Unskilled jobs? Pay volunteers first.

Robin says they are brainstorming non-skilled jobs.

This is a no-brainer, folks. We have good people volunteering many hours a week to help new residents. I will be very disappointed if Linden Lab hands out some Turd Polishing, money-chair esque jobs if they also leave the volunteer corps -- one that keeps their service accessible -- unpaid.

There are some economic implications involved here -- but no more so, I suspect, than coming up with Linden-sanctioned replacements for money chairs.

The only snag I suspect we'd hear about is the legal trouble involved with paying for previously volunteer work (As happened with AOL and their host users back in the 90's).

Come on. Would it really be okay with all of us if some of the most unthanked people in SL got passed over on getting the hookup while some silly, valueless job was invented solely to line people's pockets? Volunteers put very, very real gifts into our world, in the form of informed newbies.

That's very special.

I thought it would be cool if people could be assigned to be a new user's mentor / guardian angel and they got paid 1000 L$ if that new user stayed on to be a full time user and 2500 L$ if they stayed on as a premium member.

Kinda like the program they have in place right now, but you got paid.

That's an awesome idea, though I'm sure it would take some cleverness to make sure it wasn't gamed. Credit card comparison would be the obvious answer, yet now that PayPal accounts are in the mix, wtf can you do?

Someone (not me) is going to bring up the problem of having people who volunteer for the wrong reasons, because they want to make L$, not foremost because they want to help. But, conversely, I see no reason why—like in some Christmas movies—someone could start off greedy and then grow a bigger heart wanting to help others.

Well, since new users would be randomly assigned, I think it would be really hard to game.

Plus, if you pay for premium membership (say a couple of months) there would be no value in gaming.

LL of course would be diverting new users to mentor people who had high conversion rates for new users to premium, as well, so simply trying to make money off getting people to stay on basic wouldn't really help you.

Finally, all dialog between new users and mentors would be recorded for spot checking and things like "lets go talk in IM or call me ###" would be immediate grounds for 'termination'.

That's definitely a very valid concern, Torley. I'd imagine an anonymous rating system might help with that sort of thing. If you're an ass to your newbies and don't help them, hopefully you'd get drummed out in pretty short order.

In any case, providing help and guidance isn't easy -- I think the challenges involved would discourage the sorts of people you're talking about in the first place. I hope?

Heh, interesting. I think that's a good idea, too.

Maybe the best bet is a sort of tiered round-robin system? If you're better at conversions than others, you ascend into higher tiers and then get round-robined newbies among others in your tier. Higher converters get better L$, maybe?

Yes, inshort, I would hope any longterm grind would expose a true character.

(I'm speaking as someone who left the Mentor group because I didn't think I was being helpful enough.)

Yeah absolutely, you don't want to ruin the quality mentor by overloading them with too many new users.

Torley, if you were chatting with just one person, once a month, you did more in that month for the cause of Second Life than I have done in six.

Get back in that group.

Awwws thanxies, I can't agree, but if you say so! Whelp I did send in another application awhile ago, we'll see how it goes!

My mentor in there was a greedy french bastard who was only in it for the money. When they stopped paying in There he left and came here and I so did I. He might have done it for money, but he was a great mentor. My beloved Frenchie Owen Khan

Really people in it for the money might work hard to keep the job and keep the money. Almost everyone on the planet has a job because they need the money not for the sheer joy. Utopias are for books. Money makes the world go round.

Oh, Eboni, you will hear no argument on any of that from me.

I think what gave me pause is more "Money Chair Syndrome." Being troubled that someone would put forth lackluster effort with an expectation of monetary reward. Hopefully performance-based compensation would alleviate that sort of problem.

"Yes it's money that will make the monkey dance"

It's a nice thought, but the creation of unskilled jobs will not eliminate the zombies in the chairs. There is performance based compensation right now.

I like blaze's idea, but would argue that it is not unskilled labor.

You've told me part of this story before... as you mentioned yourself, however, money wasn't the sole factor here. As a YUGE fan of Trump, if you have great apprentices and a lot of $ (or in this case, L$), I'm fine with the AND approach—as opposed to any "OR" approach. I've also known teachers who were in it for the money, and quite frankly, lousy at sharing their teachings. Or, kept on looking at the clock as they were being paid by the hour.

Unskilled in terms of what you would otherwise need to succeed in SL. There are skills in terms of communication and patience, but we all have those to one extent or another.

I really like this mode of reward system for otherwise-unskilled residents because it gives them a reward for legimately helping the community. If someone wants to enjoy the rewards of my community while giving nothing to it at all, well, I'm not going to feel very bad if we lose such people. A community is based upon mutual contribution, not exclusive Gimme behavior.

As for completely solving the problem of the chairs? That's another cat to be skinned.

I think when she said "brainstorming low-skilled jobs" she was talking about something on the order of the money chairs, i.e., something that pretty much pays peanuts, but does give the new or basic member a productive way to earn a few extra bucks.

These would be good for those who have no particular SL skills, particularly new players, who would be in no position to volunteer as helpers yet, anyway.

I'm pretty sure paying volunteers/helpers is a whole different kettle of fish, involving things like you mentioned, as with AOL.

This would probably be something "game"-like, in the same way as stipends are part of the "game," rather than actually paying people for their actual skills.

coco

Isn't there already a financial incentive for getting people to stay and buy land - namely selling or renting them that land?

Perhaps the cost of paying volunteers to get others to go premium and buy land should be born by the land sellers, land renters, and others who benefit from that.

Voluntarily, of course, as they see fit to do with their own resources, not done by the Linden virtual government.

Paying volunteers makes them not be volunteers. People who want to teach for pay are free to charge for doing so if they wish.

No need for Linden aid if you are content with the results the market brings.

How about we set up payouts based on learning SL skills at OI and HI? Figure out how to put on clothes from your inventory - earn $25L Figure out how to how to rez, rotate and link a cube - earn $25L and so forth.

I'm sorry, but the only way LL should be handing out money is for newbie building contests.... have several daily and make them easy.

LOL, then you haven't talked to Owen. Money indeed was the lone factor unless the airbrush of time has changed the story.


Our wonderful friendship isn't based on money but mutual bitchiness.

Right. And doing that while giving volunteers nothing is really crappy.



Within two weeks of being in SL, you already know more than enough to provide basic assistance for movement, exploration, avatar customization, and other things. Particularly if you, yourself, have been given a thorough introduction.

I don't think that a policy of rewarding people for doing nothing of value is sustainable or justifiable, especially in light of the amazing work that is basically donated to Linden Lab by their most enthusiastic users. I already know that the objections I'm going to read in this thread are going to boil down to "But, you want people to actually work for this money? What if they don't want to?"

It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for a virtual dollar.

Torley, we need you !!! I'm glad to read further down that you have resubmitted. I have found new inspiration for my secondlife since the advent of Help Island. It is a joy working with a new person without badger badger and pushguns and being thanked for that help afterwards.

Enabran thanks for this thread. I'm not sure where I stand on the payment issue. I like volunteering because I recall my early days and how bewildered I was. If I can keep one person a week from experiencing that bewilderment I am happy.

Wouldn't the others here include LL by way of land sales and tier payments?

It kind of bothers me to pay people to learn. Paying people to teach, mentor and perform services as put forth by the OP is a definite step in the right direction. Maybe on the teen grid, but paying to attend adult education is enabling the entitlement mentality at the root of this and other issues.