Is this really Linden Lab?

Eggy, how much *did* the Wells Fargo contractors get paid in total? And, respectfully, why did you do the work for a what you call a pitiful amount? I'm just fishing for details. Not meaning to offend.

As someone who was tapped to sell clothing on the Wells Fargo island, I can say how much I was promised (US$100). This was not coming from Linden Lab, but from the media company who actually hired Bedazzled to head up this project. We were also asked to sell our items for a very small amount of L$ (I believe what they recommended was to take the in-world price and divide it by 50). so the amount made in L$s has been miniscule. Incidentally, I haven't seen a penny of that $100 I was promised, and Eggy's right, putting together the island was a lot of work for everybody involved -- we all had to make multiple changes to anything put out on the island in order to suit the WF people.

I am usually one of the first people to get offended when I get a whiff of Linden favoritism or cronyism going on, so I was initially reluctant to get involved with the WF project. However, it was the Bedazzle people who approached me, not the Lindens, and apparently I was recommended strictly on the merit of my items for sale by someone I don't think I've ever even met in-world. (I was also included because I make mens' clothing, and there seems to be a dearth of that around.)

Judging by my experience with the WF project, I'm not sure I'd agree to participate in another project like this unless it was something I really, really believed in or wanted to do... or if better payment arrangements were made. It's certainly not been a cash cow for me, by any stretch of the imagination.

I think it's very dodgy for them to assign a value to the 20 basic accounts.

Companies routinely trump up monetary values when talking in intangibles; to wit, look at the "damages" that the RIAA et al. complain about due to people downloading; billions of dollars! It's common marketing to do this, as people want to perceive a value for their money.

This is even true in the most base of jobs, retail. When selling, say, a fridge, you are supposed to advocate the features of the fridge, demonstrate their usefulness, and relate it to the customer's needs. This resonates with the person, and then they're more likely to purchase that fridge.

Basic human psychology.

As an aside, my (current) opinion of this is akin to Microsoft selling the "Xbox360 Platinum Pack" with a shit-ton of games, 4 controllers, Xbox Live for 2 years, and a trained game playing monkey.

I must really be FICtastic then, cause I got a response in about ten minutes.
I guess I won't be breaking any rules or obiligations by posting an exact quotes.



and got back:



In all fairness, I wasn't expecting a response, but I'm usually the person and tries to, say, go and find out from the source , instead of speculating in the forums and letting tensions and heat build up.

So THATs why people are bitching about thier 360's crashing, causing them to 180 to Best Buy and demand a 100% refund on their $800 purchase. I think M$ has been doing a little too much 420, if you know what I'm 22'ing.

Interesting that nobody at LL has denied it yet.

*uses his Telesurfing powers to force Hanks PREVIOUS PAGE link....*

/me reviews this thread a second time, and doesn't see any posts from LL

Touche'.

Well thats what i thought and usually do so emailed, still no reply.

Burke, you mean somebody from Linden Lab actually wrote you that this auction on EBay really is Linden Lab? Please tell that I misunderstood you.

Wilder Linden here and yes the auction is for real. Please feel free to send questions and comments to me at [email]islandauction@lindenlab.com[/email]

I'll be on mail all weekend and do my best to get back with timely responses.

Sorry for the delay in posting here!

Wilder Linden

Wow. That's disappointing. $10,000 buy-out? I'm so glad I join WoW recently, cause my view of the people running this place just took an even greater nosedive.

When I agreed to do this I didnt know what I was getting into. I thought that scripting was going to play a very minor role in the island, and I didn't know they were getting $17k, or that the client was a huge corporation.
I didn't see any receipt or anything but I believe the $17k figure you digged up was correct.
This project was pitched to us as something very easy that could be done in a week, probably because LL wanted to make sure we didn't charge too much so they would easily get this contract.
Also, non technical people are very bad at stating what they want and making up their mind. There were always a lot of surprise requirements creeping up, I even had to redo the whole system from scratch a week away from the supposed deadline because they forgot to tell me that all LSL scripts and the contents of their memory would be wiped whenever they used their sim cloning tool to update the island. Even after I was supposedly done they wanted a lot of support work.

No chance you're a rouge linden going agaist the system I suppose?

Nathan, the email you sent has not arrived, and I apologize for appearing non-responsive. I'll take a look to make sure there isn't any issue with the address.

Wilder

Hmmm rogue linden has an interesting ring to it , but alas I'm simply Wilder Linden.

Ohhh thats a point.. Get them to create a "Rogue Linden" account and put Bub in control of it and make him go round bashing into people and putting up impeach bush signs..

On topic! *slaps self*

I'm really not cut out for the general forum..

LOL - please don't give Bub any more ideas!!

On topic:

To answer the question about the in world building and consulting, that is not being done by Linden Lab.

Wilder

Thanks for the information, Eggy, I appreciate you being forthcoming with the details.

Who's it being done by? I'm a registered eBay member and will ask this question through the "Ask a Seller" feature too, but I'm sure others would like to know.

Not to sound like the raving lunatic I am, but why is LL choosing eBay for such a sale? Specifically, the Real Estate section versus the computing fields?


I'll assume you've at least taken a glance at my earlier comments, Wilder. I'm extremely curious, and worried, at the calculations rendered for these numbers, including the $10,000 reserve price and included cost bundling. A $6,000 value, for example, has very shaky grounds versus what content creators are actually paid in Second Life.



I realize you're just doing your job, but I'm also curious how the decision was reached. I feel using eBay undermines the existing land structure and offers a promissory value that, other things held constant, does not reflect what the buyer is actually getting.


Finally, there are several issues regarding the listing versus the eBay terms of service.




To whit:

* Categorization - Considering this bid, "real estate" bends the rules extremely far.

* Listing an Item Outside of eBay - regarding a binding agreement of buyer to Linden Lab after terms of the sale are met.

* Item Description - the page lacks relevant links, including terms of the agreement to Linden, the Terms of Service, and the Community Standards.





As well as several ethical concerns:

* Cost Bundling without offering the complete picture

* Overaccounting value of work that is not reflected in the numbers rendered

* Miscellaneous quirks related to PayPal and virtual goods


This is the first time in a while my blood has been boiling over an issue. If the process is cleaned up, it could look to be quite fair and lucrative for Linden Lab. As it is now, I'm a bit offended by the way this has been listed.

Apologies Jeffrey, I never intended this activity to cause anyone's blood to boil If it's ok I'd love to speak with you more about this. If you don't mind shooting me a quick email to [email]islandauction@lindenlab.com[/email] so that I can contact you, I'll do my best to adress each of your concerns.

Wilder

Frankly, I'm the one that needs to apologize. I made some pretty inflammatory remarks that are effectively unfounded.

This process needs work, though, and lots of it. This is key to my concerns, and would be a really great subject for a Town Hall or Roundtable discussion.