Bots

[Pandora Drezelan]

Views about bots and whether or not people like / dislike them? also any possibility of bots taking over 'in store modeling'? I went for a job modeling in store at one of my favorite shops. only to be told that the 'model' was in fact a bot and therefore I was not needed. ideas and opinions please.

[Dante Tucker]

It depends on what the bot is used for. I have a chat bot stationed at one of our community areas, people love talking to it. Even if most of his responses make no sense.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Bots have a place in SL.  Modeling is one.  Yeah, it makes it hard for some who want to earn a few Lindens for pocket change but back before there were bots the models would park their avatar on the pose stand and go off to work or to bed........they might as well have been bots.  The person utililizing the models had to pay for someone who's not there...........this way they don't have to pay and no one expects anyone to be there anymore.  Kind of a shame.  I used to model once in a while and I thought it was fun to chat with people........it did surprise them though since only a few of us actually stuck around while modeling  :matte-motes-big-grin:.  I don't have a problem with modeling bots..........the greeter bots can be annoying though.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

I don't sell clothes but I have lots of experience with employees in  SL.  Many people in SL think everything is a game, even a job they have.  They think nothing of blowing off their employer if they get a date or even find something "better" to do and just not showing up.  Finding employees that are dedicated and reliable is very tough.  I've interviewed many people that want to be hired and they all say in the interview what they think you want to hear about their commitment, but then when they get the job act entirely differently, leaving me in a lurch and scrambling to find a replacement for them when they are a no show.  Bots are reliable.  They never do this to you.

Secondly, as a customer I've been in stores that have 'live' models.  But the models come and stand on the pose stand then go afk to do something in RL, IM their friends and become so deeply engrossed in chatting they aren't paying attention or are otherwise distracted by something.  I rarely find a model that actually will answer a question I may have or that is able to tell me where to find something I'm looking for.  Mostly I may as well be talking to a wall as I get absolutely no response.  (and yes I can tell a bot from a live model) As a customer, I don't see any advantage to having a live model over a bot for this reason.

Lastly, if you use models in store all the time, bots are cheaper.  Yes there is the initial cost of buying them, but you don't have to pay them, so in the long run they are more cost effective.  Keeping overhead down allows you to sell your clothes for less and probably sell more as a result.

Remember, anyone that can afford a good skin, hair and shape can be a store model as it sure doesn't take skill to stand on a pose stand, so I imagine the competition is very tough for the few jobs available.  I am not saying that you wouldn't be different and maybe actually be reliable, help customers, and increase sales thereby earning your pay.  But you have to able to convince a store owner of this and then actually do it. 

Think like a business owner and figure out what you can offer that a bot can't that is a cost effective benefit to an employer. Anticipate their arguments against what you offer and be prepared to counter them.  If you can't, then look at what skills & interests you do have other than looking pretty and wearing clothes then look for jobs that fit those skills and interests.

[Tamara Artis]

On one of my "in store modeling" jobs I was not allowed to talk with customers, only chat with my friends in IM, and the person who hired me was checking me from time to time sending her friends or whoever who would IM me and see if I will reply! I never figured out why she hired a live model and wanted her to act like a bot lol

On another job, one day I was standing in front of a desk, a client comes in, I say Hello, welcome... he passes by me without a word, goes in another room and clicks on my pager (with my photo on it!), I follow him, laugh and ask Why did you ignored me a moment ago and now you page me? He says I was thinking you're a bot!

I don't understand whats the purpose of having a bot or a model if you have demos in the shop? One nice shop that sells shapes has a few bots in the middle of a shop. Only purpose I could find is: I tried one of their male shapes (with my female skin on), took my modeling hud on, jumped on his stand and found a really hot pose to take a photo with that bot. My SL sis was with me and she did it too. It was funny so I guess that could be it lol

And on one of the jobs I was hiring models, only thing they needed to do is to right-click and sit on the artwork I told them to, take the clothes off and either chat with the guests or go afk. After the shift they needed to take the clothes on, stand up and say Bye:) some needed to be trained to do that! And Amethyst said same, allthough they tell you they will come and work the shift, it happens that you need to search for a cover 5 mins before their shift starts, or you just have an empty space. 

You don't need to pay the bot, bot never complains, is always on time for the shift, during the shift you don't need to watch how the bot behaves and you don't need to train it.

So if its a simple job, like standing and being pretty, then sure I would go with the bot. If its something more complicated like answering a customers questions or showing the place then real people:)

 

 

[Marianne Little]

Back when I started SL, the best store employees was in ETD. The shop was huge, with updos in one room, pigtails in another, freebies and discounts in yet another room... you get the idea. I was greeted and asked if they could help me find stuff. They were relly nice and helpful. I think it's better to have them moving around in the shop, instead of parking them on a posestand. That way it is so easy to skip away in RL.

These days, Bare@Rose is the only place where I found such shop assistants.  

[Aramina Gilgandra]

I do not like bots that are not identified as bots. I have been know to avoid stores that use bots. In my opinion using a bot and not identifying it as a bot (right from the beginning) is deceitful. Do you think I'm going to buy from someone that in my opinion is deceitful? There's enough of that in SL. And there are enough stores that don't use bots that I can make that choice.

Thank you for letting me voice my opinion.

Peace,
Aramina's Owner

[Anita61 Anatine]

The shop I work for (A Lovers Playground, adult animated furniture) tries to have staff present 24/7. It's huge, spread over 6 sims. We greet and welcome people, point them in the right direction , tell them about the features that maybe aren't too obvious and offer help when there's a problem.

We often get the question if we're bots, especialy from new residents.

The store is a full time job for the owners and having staff around saves them from having to answer questions and attend to things like parcel setting that don't allow scripts, people that don't read instructions or people looking for a certain item. It works very well and most of our customers value the attention they get. 

[Princess Verwood]

My personal opinion is I don't mind bots at places when I am shopping. I often will check out what they are wearing and I like the fact that you can see it on an avatar. I've seen at some places if you try and IM the bot, you will get an automated repsonse telling you that it is a bot. Most times if I have a question I'll try and contact the owner if there is no live person in store to help. If all else fails I'll usually make the decision to go ahead and purchase or pass up.

I think there are pro's and con's to having bots over live people. I'm not sure if I would actually use bots in my store though. However I do not think of people any different who choose to use them. :matte-motes-asleep-2:

[Wicked Galaxy]

I don't mind bots, unless I have a problem or question in the shop and can't find any help and have to resort to a NC.

I am and have been an in-store model for over a year now.  I love the job. The pay is not fantastic, but the girls I work with are great and it can be a fun place to work.  We are on a pose stand, we make our own hours (min of 10 hours per week), and we do NOT go afk.  We have and idle clock that pops up a random question every so often that must be answered correctly and in a very short amount of time.  Miss it or answer it wrong and you are logged out of the time/pay clock.  Get logged out repeatedly - you get fired.  We are there to not only model the clothes, but to help customers.  Quite a few people assume we are bots because we are required to greet everyone when the arrive and post a gesture listing specials or promos.  It can be rather funny when someone makes that assumption and responds.. *thank you bot* and we laugh and start speaking to them.  We are allowed and encouraged to interact with customers.

Wiki

[Teagan Tunwarm]

Hi all, 

I posted this originally in Answers because I thought I needed an answer, but upon a helpful comment it was suggested that I post into the forums instead. Since I saw this thread has been created about bots already, I'm wondering if any body else has a similiar interest in a problem I am having lately.

I am looking for suggestions on how to deal with what has been an occasional hassle to a real nuisance this month. In the past few days I've had a string of bots coming into my private residential SIM. One bot left a lot of objects in the sim that sent SIM-wide spam, another was spamming invites, the others I'm not sure their purpose, only that if you look at the web feed for them you can see a string of comments like "you're a bot", "you're banned you bot!!" and so on. 

It seems to me that if private estate owners can pick up on who the bots are, can't there be some estate option to ban a bot? When you create an avi, you're supposed to identify if it's a bot. I'm sure many don't do this, then to me if they created a bot but chose not to acknowledge it, isn't that a violation of TOS? More importantly, if us humble estate owners can identify these bots and ban them one by one, is there not some more effective way of weeding them on the estate tools?

Estate owners have options to block no payment or age verified accounts. Under the current system, I would have to require my renters to all be age/payment verified, which kind of is the exact opposite of why private estates are good. Not everybody wants payment info on file with LL for whatever reason. 

I don't want to steer this down the whole path of ban all bots, because I'm sure there are legitimate reasons for them, even if I'm not really seeing them at the moment. What I would really like to see is some way for region owners to be able to ban self identified bots on the estate tool level, and if a bot has not identified as a bot with LL, then I would like LL to quarantine that bot so that it can't travel out of quarantine until it's identified itself correctly as a bot with LL. 

If others have suggestions I haven't thought of, I'd love to hear from you. 

Thanks in advance,

Teagan Tunwarm

P.S. And I'm not offering up my island as quarantine space. lol.

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Would be nice to have the option to block listed scripted agents.... Of course it wont stop the trouble makers. they wont take the time to deal with listing them selves as a scripted agent. So, compbating it will still be a problem