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howland // User SearchBots and Bot RightsMar 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 RightsMar 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 RightsMar 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 5.00Mar 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... |