Second Life users can flag accounts as bots, to no effect
by Tateru Nino 
Oct 22nd 2009 at 5:00PM
Filed under: Economy, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds
Linden Lab have installed a new account setting for Second Life users, where an account can be marked as a 'scripted agent' (which you can call a 'bot' if you prefer). At present, it isn't actually known what effect the marker has, or to what use it is being put. At some future time, we are told, it may be used to exempt accounts from contributing to the Second Life parcel-traffic system.
Right now, though, it's sort of like being asked "Would all citizens who have firearms and do not use them to break the law, please leave your name at your local police-station." That is, there doesn't seem anything actually wrong with the idea, but you've got to wonder why it is being asked at this time.
"Failure to identify an account as a Bot could result in disciplinary action if the Bot is then found to be negatively impacting our service or otherwise causing problems," says the text, but actually an account identified as a bot is also subject to disciplinary action if "the Bot is then found to be negatively impacting our service or otherwise causing problems."
So, err, there doesn't actually seem to be any difference whether you do or don't at this stage. At some later stage, flagging an account as a bot "allows [Linden Lab] to improve the Second Life experience for all Residents (for example, by improving Search results)" which seems to have been explained by Jack Linden as exempting them from the traffic system which is used as one of several ranking keys for search results.
But that's some unspecified time away right now.
At present, though, we've heard a from quite a few of you who – for one reason or another – would like your non-bot accounts to be exempted from the traffic system, and you all seem to feel that this will improve the Second Life experience for yourselves and/or others.
The most common reason given is that teachers and site staff would like their own time on parcels not to get tangled up with actual traffic figures from visitors, students and guests, so that their own traffic metrics are more useful to them.
Some feel like they don't wish their presence or visit to a site to represent any kind of tacit endorsement that factors into apparent popularity.
A couple were just gleefully misanthropic about the notion of not contributing to parcel traffic metrics.
Issues of traffic aside, many have been extremely curious about the timing of this feature, and what ultimately happens to the data.
With no coupling to any system that benefits the users at this time, a lot of users are wondering why the flagging option has been given to users now, and what (if anything) Linden Lab is doing with the information that it obtains from it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Prokofy said on 7:05AM 10-23-2009
Tateru,
You're such an extremist!
Of course it has an effect. Those who register and label their bots, say, their model bots for their stores, and thereby take them out of the traffic count, which is the plan, have totally increased their estimation in the eyes of customers, and prospective shoppers. It increases consumer confidence in the traffic metric, which is a good thing when merited. So it's all good.
I guess you've never studied how crime control programs or post-conflict programs work. Amazingly, people *do* bring in their arms, especially if there's an incentive -- in conflict zones, even of the worst sort, when they have a disarmament and demobilization effort, people comply, not everybody, but enough to start to restore civilization. Same in big cities, where you can turn in guns and avoid prosecution then.
Here, it's an instant reputation boost as everyone hates bots that defraud traffic.
You make it sound as if the execution of the removal of traffic is some pie-in-the-sky never-do thing. But it is in the plan and I think it will be done fairly quickly. I think the Lindens want to see if all those fakers on the Concierge list who claim their models were vital for showing garments and didn't intend to boost traffic are really telling the truth. Then they'll act.
Why all the faux mystery about the timing, Tateru?! The timing *goes with* the call to register the third-party viewers, as the phenomena is *all of a piece*. it would be silly to crack down on third-party copying viewers and leave copybots of the old sort still a free rein.
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Ari Blackthorne said on 10:53AM 10-23-2009
I've been following the Linden lab Blog thread - and I had asked "what if..." I set my 'normal' account to this "scripted agent status".
I haven't seen a reply from any Surname Linden as of yet. But I have seen some interesting replies from other users, such as: "someone sending all their bots to a competitor's place to 'clog the system' and cause lag, all while not boosting their traffic." (paraphrased of course.)
So there's one way this system could be abused. Of course, based on the whole statement you mention above regarding "Second Life Resources" an Abuse Report could be filed. But if all those bot accounts are created by some anonymous user on a Basic Account, and whom has not submitted their real email address (or any other legitimate information) in the creation of the account... it becomes moot.
There is no one to discipline, save suspending or banning that (and all the other) bot account. This creates huge work for Linden lab, so those AR will likely go inactive and stall.
The issue comes down to traffic, period. Traffic is a good metric, true. But there are many, many "traffic counters" anyone can buy in-world. I use a "greeter" object that counts my traffic and I certainly don't rely on the system "traffic" data.
I personally wish "traffic" as counted by Linden lab would just die. A better "traffic" number would be "current count of agents on parcel" - but then we are talking a lot of resources and network traffic slogging the system, slowing things down.
It's a lose-lose situation the way I see it.
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Patrick James said on 6:12PM 10-26-2009
Thank you for the article however while the metaphor about firearms no doubt works well in the United States it really doesn't in the UK where I live. Quite what the situation is in the rest of the world, I can't be sure, but I suspect that the vast majority of countries place great restrictions on the ownership of firearms.
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Tateru Nino said on 7:47PM 10-26-2009
Extensive gun control is the norm where I am also. It's hard to come up with a universal metaphor.
Gwyneth Llewelyn said on 12:25PM 10-30-2009
I don't know why Prok's entry is faded out and so hard to read, but he has a point — shop owners might be able to claim some respectability back by pointing out that their mannequin bots are really bots. At least, as soon as the bot status shows up on the profiles, too — something that LL apparently has not excluded, but hasn't implemented yet, and given no timeline to include.
Oh, btw, apparently the Third Party Viewer registry is to be used for bot applications as well.
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Tateru Nino said on 6:54PM 10-30-2009
It's a comment-voting system. After careful consideration, it was decided that people should be allowed to have a "no" vote as well as a "yes" vote. We've been told how important it is to have the ability for people to vote no as well as yes. It takes a lot of no-votes to start the text fading out, but it can still be easily read by highlighting the text.
My own point is that none of this is available now, so there's apparently nothing to gain by flagging an account, until those other features are finished. There's no bonus to respectability, it doesn't affect traffic or search, etc. So, why hustle the flagging out the door, before any of the rest of it is ready for testing?
Gwyneth Llewelyn said on 8:51PM 10-30-2009
Yes, good point. It sounds like a rather pointless measure, doesn't it?
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