The increasing presence of disruptive bots in Second Life, like those associated with Brenden and MadisonCybernetics, poses significant challenges to privacy and the overall experience of genuine players, prompting a call for action from Linden Labs to restore order and protect resident interests.
Skot Kinsella
In recent years, the increasing presence of individuals like Brenden (insert last name here) and MadisonCybernetics (insert last name here), among others, in various sims has raised significant concerns. They often trigger security systems, invade privacy, and disrupt the experience for genuine player-driven avatars. This behavior has become a frustrating aspect of Second Life that many residents would like to see eliminated.
As an early adopter of technology who works in the tech field and enjoys it, I recognize that this issue is escalating and seriously affecting the residents of the grid. It seems that the floodgates have opened, allowing bots to take over in a way we have not seen before. These bots invade residents' privacy and create chaos wherever they appear, regardless of how briefly they stay.
I urge Linden Labs to consider that their residents drive sales, generate content, and promote Second Life adoption through word-of-mouth to new members. It is crucial to find a way to manage the chaos caused by these bots and restore some sense of control over the systems being implemented in Second Life.
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Ginger Pudding
Perhaps a tighter rule, limitations script wise & categories for bots might be beneficial. Greeter bots where they stay on the designated land & only chat locally. NPC, similar, land based only etc. Ai companion's & so forth. While heavy limitations are placed on these spy bots per se. Are these Brenden's, etc necessary in world? Especially a more proactive stamp on the bots that beg for money & post fraudulent links. Those should have no place in SL Given many fall for these links & ends up out of pocket real world & locked out of their account with, given some longevity in SL, forgotten security / original sign ups etc. Where residents are at risk of fraud & harassment there should be a stronger sense of duty by SL to protect the residents. Having reported many bot over the years for infringements, telling a harassed land owner to file a report on a 300 mass invasion by Madison cybernetics(name) is not a valid solution.
Peter Stindberg
I am researching bots in SL for about 4 years now. My observation is that rogue bots (those who are confirmed bots, but have the scripted-agent flag not set), have a very short lifespan, sometimes only a day, before they get deleted/retired by the Lab or their operators.
After about a year since the scripted-agent status was introduced, my observation was that all "known" bots had the flag properly set. The rogue bots - therefore one has to assume - are rogue on purpose. Their operators WANT them to violate the policy, and know only a high churn rate - create them fast, let them run for a day or two - then retire them, is how they can achieve that.
There is nothing we residents can do, and little the Lab can actually do. They could make signups harder (and we all don't want that), they can enter an arm's race (and we see with spammers/antispammers how well that works), or they can state an example and litigate one bot operator into oblivion as a deterrent to others.