, "Suggesting" a Boycott or "E-Mail Campaign" might also be a No-No.you Might want to Edit Content before the thread is Locked.

I'd like to see this thread stay open a while.

Angel.

Yes, it's true, Keera. You might want to take a visit over to Second Citizen where Elanthius Flagstaff posted on one of the threads dealing with this very topic.

I saw this exact post, word for word, on another SL-related forum (where it doesn't break tos for naming names).

{size=gigantinormous}{color=red}{blink}This thread will not end well.{/blink}{/color}{/size}

LL has already said they plan on introducing mechanisms to make it more difficult for bots to buy land, but in all fairness, it's highly unlikely you'd ever get the cheap land anyway. Myself and several other friends make a habit of clicking the search function often a couple times per second ourselves and if the bot didn't get it, you regular users would honestly have no chance of ever getting it before we do. That being said, you have to think reasonably here. Even the most sucessful player in SL does not have the financial assets to buy everything even remotely close to under 18L/sqm on a permanent basis -- on a single day you can expect hundreds of thousands of usd worth of land to be sold or offered for sale for under that price -- just count through the pages, you'll find this to be true.

Furthermore, with the way prices are crashing lately, I can assure you nobody will be using a bot for the time being -- it would be absurd granted prices have halved within the last 2 days already...

opps.. thanks for the heads up Angel, lol consider it editied!

I think people should Know, that's why i mentioned it.

A.