Spambot Creator Speaks

We’ve all seen the signs. Many designers have posted warnings in their stores alerting customers of the problem of bots begging for money. There has been a lot of talk within Plurk, Twitter and the blog community about what people have been calling a scam. The speech is nearly always the same.  A newly created avatar sends you a whisper complimenting you on your avatar. She goes on to say she’s recently returned to Second Life and strikes up a conversation, at the end of which she asks for Linden dollars. The conversation is nearly always identical, a cut and paste transcript with pauses in between the posts to make it appear that you’re talking to an actual person. Many people have fallen for the trick and given money away.

This evening, while doing some shopping on an alt, I encountered the bot for the first time. Since I had heard so much about it on plurk, I knew immediately what it was since I had seen people post parts of the conversation before. Out of boredom and slight irritation, I responded by cursing at the bot to see if it was programmed to react differently.

 

[17:02] CarameIIe: omfg it’s been so long!!! How have you been
[17:02] Nika Davies (chantillly): no
[17:03] CarameIIe: I’m just kidding   we don’t really know each other, SL is rezzing so slow for me blah and I was bored waiting to be able to move :P
[17:03] CarameIIe: Happy Holidays!!
[17:04] Nika Davies (chantillly): fuck you
[17:04] CarameIIe: AHAHA
[17:04] CarameIIe: big words for you
[17:04] CarameIIe: I just decided to log in today after 2 years! But for whatever reason my password on my old account won’t work BLAH -
[17:04] Nika Davies (chantillly): fuck you
[17:04] CarameIIe: should try something more creative
[17:04] CarameIIe: push that wee little brain of yours
[17:04] CarameIIe: jealous so jealous of me

 

Sure enough, threaded in between the script that it normally follows, it seemed to be reacting to my words. I assumed it had been written in such a way as to simulate some sort of artificial intelligence to make people believe it was an actual person.

 

[17:04] CarameIIe: my name was Alatta Rage before which was such a cool name now I am stuck with this stupid name and RESIDENT – that is an ugly last name!
[17:04] Nika Davies (chantillly): fuck you
[17:05] CarameIIe: don’t be mad though I just wanted to talk to you haha
[17:05] CarameIIe: let mekeep spammingyou
[17:05] Nika Davies (chantillly): lol now there is honesty
[17:05] CarameIIe: wow your avatar looks so cool, what skin are you wearing?
[17:06] CarameIIe: I wish I made shapes as good as that, did you make it yourself?
[17:06] CarameIIe: honesty?
[17:06] CarameIIe: lol why would I bother to be honest to you
[17:06] CarameIIe: I don’t care about you

 

Now this began to catch my attention. The responses I was getting were so drastically different from the canned bot speech. While the bot came across as friendly and complimentary, the responses to what I was saying were rude. Now I was beginning to wonder if the bot was a lot more sophisticated than I thought, or if there was an actual person behind the computer.

 

[17:07] CarameIIe: I just got back to SL from a long break, omfg everything is so different
[17:07] Nika Davies (chantillly): you know whats the same? The idiot motherfuckers who make bots like this one, that part never changed
[17:07] CarameIIe: have you been in SL for a long time?
[17:08] CarameIIe: being back here after so long I don’t remember anything about the sliders at all, I keep making a chubby round face lol
[17:08] CarameIIe: lol I’d love to see you do it
[17:08] Nika Davies (chantillly): prolly cause your fat in RL
[17:08] CarameIIe: im sure you couldn’t coe your way out of a paper bag
[17:08] CarameIIe: lol no that’s your role
[17:08] CarameIIe: .. mesh is so crazy! and the new skins, I don’t even know many of the creators anymore. Who makes the best skins now?
[17:08] CarameIIe: playing SL all day
[17:08] CarameIIe: I don’t play SL lol
[17:09] Nika Davies (chantillly): lol is there actually a person here typing in between the bot scripts?

 

At this point I stopped what I was doing and began to pay actual attention to the conversation. I had assumed that whoever was behind the bots had sent dozens of avatars out there and they were all running unattended. But at least for this particular one, that didn’t seem to be the case. I was intrigued.

 

[17:09] CarameIIe: I don’t have little pixel friends to impress
[17:09] CarameIIe: I have real friends
[17:09] CarameIIe: scripts?
[17:09] CarameIIe: I quit because this guy I was seeing from SL asked me to stop playing ( and I listened because I am stupid
[17:09] CarameIIe: multiple
[17:09] CarameIIe: yup MULTIPLE scripts lol
[17:09] CarameIIe: pls just stick with the lingo you understand
[17:09] Nika Davies (chantillly): so there actually is someone sitting at the computer watching this?
[17:09] CarameIIe: he said there were too many guys in here and he got jealous.I should have thought it was weird that he was so insecure…
[17:10] CarameIIe: I am watching you make an ass of yourself sure
[17:10] Nika Davies (chantillly): lol
[17:10] CarameIIe: getting all angry at my bot lol
[17:10] CarameIIe: GRRR
[17:10] Nika Davies (chantillly): nah I’m not angry, if anything I’m more amused/surprised that someone actually is seeing this conversation

 

And that was the truth. After hearing so much about the bot scam, I never expected to talk to the actual person behind it. Shopping forgotten, I settled in and had quite the conversation with him. The majority of the conversation is as follows. I cut it down quite a bit because it was quite long, but the most important bits are here. While I obviously don’t agree with what he’s doing, it was interesting to hear his side of it, and his motivations.

 

[17:10] CarameIIe: meanwhile, he would come on here and give girls his phone number, which I didn’t find out until one of them messaged me and I got the offline in my email.
[17:10] CarameIIe: I see some of them
[17:10] CarameIIe: not many but some
[17:10] CarameIIe: most the same
[17:10] CarameIIe: fuck you die go kill yourself blah blah blah
[17:11] Nika Davies (chantillly): lol
[17:11] CarameIIe: I was seeing him IRL and everything like once a month, usually I paid for the plane tickets – meanwhile he was calling girls from SL telling them he loved them.
[17:11] CarameIIe: have you ever dated anyone in SL?
[17:11] CarameIIe: dunno why people bother to curse at me but hey
[17:12] CarameIIe: to each their own if it makes them feel better
[17:12] Nika Davies (chantillly): well because of the money scam
[17:12] CarameIIe: sorry to treat you like you are my therapist or something guess I just needed to talk about it
[17:12] CarameIIe: i said bother to curse at me
[17:12] Nika Davies (chantillly): ahh
[17:12] CarameIIe: if they know it’s a “scam” which that word is incorrect
[17:12] CarameIIe: because I don’t SCAM
[17:12] Nika Davies (chantillly): well I did it to see what the script would do
[17:12] CarameIIe: I tell a story
[17:13] CarameIIe: and I ask for money
[17:13] CarameIIe: it’s pretty straight to the objective
[17:13] CarameIIe: then right after that because I was so angry, I wanted to message the girls and tell them how I felt, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it
[17:13] Nika Davies (chantillly): well true, technically
[17:13] CarameIIe: i go wow your avatar is so cool
[17:13] CarameIIe: can i get some monies
[17:13] CarameIIe: i don’t say hey if you gimme some money I’ll do this for you or be your best friend
[17:13] CarameIIe: but here I am back again, starting over as a newb. Everything that I had in my inventory was so out of date anyway
[17:14] CarameIIe: people like yourself can choose to tell me to fuck off
[17:14] Nika Davies (chantillly): Yeah I guess so- I mean honestly bot or not, if someone asks me for money I tell them to get a job in here or something
[17:14] CarameIIe: I certainly don’t extort anyone
[17:14] CarameIIe: your avatar is really nice though truly, one of the best ones I have seen since I have been back, you should be proud of it, you did an amazing job
[17:14] CarameIIe: and that’s fine
[17:15] CarameIIe: mind if I ask a favor :X
[17:15] CarameIIe: i wouldnt force you to give me money
[17:15] Nika Davies (chantillly): wait, was the favor part you or the script?
[17:15] CarameIIe: Would there be any way possible that you would consider letting me borrow 300l so I can make my avatar a little like yours?
[17:15] CarameIIe: i could be far more volatile
[17:15] Nika Davies (chantillly): oh there it is lol
[17:15] CarameIIe: don’t listen to that
[17:15] Nika Davies (chantillly): yeah I know
[17:16] Nika Davies (chantillly): I heard about this but its the first time I actually saw it

 

It was kind of amusing to see the bot continue its script in between me and its creator talking, although for just that split second I wasn’t sure which was the bot and which was the actual person. Until, obviously, it asked for the money. Apparently it doesn’t actually react to the responses unless someone is there to cut off the script. It continued to play out to its duration and eventually stopped, leaving the creator and I to talk uninterrupted for the rest of the conversation.

 
[17:16] CarameIIe: I don’t abort it for one person
[17:16] CarameIIe: I want to reinvent myself in SL, no dating unless the guy is just like so amazing that I can’t resist it
[17:16] Nika Davies (chantillly): gotcha
[17:16] CarameIIe: too many argument
[17:16] CarameIIe: thank you so much!!!
[17:16] CarameIIe: i don’t parse much I don’t even change what  say
[17:16] CarameIIe: people act as if I couldnt be wrse
[17:16] CarameIIe: there are signs everywhere blogs
[17:17] CarameIIe: people postingwhat I say
[17:17] Nika Davies (chantillly): it is a pretty advanced script
[17:17] Nika Davies (chantillly): I mean its believable if you didn’t know about it
[17:18] Nika Davies (chantillly): so you are just a one person operation?
[17:18] CarameIIe: ayup
[17:18] CarameIIe: and obviously I’ve made quite a splash in the pond eh
[17:19] Nika Davies (chantillly): no kidding
[17:19] CarameIIe: lol
[17:22] CarameIIe: I can message about 20k people in a few hours
[17:22] CarameIIe: it’s pretty powerful
[17:23] Nika Davies (chantillly): do you just manually start the IM or does the bot select people as they enter chat range or something?
[17:23] CarameIIe: it’s not in chat range it’s gridwide
[17:23] CarameIIe: I put the avatar in the sim because
[17:23] CarameIIe: people don’t like being randomly imed
[17:23] CarameIIe: i don’t have to be here
[17:23] Nika Davies (chantillly): I wondered how you can hit up SO many places
[17:23] CarameIIe: but you get a bunch of shit paranoia without
[17:24] CarameIIe: it’s a program I wrote
[17:27] Nika Davies (chantillly): do a lot of people actually give the money?
[17:27] CarameIIe: this whole place exploits the shit out of people
[17:27] CarameIIe: paying 1000 for a skin
[17:27] CarameIIe: so fuckin stupid
[17:27] CarameIIe: how anyone even charges that
[17:27] CarameIIe: yes
[17:27] CarameIIe: I make about 200.00 a day
[17:27] Nika Davies (chantillly): geez
[17:28] CarameIIe: hehe ya it’s not bad
[17:28] Nika Davies (chantillly): does LL try to come after you?
[17:28] CarameIIe: never
[17:28] CarameIIe: I’m not in violation of ToS
[17:28] Nika Davies (chantillly): I mean I don’t know if its “technically” a violation of any rule
[17:28] Nika Davies (chantillly): lol
[17:28] CarameIIe: nothing they can do
[17:28] CarameIIe: nope it’s annoying like you said
[17:29] CarameIIe: that’s about it

So, as he says. It’s not technically a violation to ask for money, bot or otherwise. While it certainly isn’t ethical and while I’m sure Linden Lab would like to crack down on this sort of thing, it’s up to the players to be aware.

Lost

I logged into SL for the first just now, in I’m not sure how long. It started with a picture I saw on Crap Mariners blog, of a Christmas tree on the ice in Nowhereville, with snow drifting down around it. When I first joined SL in 2007 it was winter time, right around Christmas. All the sims were decorated similarly, and it all felt so new and magical to me. When I saw that picture on his blog just now, I got such a sense of nostalgia.

“What if I logged in, right now?” I thought to myself. Could I? For some reason, its been so long that the separation feels permanent. I wasn’t sure I could even remember HOW to log in, or how to find my way around in there. Would my old client still work? Is the password saved? Do I even remember it, if it wasn’t?

The calender on the wall next to my desktop still says July. That’s how long ago I bought my laptop and moved to WoW. I managed to log in, and found myself in my Linden Home, where I last logged out. The candles were still flickering on the wall shelf, where I left them. I grabbed the mouse and tried to walk forward, and nearly deleted a bookcase. I tried to turn around, but all I got was aaaaaa. People who play WoW will understand what I mean.

My space navigator was unplugged next to my computer, with the wire all coiled up. I plugged it in, hoping it would help free my line of sight from my avatar, so I could get a better look around, and regain my bearings. As soon as I plugged it in, my avatar was airborn, smashing around the walls and ceiling of my home like a moth trapped in a windowsill. Maybe they changed something with the settings since I last used it. I looked at the Advanced menu at the top of my screen, but had no idea where to go from there, so I unplugged the device, and managed to land my avatar next to the front door.

I wanted to see who was online in my friends list, but hitting O didn’t do anything. It took me a few seconds to remember which was the right button. I found Stuart online,and he TP’d me to Rezzed TV island to give me a tour of the new VWE arena. Moving around was difficult. I couldn’t remember how to jump over a barricade that was in my way. Walking felt agonizingly slow, and I automatically glanced to the right of my screen for the hot key that would let me mount up on my horse. I wanted to at least run, but had to ask how to toggle that on. Flying though, was surprisingly fast. WAY faster than my epic mount.

After Stuart left, I tried to decide what I wanted to do. I felt sort of like wandering around a store, and looking at clothing. Where to people shop these days, though? I dug around in my inventory for some of my old favorites. Redgrave and Digit Darkes.. no longer there. The LM to Blaze still worked, but the store was completely empty. I sort of wanted to go where I could find people I know.. plurkers, bloggers. But I guess there never was a central hang out spot, unless someone was having a party. In WoW, I could just go to the Trade District, Blue Recluse or Pig and Whistle. But here?

I found myself hovering near the ceiling of Blaze, without a clue where to go next. I TP’d to one more store but eventually got bored and frustrated as I stared at twisted sculpties and gray textures.. I don’t know where to go, what to do or how to find anyone. Eventually I gave up, and logged out. I have ghost mushrooms and ragveil to farm, anyway..

Second Life Double Rainbow!!!

Loody Graves encounters a double rainbow across the sky!

(It’s so intense.)

Nightmares

In my dream, I was just leaving a friend or family members house, on the night of my birthday. It was fairly late at night, probably around 10 or 11pm. I was carrying my purse, and a couple of bags that had some gifts in them. My car was parked in a short driveway type pull in at the front of the house, but it didn’t lead all the way up to the house because it was surrounded on all three sides by a lot of bush-hedge type landscaping. They were all neatly trimmed, with gray rock landscaping. It must have been wintertime, because it was lightly snowing – even though in real life, my birthday is in August. As I approached my car, I was thinking to myself- ‘Wow, it is REALLY dark out here..’ The street lights were off, for some reason. And it was unreasonably dark. I guess because of the snow- the moon wasn’t even out.

I was just opening my car door, when a man’s voice demanded, ‘STOP.’ He was approaching from the sidewalk, on the other side of the car, maybe 10 meters away. His arm was outstretched and aiming a handgun at me. He looked to be in his early 30′s, maybe about 5’10″, very pale skin, short dark brown hair and a small dark mustache. He was neatly dressed- wearing a white cotton polo-type shirt, and faded blue jeans. I can’t even describe the shock and horror I felt when I saw him. You hear all the time about people getting mugged, but it’s never happened to me. “Noooo!” I kind of moaned in horror. My ipod touch is in my purse! I thought to myself. I can’t let him..” It was an unreasonable thought- but in that split second, my unfortunate instinct was to try and just get away. I threw my purse and bags into the passenger seat of my car- “Man, I’ll bust you up..” the man snarled, and rushed towards me. His voice was really deep and menacing. I slid into the driver seat and slammed the door, just as he reached the rear of the car. My hand moved to lock the door, but I was so petrified.. I felt half paralyzed, like I was moving in slow motion. My hand found the lock button just as he reached my door. I beat him by probably a quarter of a second. Keys. On the seat somewhere next to me, but I could hardly move. I could see him in the window, out of the corner of my eye. I was committed, now. Do I honk the horn, and hope he runs away? Do I try to drive away and just hope he doesn’t shoot me through the glass? My mind was racing a trillion miles an hour, all of these thoughts flying by in that next second. And terror like I’ve never experienced in my life..

Then I woke up, abruptly. My body felt like it had waves of ice cold water running over my skin, and my mind was still crystal clear from the adrenaline rush. 2:40 am. Every tiniest detail was captured in my memory. Strange, because I very rarely have nightmares. I can probably count the number of times I’ve woken up from one in my whole lifetime, on both hands. Normally, my dreams in general are very abstract. Disjointed ideas that make little sense when all put together.. and I seldom have nightmares. When I do- they aren’t really scary, on a personal level. Creepy and interesting, maybe. It’s more like watching a scary movie. Even in my dream, they usually don’t directly pertain to me. Or even if they do, it’ll be something I’ll vaguely remember when I wake up in the morning, and they’ll be so fragmented that they really don’t make a lot of sense.

This dream was bizarre. Every detail was captured so vividly, and seemed so real. I was compelled to get up immediately. Turn on every light in the house, and write it all down. Strange. The house was not familiar to me-  I don’t know anyone with a house like that. I don’t know why it was my birthday in the dream, yet it was snowing. The man didn’t really resemble anyone I know. The only parts of the dream that seemed to be mine was the car itself, and my ipod touch.

This has nothing to do with SL, obviously. But like I said.. I felt completely compelled to write this down, and this blog seemed to be the only outlet. The fear itself faded quickly. I still feel hyper alert and slightly disturbed, but not scared. It’s 3:15 AM now and I’m sipping my first cup of coffee. My cat Hunter is curled up next to me, in that half asleep, half awake state that cats are so good at. Everything feels alright, now. It was just weird.

If you read this, thanks for letting me share.

SL7B – Miraculous

Rezzed.tv

Diversity Within Unity

Asterion Coen

The Restorationists

My Chronical Of Serendipity

Identity Crisis

Eshi Otawara & M Linden - Doodle

TP to Miraculous

SL7B – Upsidedown

Metaverse TV

A Cacophony Of Influences

Starlight Park

SL Coast Guard

At The End Of The Milky Way

TP to Upsidedown

SL7B – Sideways

The Sound Is Growing

Hobo Holidays

Japanese Tradition

TP to Sideways