Why refuse unsolicited gifts?

[Fennet]

I just watched the videos on abuse and griefing, and was told never to receive or rez and unsolicited gift.

Why? How is this griefing, and what kind of mayhem can be caused this way?

I have received and rezzed some really nice skins and other items without any apparent problems.

[Identity Euler]

I am worried that you could get not legal items. Check if the skins, hair or clothes are legal if not the best would be to delate them. If the creators profile is empty it is highly possible that items have been stolen. This is one of the reasons why people advice to refuse such "gifts".

[Chic Aeon]

The biggest problem in the past has been the reported issue of objects taking money from people's accounts. Some of this was just urban legend, but it IS possible to do that if upon rezzing an object you agree to the (usually yellow gold) screen that pops up and asks you if it is OK for this object to take money from you. If you agree -- well, duh LOL  .  So DON'T do that unless you know the person and it is a legitimate "split script" object where some of the money from a sale of an item is supposed to go to someone else (usually a charity in my experience).

 

The other thing that CAN happen is that the object could be HUGE or filled with tons of particles that will slow your viewing down emmensely. According to the Particle Lab, particle effects are client side and so they don't actually slow the sim down it is just that noone can move because there are too many particles in their viewing.

 

Another not necessarily griefing thing is that the object might be transparent and so you cannot see it without turning on "view transparent", hence you have prims on your land that you don't want.

 

Those are just some ideas. Just like email, it is good to know who you are getting things from. If not, then open them in a sandbox. AND beware that MANY "free gifts" going around are stolen articles so that isn't a good thing.

[Knowl Paine]

Some Items may become active and or automatically Worn when accepted. Some of the objects, scripts or devices attached to the Offered Item are Greifer/weapons based Items and they can be difficult to remove if you cannot identify it.

Some Items Offered will use a fake HUD that looks like the Official SL notice or alert system. (what is that called, the blue drop down menu, upper right corner?) The Accept and Decline buttons have been masked and Both Selections will choose the Accept option. It's a nasty trick. If you're unsure about an offering, don't click on anything and re-log.

 

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Receiving might not be a problem but if you rez something in-world without knowing what it is it could do anything.  How about if it sits there looking nice and behaving well for you but all the time it is sending abusive, crude instant-messages to other avatars - all of whom will blame you as the object's owner.  Then it could mass-spawn giant bouncing genitalia all around the sim, maybe only when you're not there so you don't know.  The ways in which an object that appears innocent could be griefing other people are infinite.

For you personally it's worse if you rez the object and give it permission to animate you or - please not! - take your money.  In the first case it can make you move in any way at any, random, time it wants to.  In the second there's no way to limit the amount it takes, so just don't grant debit permission unless you really know why.  Rezzing especially and particularly includes wearing an unknown item in this case.  Some permissions are granted automatically if you wear or sit on an object and you won't even know.

Finally, there's the simple issue of phising and eavesdropping.  At simplest the sender knows your avatar is active in-world.  More threateningly the object could be reporting all your movements/chat back to whoever sent it to you, and there's no way you can tell.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

I don't know of any way for an SL object to become active or worn from inventory - automatically when accepted. Is this a RLV thing?

[Fennet]

All the items I received were from long time residents with active SL businesses. I honestly believe they were legal but will do some more checking.

[Fennet]

OK, here's the way it happened. I was offered a skin by someone ( I had not met) who claimed to have created it, and I think they were telling me the truth.

I wore it, it looked great, no screens popped up asking me for money, or asking to animate me,.

The giver of the item has a store and sells skins of their own creation.

Is it possible for a skin to be doing terrible things behind my back without my knowledge?

 

[Fennet]

I just want to clarify;

I was sent a skin by someone I had not met. The person who sent it has a business creating and selling skins.

I wore it, it looked great. There were no pop-ups asking for money or asking to animate me. I did check the giver out somewhat and they seem very legit.

Is it possible for the skin to steal from me or attack other avatars behind my back, without my knowledge?

Thanks for the tips about things asking to animate you. If you do allow an object to animate you, won't it stop if you use "stop animating me"?

Cab it some back on again later?

[Fennet]

Since I already commited the sin of opening and wearing the item, how do I check to find out if it is up to no good?

[Knowl Paine]

Isn't it in the Preferences Settings? I'm trying to recall all of the "Automatics", automaticallly view, wear, accept, I think they are there. I know theres a list of Pop-ups that can be blocked or enabled and in that list the data is duplicated, or shows that the Pop-up message exist. I will look when I'm Inworld. Not sure what those settings Defaults are but I know Residents like to click buttons.

[Knowl Paine]

Anything is possible Fennet but terrible things occuring without your knowledge are unlikely. A simply Re-log will fix most problems. A friend with an empty sim could tell you exactly what is on your avatar. If you are not comfortable with the item you should delete it and look for a replacement item.

 

Many Creators are generous Residents, some will offer free products to help advertise. I think this may be your case. If the "giver" of the Item has an Inworld store and a supporting Group and is a Market Place Merchant, the Product is reasonable safe, I would use it if I liked it and I didn't experience problems with it. good luck