Bot Invaders

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

   Shortly after joining SL, six years ago, I got my first job as a dancer in an adult club called Escort Oasis. I went to the club to dance and enjoyed the music, friendship and generous tips. Having avoided the "Escort" side of the business, I left with only fond memories of the club. I am still a member and return to my "Alma Mater," for fun, now and then. Recently, while at a party at Club Cutlass, I got a group chat from Escort Oasis. The owner, Jenwen Walpole was explaining the plight that many new, smaller clubs were experiencing. Jen emphasized that her concerns were not for her club, but rather for those trying to start new clubs, as she did eight years ago. Because I share Jen's desire to make SL a fun and profitable experience for every one of it's residents, I quickly volunteered to help get this story to a larger audience, by way of an article in the Newser.

   When my party ended, I flew to Escort Oasis and joined Jen in the overhead control booth. We talked a while and she gave me a notecard, which explained the problem. I have cleaned up the typos, written in haste, while managing a large club, and submit it below, in the hope that bringing it to public attention will aid in solving the problem of robots taking over SL.

"Sha"

*  *  *  *  *

 Recently quite a few clubs and venues have closed in SL. A few old favorites and quite a few newer ones. A few of these clubs and venues were great places. Their only issue is that their traffic never really grew  even though they put great efforts in getting the word out. They ultimately failed due to low revenue streams from advertisers and a general decline in clients throughout SL. 

   During this same time, places with lower real traffic thrived. Why? Those clubs used bots to boost up their traffic numbers. This has two effects. First is obvious, advertisers see the higher traffic numbers and will advertise in those locations, providing them revenue. It also gives an artificial boost to a likely inferior location raising their traffic numbers and having them show higher in search, allowing them to be seen by more potential clients. 

   The negative impact is that first, and newer users to SL, going to these places with fake traffic are greeted by inferior clubs with very few people in them or even worse, a room full of non responsive bots. This ultimately turns them off to adult SL. We loose a lot of newer users this way. Second is that newer clubs with great concepts, and great staff never get a chance to succeed because they are over shadowed by those that cheat the system.

   What is a bot? A bot is just an unattended avatar logged in usually using some kind of text based client. 

A typical location using bots to boost traffic will have 20-40 bots. How much does this increase traffic? 30 bots adds over 43,200 to their traffic score. So, a location that would normally have 10,000 in traffic, will show as 53,200 and be near the top of the search.

   Is the use of bots against terms of service, yes, and SL is supposed to be policing it, but the reality is they do not. Also, reports of places using these bots seem to be ignored by second life. There are locations that have been using bots for years with no response from sl.

   The reality is that use of bots not only benefits the places using them at the expense of those who do not, but it adds to SL's bottom line for number of concurrent users, increasing the apparent usership of SL. It is generality believed that because of SL's usership decline that there is little incentive for sl to police this.

 

This practice is killing the adult world in particular. The potential clients that the adult community counts on get fed up with the faked  traffic and poorer quality than the numbers would suggest. This leads to a decline in the persons we need to keep adult SL going and thriving.

   Are there legitimate uses for bots? Sure. and SL actually has a facility to mark an avatar as a "scripted agent" so it doesn't count as traffic. However most do not do this, and would be counter to the whole purpose of using a bot to increase traffic.

   What can be done? Well education is key. 

   Advertisers who patronize those locations using bots should be made aware of the negative impact they have on patronizing places that use bots. 

   Performers should be aware that their support of locations that use bots is hurting adult SL and will ultimately lead to more difficult times in finding clients.

   Clients should be informed that these places are not the norm, and that very good places exists that have real traffic. and be encouraged to explore and question traffic numbers. Removing the incentives of revenue and support for false traffic by the community will deter those who use bots in the adult community.

   We could start a campaign to report such places to SL. However many feel this would fall on already deaf ears. For those wanting to do that, reports should be filed under the help/report abuse, in your client.

 

* * * * *

 

Editor's Note: On Becky Shamen's blog, there were a number of comments to her article, which was originally printed there. To check them out, click here. 

Grease Coakes Turns Seven

By Grease Coakes

First off I want to thank my RL boss that I’ll name Mary to protect her real life identity. She was nice enough to let me work the day before and have today off. Also one of my co-workers I'll name Stan was singing me "happy birthday" yesterday.

 And I think I speak for anyone that birthdays are special whether it's your birthday in the real world or a virtual birthday. Your birthday is your special day no one can take that from you that one day out of 365 days that's yours. Most people celebrate the holidays in December whether it's Christmas or Hanukkah with family and friends. People who live a second life in the virtual universe get two birthdays per year. How can you beat that? In today's fast paced world of either life people should take their birthdays to take time to smell the roses and relax.

Another crazy fact it's my brother's real life birthday today. So my SL birthday and his real-life birthday are the same day.

So I started the day with no events so I figured there would be something going on at the furry club IYC which stands for International Yiff Center at IYC Addictions (153/115/2492) I was right as the furry DJOK Fretwerk AKA Jim Morris was djing. Not many people were active at 5:30am SLT, but it was ok I still handed out my freebie shirts and hung out.

For my fifth and sixth and SL birthdays for readers of the Newser who may not know, I handed out t-shirts that I made myself. I handed out these shirts for a limited time. In IYC I handed out the shirts to everyone in the club. A few furries IMed me in confusion. I explained these are my birthday shirts. I'll get birthday wishes and in fact Chedder Digipaw with account name CyberRatt resident gave me a whole clothes set named League of xtranary Furs. Shyraii Devinna asked for the asset UUID to make my Zapbird shirt better looking for women to show breasts. It's a rare case that I get a party pooper that declines my shirt. I shrug it off and move on.

I gave Shyraii a cookie and she responds by saying, "My fiance ate all my chocolate chip cookies (frown). He's a butthole (grin)." "Dude what's up with that?" I asked. 

So in IYC I hung out with Shy as we were wearing the same shirt dancing together to Loferz Resident AKA TeiTei who announces over voice anyone who says hi gets a cookie. So I say, "Hi Teitei do i get a cookie?  TeiTei went, "YUSH!" *stuffs one in your muzzle* ^_^

Who can say no to a cookie?

Earlier I IMed a human buddy of mine Lia Mistwalker, asking is there any events at SGB which is shorthand for Sounds Gravis Beach at Sounds Gravis Beach (134/21/32). Lia told me, "Sakura spins at 8am to 10am."

I told her, "I'm so there! it's my party and I’ll shake my tail if I want to I turn 7 today." "Happy rez day!" she says

When the party started I went over to SGB and SGB Melody the club owner said this, "And all the girls, please line up and kiss our Furry Grease... It's his rezzday today!"

SGB is always a great place to hang out at. Smooth music and minimal emotes. There's always a conversation going on plus the DJ mixing live. Raphad Noyes who may be related to StJohn Noyes one of my friends from Brahma Yoga class stopped in at SGB with his lady friend Mielerosa (honeyrose58 Resident. He's usually a werewolf but today he was a human. Raphad is a very polite and cultured werewolf/human as he always calls me sir. He mentioned in IM, "You look a bit different, Sir." "Yes indeed Sir Noyes," I answered, "I’m wearing the first avatar I bought in SL." "Interesting."

I IMed Aurora Avila informing her I can make her DJ set today as I usually work on Thursdays, the only day she DJs. She says awesome. We also chit chat about the game she told me about , Guild wars 2.

"I should try the species you showed me," I told her, "the goblin species they are hard to find in PVP (which stands for Player vs Player)." Aurora answered, "They tend to be pretty fugly." "Yeah they are! But all my characters can't be the Charr cats that would be boring."

Over time In real life I get hungry so I plan to leave SL for a bit for food. But before I leave, the girls at SGB plan to make Cesare Drucker the club manager cross dress. They type various things like

Jet Goode: "We can duct tape him to a pole."

Lia Mistwalker: "Mini dress, don’t forget to wax his legs."

Mariete (Mariete Babii): "Just don’t WAX Grease!!!You could kill him."

Luckily I leave before the ladies decide to play dress up with me

After I go out to get Chinese food and popcorn I come back into SL and bounce from SGB to the Ark at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quarabia/141/123/500. I hang out for a bit then I go to Woods at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/WOODS/126/163/25 

Then Nydia Tungsten IMs me and says there's s video that I could take part in. She warps me to The Happy Vixen at Purrfection Estates (180/59/22). I warped over and a short while later she starts her chimera and begins recording. Nydia sorts out things as she has to relog and over time the video is complete. Her video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfArSuKsqHM&feature=youtu.be.

When it's finished I made a SL card through email to my brother for his real life birthday today.

Afterwards I took another break from SL and logged back on and stop at a few other places but for my SL Birthday it doesn't seem right. I instead warped to my friend Amehana Ishtari and I jump in on a pony party.

I handed out my shirts and Amehana admits to being busy. However she does agree to an interview about her new book Selkie Skins Castle and Wells soon. Amehana has also written about a woman named Blowing Wind as she goes on a spiritual adventure with a dragon spirit named Ryu. I joked, "Amehana your pony looks pimped out." And she says this, "Ummm... Thank you? *raises her eyebrow, never thinking that word would ever be used for her*" I instead say that her pony is dressed like a diva and she says, "*watches you backpedal*"

I goofed off and relaxed before Aurora Avila starts to DJ at her new club club Midi Bikini Bay (85/196/1022) where she still plays her video game remixes and Japanese songs.

I went to Club Midi and I had a good time just like it was yesterday. Aurora played her mix of video game songs and everyone chit chated about video games or whatever. Aurora still has a nice surprise to anyone who tips her. I felt stress ebb away and relaxed as Aurora played her unique mix of songs.

I guess the point of this article is that in today's fast paced world of Second and First Life that once in a while take time for yourself. I remember talking to a customer at Royal farms in real life and he said don't sweat the small things and always have fun for yourself. Give yourself some me time.

Today I did take time for myself and had a great seventh birthday. It's a rough world out there but if you always have a smile on your face the world will seem a much brighter place. I guess that's the gist of this article is just have fun in life whether it's your real life birthday your second life birthday or your unbirthday.

Grease Coakes

Changes in the FCA

By Bixyl Shuftan

The FCA, or Furry Club Alliance, has been undergoing some changes throughout the months of it's existence. Clubs and people have joined up, and clubs and people have dropped out. One club gone inactive, another taken down, and some dormant ones have come back to having events.

Created in 2011, the FCA offered an alliance for clubs where residents of any type of avatar, human, furred, neko, pony, and otherwise could come and enjoy themselves. They could coordinate schedules to avoid competing for limited audiences at the same time, and DJs could advertise their services to several clubs at once. When it started out, the FCA was mostly clubs belonging to or affiliated with Nydia Tungsten. Having gotten her start in Second Life as DJ "Naughty" Nydia, she eventually came to be involved with several clubs: the Club Zero Gravity space club and the Happy Vixen beach club in Purrfection, the Little Dove steampunk airship club  in Southern Colorado, the Castaway Cove pirate beach club in Kalmere Paradise, the historic landmark Club Fur in Kitsuhana, and in December 2012 came the Mardi Gras carnival club in FP Proteus.

Club Fur was inactive except for special events and as a hangout for most of 2012, but being in charge of four going to six clubs was still a logistical challenge in addition to needing help from some supporters. Castaway Cove was scheduled to be closed down in May 2012, but was rescued by Skylark Lefavre whom financed it for the remainder of the year.

Other clubs included Club Cutlass, which is owned by Jenni Greenfield and has been around the longest of the clubs, save Club Fur. Also in were the Raised Tail beach club and resort, which closed in 2011 but still has fans talking about it to this day, the Forest Howlers club which was active for several months in 2012 before closing down. There was the Cocktail Lounge which was also in Purrfection in addition to Zero Gravity and Happy Vixen, but was under a different owner. Later in the year, the club went inactive but continued to rent the land where it sat. Late in 2012, Club Euphoria joined the alliance. The Green Meadows "Xanadu" club owned by Perri Prinz was also in the alliance, but was inactive for most of 2012.

Beginning in December and going on in January, change was in the air. Besides opening Club Mardi Gras to appeal to humans as well as furs, she also planed to reopen Club Fur to regular events. DJ YuliaV Resident whom came back from hiatus about this time agreed to perform in both, and gave the carnival club a successful start and gave Club Fur a diverse crowd. Some pictures posted by her online gave the suggestion that some nights this oldest of furry clubs had a mostly human audience. At the Happy Vixen, Jasmine Dawn Shuftan took charge as manager, and reinvigorated the place with new DJs, and taking the party from the club to the open beach on occasion. Attendance began to blossom.

With six clubs under her influence, Nydia came to the conclusion they needed their own organization. So White Vixen Enterprises was formed, consisting of her clubs, and her KVXN radio station.

Three clubs departed from the alliance in recent weeks however.  Club Little Dove was in Southern Colorado due to a deal with the sim's owner. Eventually the deal fell apart, and Nydia took down the club in January. Perhaps it will find new life in a Steampunk community. Castaway Cove's future grew doubtful when Skylark informed everyone she could no longer finance the club from outside Second Life. In January, Nydia and several other White Vixen personnel met up to discuss its future. Skylark stated as much as she loved the club, she didn't want it up if it meant a high cost to everyone. And so the decision was made to no longer keep it running. The club was closed in early February. Club Euphoria did not really participate in FCA meetings, except for a dancer whom went on her own. In an FCA meeting in February, Club Euphoria was voted out in an unanimous decision. Club Mardi Gras was doing well, but eventually the estate owner made the decision to close down the land. So with nowhere to go, the club was closed for the time being. Nydia however resolved to have it reopened soon.

Although two of Nydia's clubs were closed down, the people working at them had others to go to. Perri Prinz was looking to reactivate Green Meadows, and in January it opened once again with the help of Kiticella whom had managed both Little Dove and Castawave Cove. Once again, the beloved disco club was having regular events. With Mardi Gras temporarily down, YuliaV was free to play more elsewhere. And she began playing regularly at the Happy Vixen, in addition to another night a week for Club Fur. It was at this time Club Fur changed hands. Alynna Vixen was the one who rescued the classic club when it's old home at Furnation Prime closed. When she had to take a break from Second Life, she turned the club over to Nydia. After Nydia got it running again, Alynna returned and Nydia transferred the club back to her. Under Alynna's hands, the club continued to do well.

White Vixen Enterprises was down to two active clubs: Club Zero Gravity and the Happy Vixen, plus it's radio station KVXN. But Nydia planned to change that. She looked for a new home for Club Mardi Gras, and soon found one. On Feb 18th, the club celebrated it's grand reopening with a crowd that was over 35 avatars at times, dancing to the tunes by YuliaV.  Nydia called it the most of any club under her, giving DJ Yulia the credit.

Nydia had other plans as well. In the upper section of Club Zero, she replaced the cuddle couch with "KVXN's new home," a virtual radio station, "any one wanting some air time can come DJ on air for me. When they do they can broadcast from here."

Numerous other individuals have been part of the FCA's clubs.  Hostess Miyuki Naidoo has tirelessly greeted residents dropping in to Club Zero Gravity for the past few years. Alexandra "Sexy Lexi" Tymets, Cynthia Farshore and Kryxia Silverfall were sometimes the only DJs who would take certain hours that tended to draw small crowds. Shockwave Yareach was a song parody singer in addition to being a DJ, and parodies of his such as "Boobie Man" drew chuckles from crowds. Plus many others have also been a part in keeping the clubs going as DJs and hostesses.

Over time, the FCA has seen a number of challenges and changes. It will continue to change as more clubs join, a place for clubs where all types of avatars are welcome.

Bixyl Shuftan

At a Tail Sale

By Grease Coakes

You may or may not have heard of a tail sale at "name your furry club" fellow reader of the SL Newser. Whether you have heard about one or no,t I thought it would be fun to write an article about one. I myself have been up for auction a few times in furry clubs, and you may ask "what is a tail sale?"

A tail sale is held by a furry club where furries go to offer various services like adult roleplaying with the buyer, artwork, or writing or scripting or anything else you may think of. The purpose of a tail sale for any furry club is to raise funds to pay off their monthly tier and more improvements of the club. In general the bid on whatever furry is spilt in half between the club hosting the tail sale and the furry who is up for sale.

For example Bixyl my boss could go up for sale offering a cartoon and puns for whoever buys him. So if Jane Cleanslate bids 2,000L on him then 1,000 would go to Bixyl and 1,000 to the club. Bob Magne really wants one of one of Bixyl’s cartoons though so he outbids Jane’s bid by 500. Jane pouts and Bob at the last call buys Bixyl for 2,500 same as before ½ to Bixyl ½ to the club.

What I offer are my writing services for whoever buys me. I write adult stories and also once I did write a fantasy adventure for Chazore Ayers. I did include a couple of my characters from my children’s book as adults and she gave me a large bonus when I finally finished it as it was rather long. I’ve been in tail sales around furry clubs for a while now.


On February the 9th, the furry club Anthroxtacy held their tail sale which they try to do a few times per year. When I warped to their sim there was already a large crowd of furries and a human or two waiting around for the tail sale to start. It took a while to rez while Akira was playing dance music. At 2pm SL or 5pm east coast Hikari Vixen took over the stream and began the tail sale itself. I was handed a notecard in a tail sale group outside the regular AX group (AX Short for Anthroxtacy). It told me the order of everyone going up for sale I was towards the middle. Each furry goes up on the podium and the host as Hikari describes what that furry is offering. After a period of time she says first call, second call and finally Hikari closes the sale. The furry who was bought now owes the buyer whatever services that the furry offered.

The first furry Lyla Chauveau a tan colored raccoon went up on the podium. Hikari in a happy go lucky voice announced that her bid before the actual sale was 10,000 Linden for adult role-play services. 10k Linden! That’s a lot for a furry’s services, but that’s usual for a tail sale that furries go for high prices especially the lady ones. After a few minutes of taunting the audience to bid higher Hikari closed the sale to Lyla’s buyer at 10,000.

Me and the other furries up for sale waited in a corner a dressing room as the tail sale had a burlesque theme so a few of the girl furries wore corsets to fit the theme. As the tail sale went on Hikari announced each furry and what he or she would offer the buyer. Surianna the head playmate of AX as a snow leopard offered her incredible RP services in adult ways and sold for 5,000L.Akira went for 20k

Linden to Jayrek for artwork or adult role-play services. Typing in 20,000 in the buy Linden bar I saw that if I wanted to buy 20K Linden with real money it would come to $81.27 in US dollars! That’s a lot to bid for someone in Second Life.

Dahlia Blitzstein before me sold her art work skills at a very high price. She had a cube above her head showing off her art work for everyone to see. I found myself looking at the cube looking at the detail of her computer artwork and wishing to buy her artwork. Sadly my hopes were shot down when I saw her bid starting at 6k Linden. Hikari was calling on the crowd to bid higher for her high quality artwork. Almost before the final call Mythology Doesburg who owns AX bid back and forth between Helios and himself. Mythology AKA Myffy as he likes to be called in the end bought Dahlila for 22,000 Linden! That’s a little more than what Jayrek paid for Akira.

Seeing that Dahlia was ahead of me I jumped over to a scripted 1920’s chair behind her as Dahlia auction was closed. I imed Hikari saying I was ready and she posted my tail sale info for everyone to see while she read it out loud.

One lady bought me for a mere 1,000 as a present for her SL wife, so I only got 500. I felt discouraged that I could of gotten more, but I also reminded myself I could of walked away with a big fat zero. I can’t cry over spilled milk, so instead of grumping about it I imed her to see what she wanted as a story. She wants to see what her SL wife wants too.

Looking to make some Linden and show everyone a talent you have? Tail sales are the way to go. Far as I know humans would be allowed to be in a tail sale just like a furry. The Anthroxtacy tail sale is over, but if you keep your ears open I’m sure there are other tail sales around Second Life too.

Grease Coakes

Castawave Cove's Comeback

Among the clubs at the FCA club alliance, Castaway Cove hasn't been used much lately. Cutlass, Club Zero Gravity, The Cocktail Lounge, and the Happy Vixen all have regularly scheduled events. But with a number of DJs getting caught up in real life, one club, Castawave Cove, despite it's unique design of a beach club between two halves of a shipwreck, was getting only occasional events. People came by to hang out to play it's games, or shop at the vendors there. But parties there were irregular.


Finally on the evening of May 14th, Nydia Tungsten, the owner of Castaway Cove, made an announcement. The club would be closing. But there would be one last party there. DJ "Purple Puppy" L'sai would be playing the music. And true to her nickname "Naughty Nydia," the vixen decided to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with a nude party with a huge prize on it's "Last Hurrah."


Castaway cove is having it's final party tonight, come dance the night away as the original purple puppy DJ L'sai spins her tunes for us, but we aren't going out with a whimper but with a BANG! $3000 L's will be up for grabs at this final Naked nite. Your'e all invited. Starts at 6 pm SLT. SEE YA HERE!!

And as 6PM approached, people headed over to the Kalmeere Paradise sim and dropped in at the club, a collection of over two dozen human, neko, and furry avatars. Many went "au natural" for a chance at the Lindens. But others kept on a swimsuit, not really competing for the prize but just coming for a good time and to see the club one last time. People sent requests to L'sai, both popular tunes and some parodies by Second Life musicians SonicBlu Darkfold, and a few riskee tunes from Corsi Mousehold.

During the party, Nydia gave an explanation for the club's closure, "Many have asked why we are closing. Well here it is. Castaway Cove was created to create a draw to a new sim, to generate interest. Well it has done its job. the Sim owner needs to start renting this land, so we will be closing. But not forever who know what lies over the horizon. I just hope you have all enjoyed our run, and if your'e interested in the land, just send me an IM. Just remember to party as if it is your last, because some day it just might be 'Eat drink and be merry for tomorow we lose our club!' "

For two hours, the party went on. Then the 3,000 prize was voted on, and then given out. But this wasn't the final word on the club. The following day, Nydia had the following announcement:


We're Back! … We had a blast last night, and we partied into the night. Every one was sad to see the club go but not as much as Skylark Lefavre. Due to her most generous offer, Castaway Cove will be around for quite some time. So if you see her, thank her for being our clubs benefactor.


And so, the pirate club continues. Word is, there will be some Primtionary game events at the sim again soon. For anyone interested in managing or DJing at the club, contact Nydia Tungsten.

Bixyl Shuftan