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Bots and Bot Rights

Mar 17, 1999, 2:38am
So I like my bot. It follows me everywhere. 'Cept it can't. Not Welcome.
After seeing XelaG's companion bots I fell in love with the idea and have
been trying to perfect my "Botany" series.

Well why aren't bots welcome? Mayhaps because there are no restrictions on
their activities.

So lets help Roland out and spec out what is needed so he does not have to
waste his time on
figuring out what *exactly* is needed. Then he could peruse the spec and
add some code in during his lunch break.

A few yes/no flags would be easy to implement with little or no changes to
the world servers. Building quota's
are much harder and may I suggest they be delayed til round two.

My *initial* suggestion to get the ball rolling...

Two classes of bots

Caretaker bots. They can do anything. This is kind of how the current
restrictions work
If is on the "approved" list, then its in. No limits.


Other bots. These are the ones that need monitoring.

So for the Other BOT classification as series of radio buttons (or
something) that allow...

Bots can *always* whisper to their owners - this way they don't bother
anyone else.

(And I have marked *** the recommended defaults for non-caretaker bots)


Whisper to others
YES
YES outsize of GZ area ***
YES PS only
NO

Talk to anyone
YES
YES outsize of GZ area ***
YES PS ONLY
NO

Build
Public building worlds
Public - OK
Public - Seed only (tight quota) ;these two quota ones are
harder to code for
Public - limited (loose quota)
PS only *** (see note 1)
NO
Restricted building words
Authorized builders only ***
PS Only
NO

Delete
Public building worlds
Owner objects only
PS only
NO *** (It not hard to manually delete a lot of stuff.
Lets not have auto-deleters running around)
Restricted building words
Owner objects only ***
NO

Eject
PS Only
NO ***

Become an Avatar/Visible
YES ***
PS Only
NO



The code to enforce the restrictions can be in the SDK. It just needs a few
bits
of data from the world server along with what it already knows. A new API
call
to interrogate available privileges for the current bot would make life
easier.

- - -
Note 1:

Basically working on a backup/restore bot that can backup a world and
restore it.
I think a lot of people would like to back up their worlds to protect
against random
crashes/vandalism/etc/etc/etc. For private worlds there is no problem
getting
stuff rebuilt. For something like AW it would take something like the
privilege
of a PS or something to allow the restore bot to go in and rebuild a bunch
of
stuff. I can see where they don't want loads of people running builder
bots, but
I can see where exceptions should be granted with due process.



Ummm
Comments?
Howland

Bots and Bot Rights

Mar 17, 1999, 2:42am
OH NO!!! I screwed up the lines so it looks like mush. Whack Whack Whack
I'll save eep the trouble. Whack Whack Whack.

Bots and Bot Rights

Mar 17, 1999, 5:57am
>Is it really true that there are "no restrictions" on a
>bot's activities?

Well, I'm by no means an expert, but as far as I know...
Yes and no. Bots basically impersonate you. It depends
on what privileges you have. And if you are the world caretaker
you can do anything. And you can give other people that privilege.
And if you don't use a registry on your world you can enroach.

The bots *main* problem is that it can do everything so fast.

Can a bot change or delete objects that
>don't belong to its owner?

Its not generally set up like this in public building worlds, but on some
worlds a lot of people have the caretaker privilege apparently.

Also as I understand it Tourist objects can be deleted en masse.

Can it build on somebody
>else's property?

If the world does not use a registry it can. I think it can also delete and
build over tourist objects.


I haven't tried these things, but I would
>be surprised if they work.

SDK with MSC 5.00

Mar 20, 1999, 6:49pm
I use MSVC 5.0

No problems.

I don;t think you are supposed to put AW.LIB on the command line.

Or is your compiler going all the way back before VC?
??

[View Quote]

AlphaWorld "Wishlist"

Mar 17, 1999, 1:46am
Oh my gosh. They are taking suggestions. Ahem. (I may be getting carried
away, but I sure don't want to miss my opportunity.) (and set cell size to
humongous)

Small household objects. Flowers in pots. Open newspapers. Magazines.
Doormats. Glasses, cups, saucers, plates, pizza boxes, cans of soda.
Clothes on hangers. General household clutter dirty clothes. Loose books
in various orientations. Vases of flowers, decorated holiday items --
wrapped presents, Christmas trees, wedding cakes, birthday cakes, party
favors, party decorations. Telephones. Kitchen equipment Fridge, sink
range, microwave, toaster, washing machine/dryer? Loaves of bread. Fresh
fruit. Various stuffed animals.Stereo equip. A few loose CD's Small
random objects d'art for various tables. Tissue (Kleenex) boxes.
Calendars,

Horizontal objects that will accept a picture (like for a personalized
doormat). Both horizontal and vertical picture objects with no edges, so
you can tile them (instead of making special pieces for stuff like big
games).

Handrails for stairs.

All the houses in AW seem very "sterile". Obviously no-one lives in them.
Sure the interior decorators have been through there and it looks all very
nice, but there is no evidence of anyone actually *living* in one of those
houses. No one works
in office buildings either.

A few avatars whose normal position is sitting, and a few chairs/benches to
match. Maybe for walking they could stand,
but when at rest it sits. Should be easy to been a few of those joints.
Then people could be sitting around tables, on couches, etc etc (and etc)


Offices? How about office clutter too. Bulleting boards with a zillion
notices, copiers, fax, phones, desk clutter. and a chair or two that those
aforementioned aves can sit on.

Cars, trucks, heavy equipment (cranes, bulldozers, steam shovels, etc)
Street lights? Telephone poles w/wires.
Railroad tracks. Trains.

Playground equipment (swings, slides). Sport equipment (goals, footballs,
tennis nets)

A sloped beach.

Bar/Cafe furnishings. An expresso cart. Hot dog cart. Street vendors.
Somebody selling watches on a blanket.

And if the weather bots ever make it, someone hustling umbrellas.

Howland...

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