Landbots 101

Long before the SL client was open sourced, it was reverse engineered by a group in Second Life. Although against the TOS (at the time), LL turned a blind eye to the reverse. Yet, a few bad apples choose to use the source code to exploit others. Up until now, one of the better known exploits by this group is CopyBot. This is not to suggest that all members of the group are nefarious, but in fact, they have done things to improve SL is many ways. It is not my intention to discredit the group as a whole.

The object of this lesson, is to educate residents about bots lurking in the shadows, who want nothing more than to take the lion's share of the profitability from the land business and eliminate any resident's possibility of finding land deals.

What is a bot?

At libsecondlife, you may download a modified version of the SL client. This client is not at all like the normally user friendly version of the current SL or FirstLook viewers. It requires .NET Framework installed on your computer and you will need a C# compiler (if you wish to make further modifications)

libsl is a stripped down version of the SL client and does not have many of the features of the normal viewers, but it has features suitable for bots.

What are these features?

Much of SL is dependant upon database queries. Logins, assets, land data to name a few. This is accomplished by using command prompts. Much like the days of DOS 6.22, certain functions can be accomplished in sequence using batch files, executeables and/or other utilities.

What are landbots doing, that others cannot?

Landbots use a variety of utilities and files from the command line, essentially bypassing the widget we commonly know as Search/Land Sales - Mainland. Bot controllers query the database much like the search widget does, with a few exceptions. Firstly, they create a utility which hammers the database in repetition (throttled to 5 seconds recently) until a plot of land appears below a preset value, normally price per square meter. Upon collection of data of the cheaply priced land, the bot is automatically directed to teleport to the sim and the purchase process is initiated. A wise bot controller will use "comparators" to cross reference the search data with the data aquired from the land parcel to verify the price and size of the parcel. This is to prevent the bot from buying a parcel which has had a recent price change, subdivision or data error. A bot cannot buy remotely from anywhere in SL, but must attend the sim, or nearby region. Some TP to the parcel, some TP to an arbitrary location in the middle of the sim.

Can bots reprice and change land parcel details?

Yes. One bot in particular does so. The others change some details, but usually attend the land eventually, to prepare it for resale.

Are bots legitimate under the TOS?

Yes, since the SL viewer was made open source, bots have been permitted.

What are the dangers of bots?

Bots can go awry and purchase otherwise overpriced or incorrectly interpreted data. New updates to SL often change functions, so sometimes bots require recompilation or modification to be brought back online.

The real danger lies with residents making errors while selling or contributing their land. No matter what changes LL makes to the land buying process, there will always be people who are uninformed about the dangers of lurking bots. On a daily basis, there are three common errors which victimize land owners. Firstly, errors in land transfer. People are often too quick to presume they are alone in a sim and set land to anyone for 1 dollar, expecting their friend to claim it and be done, meanwhile the bot swooped, reset price the land to higher price and another buyer comes along. The current buyer is unable to return the land without taking a loss and is often implicated as complicent with land bots. I've wittnessed huge disturbances and angry accusations on multiple occasions. Secondly, errors in setting price, ie misunderstanding the size of the lot or neglecting to include enough zeros in the price. Once set, upon re-examination of the land parcel details, the land will be lost to a bot. It takes mere seconds to lose your land.

Don't bother IMing a bot, in fact, they don't even have chat, nor do they care to, for numerous reasons, mainly to avoid dealing with your error or maximize the speed of the bot. One bot controller is rather diligent about following up on land purchases and is more than willing to return errors, another controller might return your land, but is often offline and has a hidden group, presumably to avoid appeals and retain the profits from your errors. Another bot will ignore your errors, reprice the land and sell it while you are standing there, happily taking your land and reselling it at an immense profit.

What can I do to prevent being swooped by a bot?

Lots of things.

1- NEVER, EVER sell your land to "anyone" for $1 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

2- If you must sell your land quickly, for whatever reason do not sell it for less than you could otherwise get, given the situation. Take a few seconds to look at the list and understand what the "base market value" is. Sell your land for the price per square meter relative to the lowest price of land available. Blindly selling your land for ridiculously low rates is no faster than selling your land at base rates. It's your land and you deserve the best value, based on current trends in the market.

3- Ask someone. There is a wealth of information available to you with regard to fair land prices. There are numerous land resellers who have been squeezed out of work by land bots and are more than willing to offer you instant cash for your land at fair market value. Alot of people in SL do not prefer to sell to bots or greedy individuals, but currently, ignorance of the presence of bots, is an exploit they are using to bilk you out of your land.

Why would someone operate a bot?

Money. No other reason.

Don't let random acts of benevolence muddy your perception of their intentions. It's all about excessive greed and little else. They are patently unfair, because the lower end of the land market is controlled by a few people. The use of bots thwarts the entry level abilities of new business and eliminates the "stepping stones" to other business development within SL. Many land barons (even the crooked ones) eventually move along to island ownership/rentals. Reputation used to mean something in SL, but since the land bots hit the scene, reputation has been kicked to the curb... favoring greed and demonstrates preferential treatment by Linden Lab. Under the current system, 99.9% of land sales go to a handful of bot controllers. The amount of resources used by each bot, are widely disproportionate to resources used by any other resident. It's patently unfair to allow bots to hammer our database to near failure, for the sole purpose of stuffing the pockets of certain individuals.

An executive officer of LL stated in a PM to me "The landbots are creating an unfair market, and we have some ideas how to deal with them. Banning them is only a short-term fix, and not terribly likely to succeed, so we're working on a solution we hope will make them a poor business choice." Unfortunately, they did quite the opposite. By throttling the search mode to 5 seconds, effectively eliminated the probability for an average resident to aquire cheaply priced land. Multiple bots twarted the throttle and since this was implimented and a few individuals have exclusive access and dominate the land market.

This is nothing less than blatant favortism to a certain group in SL. LL is obstructing equal access to anyone, re-directing huge sums of money to a few individuals, causing the unemployment of more than forty people.

To allow this to continue at the current level, is patently unfair and hence the lesson in landbots and land sales, because if they refuse to acknowledge and change a bad policy.

At the very least, I can do my best to inform residents of their rights. Perhaps over time, education and awareness will errode the greed and put the economy back on a level playfield.

Please, be careful and when you sell or transfer land.

Thanks so much for posting this, Weedy. We need a union

/me stands and claps.

For god's sake Weedy cut the c... out please.

I reviewed my post and didn't see any four letter words starting with "c" that are in bad grammar or context.


Perhaps you can elaborate?

On the one hand, you caution sellers not to sell their land for less than fair market value. On the other hand, you lament that average residents can't acquire cheaply priced land.

There's a bit of a contradiction here: you can't have one without the other.

Sellers who naively underprice their land won't really care if that land is grabbed by a bot or by a human: they lose out exactly the same, either way.

Buyers who can't buy underpriced land won't really care if it's because of a bot, a human land swooper, or because sellers finally wised up: they lose out exactly the same, either way.

You are appealing to two conflicting constituencies with diametrically opposite interests. Even if bots were abolished tomorrow, somebody's going to remain unhappy.

In fact, both sides will remain unhappy, because an army of manually clicking land swoopers will simply take over and do what the bots are currently doing. That was the situation before bots appeared on the scene.


SL land sales should imitate RL land sales: there's an asking price, but there's also a limited time period to entertain offers from all comers. Any land that is for sale to "anyone" (and not a specific person) should automatically go into a 24-hour auction.

One third right, one third wrong and one third offensive as usual.

Only thing I can be bothered to respond to is that I encourage you to IM the buyer even if you think it was a bot. For me all my bots forward their IMs on to me and I expect everyone else does something similar.

Nobody suggested they sell anything undervalue. Those who do or make errors, will have the land swooped by bots. If people wish to dump their land, it's their choice to make, my post only alludes to informed consent.



This is incorrect. I've met numerous people (more than the average) disappointed in learning they sold their land to a bot. In fact, some were downright angry, that they were unaware of the existance of them. Some however, don't care, but thats the minority of cases.




Philip mentioned in a PM to me a while ago, that land owners should be able to auction their land. Seems to me like a good idea, if only it could be implimented as opposed to being a platitude.

It wasn't long ago that LL started datapageing search results in game, as I recall they said they did it to reduce the load on the DBs, fewer search results at a time means less load. In the past LL have also turned searches off when SL has had stability/lag issues.

What affect, would you imagine, are bots having on the performance of SL by hammering the databases with repeated searches? Isn't bombarding the databases with requests little more than an attack, in practicality? I'm pretty sure easter european crime gangs do this to website to extort money, right?

Vale

Nothing but this attitude, which blankets everyone who isn't a bot as "stupid" is about as broadly offensive to the community as it gets.

You cannot for one second tell me, that instantly repricing land for sale at the time of purchase by an unattended bot is worthy of IM. It's usually too late. The land is resold.

I did mention in my post, that some bots will correct errors, but as usual, ignoring the facts is what I've come to expect.

Excellent point. I have agonized over this one for a while.

Bots feel it's their right to hammer the DB to the point of near failure, so much it had to be throttled. Quite a few of the old guard would either click like crazy or use macros/gamepads to hammer the database also.

Resource-wise, it's disproportionate. If everyone hammered the database like the bots do, SL would implode.

At first I considered advising everyone do it to make a point, but in retrospect, I understand it's an attempt at denial of service and should be discouraged, for any reason. The bots know that, but they still do it anyway, because "for any reason" does not click.

It's elitism. Very bad for SL.

If I want to sell my group land to my new alt to start a new group how should I do it, rather than put $1m Linden in my account and selling to myself at that price and risking the disapointment of a bot buying my 2000m parcel

When you're putting your land up for sale, it should ask you who you want to sell it to. You can either chose to offer the land to everyone, or you can give the name of an avi.

So, make sure you enter the name of your alt, that way your alt will be the only one who can buy it, regardless of how much you put it up for.

Vale

I for one think it's refreshing to see both sides offering their opinion on the matter. I am currently not dealing in land, nor do I ever want to, with all this grief and pain involved, but this information helps me and others not into this part of the "SL business" understand what is going on a little better, so thanks.

Sell it for 0, that way you MUST specify an avatar, otherwise the sale won't go through.

I read yesterday that selling to 'anyone' can be done by accident if set to 1$ which is the big invite for bots. However, selling for 0$ apparently prompts you for whom you want to sell, negating the problem.

These bot-runners are essentially parasites. They contribute nothing to SL, they only take from it. No-one would miss them if they all dropped dead tomorrow.

SL as a virtual "other world" ought to operate in ways analagous to the real world. Land sales are things that should be done in person in a leisurely fashion, just as one might buy land in RL. Having the whole land-buying procedure distorted by a handful of parasites who are only concerned with SL for how much money they can squeeze out of it, has a large negative impact on everyone else.

Quite agree Daisy but this 'money for nothing' attitude is very much ingrained in human nature; who doesn't like to make a 'quick buck'?

Here's a thought: Weedy pointed out that the landbots are hammering the database much in the same way as a DoS attack. Similarly the manual-clicking land-swoopers are doing exactly the same thing. So theoretically they could all be dealt with as DoS attacks and possibly even prosecuted as such. It may not seem like a fitting tool to hit the landbot operators and land-swoopers with, but if it works, it would be a boon to the rest of the residents in SL. Remember that Al Capone, for all his crimes, was only ever imprisoned for tax evasion.

Further throttles might be in order. The average resident searching for land only requires a few queries every now and then.

10 per hour, perhaps. Or pay-per-click after a set amount.

Then, any land deals would be "the luck of the draw" and landbots or mass clickers would be obsolete.

I would suggest doing the throttling based on IP address or CC. Additionally unverified accounts would only be able to see properties that have been on the market for at least 10 min (this way you wouldn't have people using an unverified account to do the searching and a verified to do purchasing.

I'm not sure how 'throttle' works, is it client or server side?

Vale

It would be server side.

Sounds a good idea - but if difficult, any other heavy throttling would be preferable to the current situation where the greed of a few people spoils the game for everyone else.

As for bilbo99's point about human nature - well, the ultimate form of "money for nothing" is theft, and that's really what we're looking at here. The case cited previously about the resident who wishes to sell his land to a friend for $1 and loses it to a bot - in this case the bot owner has stolen the land. It may be legal on a technicality, but morally and ethically it's theft pure and simple, and the bot owner is a despicable thief.

Currently, the throttle works by user account. One per second for 5 seconds, then the search is blocked for 1 minute. However, one query per 5 second interval can be done repeatedly.

This hindered those who manual click and run single bots, because one bot controller simply added more bots.

Why would a person run more than one bot at a time, for anything other than greed?