For the love of teaching or money? *edited to comply with T.O.S.*

The following was writen by Sleven Hathaway and posted on the forums here. It was then removed and Sleven was suspeneded. I feel that it should be here so I have edited it a bit to make it comply with T.O.S and community standards. The violation that was previously in the post was reposting chat logs of another member without their permission. Their name has been removed and what they said has been paraphrased.

Sleven Hathaway has givin me his permission to perform these edits.
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Start Sleven Post
{

The following was originally posted on TUi’s official website as I was instructed to do so by [Name Removed], [position removed] a high ranking staff member of TUi.

[Name Removed]: '....Take it to the forums if you would like to discuss it further."

[Name Removed] "You are now banned from tui.......Your thread has been remove......"
Everyone hear that? TUi will now be charging for their classes. I know that they have always been charging to some extent. But that extent was regulated. When I went through the training to become a teacher at TUi I was told the rules. One of those rules was that a teacher did not have to charge, but if they wanted to they could charge up to a maximum of 10 linden per student. Now, in the new notice it says that will not be the case anymore.

Remember TUi’s motto? I do. It was "We do it for the love of teaching." That is not the love of teaching. The love of teaching is about watching people become better at something as a direct result of your assistance. It is about helping someone reach their goals. It is about making them realize their true potential. It now seems that TUi has forgotten that. It seems that their love has been turned to money.

I brought this issue up in the group chat. It seems that a few of the staff members did not appreciate what I was saying. However, I did recieve several IM’s from people in the group telling me that they agree with what I am saying. They agree that TUi has changed.

When I first started comming to TUi, many months ago, all of the teachers were helpful, welcoming, and generally happy-go-lucky people. Now, about a week ago I saw a message that popped up in the group chat saying something along the lines of "If you give away notes from a class without the teachers permission you may be expelled from TUi". Now, I want to ask, what kind of teachers that do it for the love of teaching wouldnt want their notes spread to anyone that they can help? Isnt that what teaching is about? If you can help one person learn, then that person can help another, and so on. What kind of message does it send to the students if they are not allowed to share notes?

[name removed] accused me of using the issue as a way for me to plug my own classes. She could not be more wrong about that. I will admit, I did tell everyone that I have my own classes. I also did tell everyone to message me if they would like more info. I also did tell people that we are looking for more teachers. You know why I told everyone that? I did that FOR THE LOVE OF TEACHING. Not once have I used the group for my own gain. And I am not using it for my own gain now. I am using it for the better of all of the students in the group.

Many of the students in the group are new accounts, or free accounts, that do not have any way of generating money. What little money they do generate on their own they want to be able to use it on objects that they want to buy. They don’t want to, and can’t afford to spend money to learn how to do all of the things in Second Life.

The Second Life environment is not a very newcommer friendly venue. Sure, most of the people are kind enough, but the interface is not. How many of you spent your first few days running around bumbing into walls, or using mouselook to get a closer look at someone and running into them not realizing that it was not a zoom function. Point is that it takes time to learn. Not only that, but it takes people that want to teach.

So, I guess all I am trying to say is that I, and many other students and faculty of TUi, feel let down. We feel that we were lied to. We feel that the teachers there are not there for us. We feel that the teachers are now there for themselves.

With that said, here comes that so called "plug", as [Name Removed] would put it. I work for Skidz Partz. The creator of Skidz Primz. Actually, I cant say that I "work" for them because I dont get paid for what I do. I went to the Skidz Isle sandbox a while back and dropped some signs saying that I was there to help people. Then, I started a group for people to find someone to help them if I was not available or did not know the answer. Skidz Tweak noticed that I wanted to help people and offored me a "job" as a sandbox manager. This is a non-paying position. I simply make sure that people follow the rules in the sandbox, I assist people that need help, and I hang out with people that look bored.

Along with all of that that I do there, I will be starting to teach a class or 2 on the sandbox soon. That is really nothing new. I have been doing 1 on 1 classes for people for a long time now. The big difference now is that Skidz Partz has set up a classroom and will be letting others use the classroom for lessons. I could never even think of charging someone for one of my classes.

So, if you want more information about the Skidz Isle Mentors group you can look it up or IM me in world. Enrollment is open for anyone. When you first join the group you will be assigned to the "Skidz Isle Student" tag. If you would like a "Skidz Isle Mentor" or "Skidz Isle Scripter" tag you can send me a message and I will add you to that tag.

The group stated above is where you will find out about upcomming classes, and get to find help. Another thing that is real cool about that group is that we are all pretty laid back. We are not going to scorn you for going off topic.

Now that my little "plug" is done I want to know what the rest of you think about what TUi is doing, and how you have noticed they have changed.

}
End Sleven Post
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There is the post guys.

To the Moderator: Please do not remove this post. It now does comply with the TOS and community standards. Others were commenting on the issue and I think that we all deserve to be able to discuss the issue.

Now that this has been reposted the replies are now missing. Cat and Catherine's replys were very well put.

The gist of the posts were basically explaining what we go through and how can it be for anything but the love of teaching.

I think it was Catherines that pointed out how much $500L was equal to in RL. (And that we are luck if we make that much in a class with tips.) Considering the time, and the cost that each teacher has to put out to develop good classes.

Really, let's think here... Prices May or MAY NOT go up a little bit. Let's say a teacher goes from charging $10L for a class to a bit higher.

Did you know that $10L is $.35 in US funds?
$25L is less than $.40
and
$50L is less the $.50.

It was also pointed out that in Rl or Sl no one goes into teaching to get rich. And even with a small increase to cover cost that the teacher incurs, SL teacher will again not be getting rich. They will in fact still be lucky to cover many of their costs depending on the class.

So let's see 10+ hours of their own SL time... Money from their own pocket... Time from their SL & RL to teach... mostly because they want to... Hmmm can this possibly add up to the love of money? Certainly not in my book.

We are not asking student to pay us high prices. We are not asking them to go to debt to take one of our classes. We simply stated the price of $10 can or will go up slightly under the new policies. Perhaps giving a teacher a little chance to recover costs for the class and be able to develop a new one for the students they love to teach.

It cannot be anything else but for the love of teaching.


Holly

Below is my original response to Sleven Hathaway:

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Sleven is making some mis-statements here. I don't know if that's because he heard the policy changes second hand, because he didn't understand them or if he is intentionally obfuscating, but let me just clarify a few things.






OK, I'm not management... just another teacher (I'm posting under an alt because this account is the one I have my payment info under.) But here's what's going on.

Up until now teachers had a choice of charging 10L for their classes, teaching them FREE (entirely free... up to the vagaries of whether or not the students choose or are able to tip) or to teach their classes as Sponsored classes. Teaching sponsored classes put TUi instructors a bit better off than at many schools, as it gave us *guaranteed* income for our sponsored classes, as the sponsors payed us, whether the student did or not.

Now, most students don't realize it, but it takes a great deal of time, energy *and* money to develop and teach a class. For every one hour class they teach, a teacher may put 10s or even 100s of hours of development time into that course. I'm currently helping, *helping* to develop an advanced scripting course. Between writing, research, creating scripts and obtaining or creating textures for "slide shows", I've already devoted more than 20 hrs to that development process and a couple of hundred Lindens... and the first class of 10 isn't even completed yet. The first course I developed was a bit easier... because someone else originated the course, I've just edited, reorganized and revised it. That 6 class course only took me about 80 hrs of development time, and ran me under $1000L in tools and textures (but it was my first course, so there were a couple of big tool purchases in there.) Of course, that doesn't include the 20-30 hrs I spend teaching it each week.

For that investment of time, energy and money I recouped almost nothing my first month... because I was a student teacher and *chose* not to charge the 10L for my classes, my income was variable. Once I started having sponsors I was guaranteed enough income to cover my ongoing development expenses and to make a little more so that I could cover the land I rent. And everyone was happy. I didn't have to worry about charging my students or whether or not they would think to tip, and students thought they were getting a 'free ride' and had lots of fun.

The changes that are being made are *not* that we have to charge... the change that is being made is that TUi, as a school, is no longer going to obtain sponsors for individual instructors. As it turns out, administration *VOLUNTEERS* were spending large numbers of hours obtaining sponsors, distributing vouchers, keeping the teachers honest (because, believe it or not, some people are dishonest, and would do things like *not* teach their class, and then try to claim their money anyway... imagine that! Dishonest people in SL?!?!), getting vouchers back (even honest people are not always good with paperwork... but even if they don't turn their paperwork in they want to get paid), getting money from the sponsors and then distributing it to the teachers. In other words, TUi was doing the very same thing that *any* employer does... acting as a middle man between their "consumers" (in this case the sponsors) and the employees... But remember, the people who were doing *all* this work were volunteers.

Well, eventually the camel's back broke... which always happens when too few volunteers are shouldering too much work. The solution that TUi's management came up with is *not* unreasonable, and Mr. Hathaway has misstated it entirely. Essentially they made two major changes in the way that *instructors* are getting paid for their work. 1) The responsibility to obtain sponsors (if they desire to teach sponsored classes) now rests with the individual instructor. TUi will give us information and guidelines to help us, but they are no longer going to play middle man for us. If we want to teach sponsored classes, we have to obtain the sponsors, demonstrate we've taught their classes if need be, and get paid directly. And 2) we now are free to charge, *or not charge* for our classes as we see fit (or as we feel the 'market will bare.') Which means that if we do not want to do the extra work (on top of what we're already doing) to obtain a sponsor to get paid, then we have a full range of options - all the way from 'FREE' (and hope someone values me enough to tip me) or whatever price we think that the class is worth - or that we think someone will pay.

So, does this mean that we aren't doing it for the love of teaching? That we're money obsessed? Let's be real. I taught a two hour class last night. Including what my sponsor is paying I made a grand total of less than 400L... So (ignoring the development time, costs, setup and take down time, and hassels with a griefer I had to endure), I made less than $1USD an hour...

Could it be anything *but* love?

So... to summarize, and simplify....


The reason that TUi has made these changes is simple:
Volunteers were spending 100s of hours a week managing the sponsorship program, and it wasn't working for them... especially since some of them came to TUi "for the love of teaching" and they were *so* caught up in managing the business end of things that they didn't have enough time to teach.

The fact that that TUi has made these changes does not imply *in any way* that the teachers love teaching any less. Yes, it makes it harder on the teachers, as we'll have to either manage our own "business" end of things, or we'll have to accept that all the time, energy *and money* we toss into this game is play, and not expect any return on our investment beyond the simple joy of teaching.

And finally, yes, it *may* make it a bit 'harder' on the students... but the other side of that is that it *may* require students to be a bit more realistic about education in SL - and accept responsibility for the amount of time, energy and money they're taking away from someone else. I'm sure that there will always be classes which are still "free" to the students, but perhaps having classes where we charge something a little less obscenely miniscule will begin to communicate the *value* of the work your teachers have devoted to making your game more fun for you.

Robert Heinlein was famous for the term TANSTAAFL... There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch... perhaps this is an opportunity for people to learn that this is true, even in SL.

And, all that said... I now must be off... You see, I'm teaching another 2 hr class tonight and must not be late
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And thus ended my original post...

Ironically enough, must be off again so that I can *teach* (again) tonight... got *2* 2 hour classes to teach tonight... so have been in world for 2 hrs now, will have devoted a minimum of 7 hr to teaching tonight. Last night's "haul" including tips and sponsorship fees was just over 500L... whoo, hoo! I'm a millionaire! That was for a total of almost 4 hrs work.

Sleven mentioned that he took the TIC program. What he didn't mention is what an *excellent* program TIC is, that your TIC certificate can be used to demonstrate that you're a qualified instructor *anywhere* in SL, and that most of our TIC graduates *still* choose to teach here at TUi. Two of the benefits for doing so is that they are refunded 1/2 of the $4000L fee for this *professional* careeer preparation program if they teach here, and, until now, they had the option to earn that guaranteed money I spoke about earlier. Now they have to get their own sponsors if they want to teach sponsored classes, and they can charge what they wish *if* they choose to charge. If they wish to just rely on tips, or just charge $10L, as was done in the past, they can do that as well

I have no idea whether Sleven's beef is sour grapes over the fact that the 'guaranteed money' he thought he might earn is now something that he'd have to work for personally, or if he's just trying to libel the competition. I've only seen him in my classes once, so I don't know where he's coming from. I do know that the only thing that has changed at TUi is that if instructors want someone *else* to pay for your classes (i.e., want a sponsor), then they have to obtain one themselves, *and* if they choose to ask *you* to pay for what you're recieving instead, then they have the *freedom* to decide how much their time, energy, materials and commitment are worth. We didn't have that freedom before. And with that freedom comes the *responsibility* for making our own decisions on pricing.

And as for you, as students (and 'consumers'), you have the choice of deciding whether the value that the instructor places on their time, energy, commitment, materials and creativity are worth what they're asking, or whether they aren't. As far as I'm concerned, the *quality* of education is so far underpriced that it's not even humorous... but then I value the time, energy and commitment of my fellow teacher. Perhaps you do not. Obviously Sleven does not.

When developing a new class --- Here's a bit about what I go through . . .

I spend time making the build. Then I find or create textures for it. Each texture upload is $10L. Then I spend time creating a second build to perfect it. Next I spend painstaking time to create the notes for the build. I build it again from the notes to make sure I didn't miss something. Did I make sure what direction I was facing when building as this affects the rotations? Did I account for the quirks of a script? Did I check to see if the repeats per face had to be changed on the texture tab?

Then I have a friend build it from the notes to see if I forgot anything or if anything else needs clarification. Did I make the notes fit the build or the Level I decided it should be? Do I need screenshots to use as slides in my class? If so, there's $10L per slide in an upload fee, again.

My class is then submitted to be approved by TUi management. Lastly, I may or may not *mock* my class to see if it needs any further adjustments, depending on it's complexity.

By the time I teach a new class, I have spent many hours on it, perfecting it. I have also spent anywhere from $0 to $100L or more in upload fees.

So, while I may have to charge a bit for a class going forward - it will not be so astronomical that a new avie can't afford it. The number of upload fees on supplies will dictate the cost of the class.

First of all you do not HAVE to upload custom textures to do these classes. From what you said those are the only costs that you incur. What a texture looks like does not help pass more information at all. The content in the class is what matters. How you teach it is what matters. I have done many many classes for people. I have many mentorees that I have tought how to build. Not once did I need to spend a cent to teach them.

As far as how long the preperation takes, nobody says that it doesnt take time. It definatly does take time to put together a well thought out and well executed class. But that does not mean that you need to charge for it. If I put together a class and I take my time on it my payment is the thanks that I get from someone that learned something. My payment is when they are teaching someone else later down the road.

Even if you did NEED to upload those textures for your class, you are an older account I am sure, is 100L really that much for you? I dont think so. But, go to help island and ask the noobs there how much money they have. Betchya most will have less than 50.

If you are going to do it "for the love of teaching" then do it for that reason. If you are going to charge for it then drop your fake motto.

That statement proves Sleven right when he said that you guys are doing it for the money now. Not for the students.




You teaching at TUi was not supposed to be treated as a job. It was supposed to be treated as a gift to the rest of the students. Yes, you spent time on your classes. But, you are the one that signed up for the position knowing very well that there was a 10L cap on pricing the classes until you got to the pro level courses




So what you just said right there is that you got nothing back on your investment. And that is the problem. You say that you are there for the love of teaching. If you were truly there for the love of teaching then you would have realized that you did get a lot back on your investment. If you are too blind to see that then I pity you.



Oh yes. We know that there are dishonest people in SL. You keep complaining about all of the work you have to do, yet YOU ARE THE ONES THAT SIGNED UP FOR IT!



I dont see how Sleven said anything that was not correct. He said that the cap had been removed on the classes. He did not say that teachers HAD to charge. He said that they were not going to be regulated on how much they could charge. Close to the end of the statement above you said what you are hoping for out of the class. You are hoping for the money.



Wow. I couldnt describe you guys any better than you just did for yourself. Thank you so much for that. You are not seeing our point here. And that is the issue.

I had to delete the rest of your post because you simply kept on repeating yourself over and over again. let me summarize:

You spend alot of time doing something that you VOLUNTEER for.
Sometimes you spend some of your own money on something you VOLUNTEER for.
Sometimes you have to deal with griefers for something you VOLUNTEER for.

Do i need to continue? I think you see the trend there. You volunteered for somthing, and now you want to be reimbursed for it.

Yep, you pretty well just confirmed what sleven said. He did not give us any bad information at all. Thanks for clearing that up

This is Second Life. People come here to do what they want. They chose to spend their RL freetime volunteering to teach people. Nobody is going to feel sorry for them when they have to invest time into their classes.

Giving us dollar values for how much you guys are making just goes to show that you guys are thinking about the money. Sure, you arent going to get rich doing it. And, if you claim that the ammount is so little anyways, and you claim that you do it for the love of teaching, then why bother even charging? If you do charge then you are saying to some of the people "sorry, your broke. I dont want to teach you".

I'm just curious to know whether or not this new policy at TUI is due to the fact that there are now many 'classes in a box'...tutorials for sale now both inworld and on the various websites...maybe it's a case of 'if there's money to be made in education..then why not'.....

Nevertheless, I've been to a few classes and always found them to be informative...and I'm sure each instructor is different, but out of the classes that I have attended, the textures received were very freely available ones in SL and most definitely not custom.

I've no doubt that instructors spend many hours developing their class content and it's appreciated by a lot of students, but as other posters in this thread have said.....it's a 'Volunteer' position.

I don't think it's the amount that may be bothering people, but the principle....the new policy really doesn't fit in with the 'we do it for the love of teaching'...

Well many are asking for tips but then again as you said they only do it for money and not the love of it.....

TUi has been a great example of how good the teachings systems works, i can`t say that about other teaching locations around second life (well they say they are for newbies). But its just as you said for those wanting to make money.....Oh the classes ar for free but tipping 250l per class is alot these days to a newbie.

Change is inevitable, and it is inevitable that when there is a change, some people will get upset. I believe that is what happened to Mr. Hathaway and perhaps to his friend Mr. (Ms?) Aeon, too.

In any case, I welcome the change. Teachers at TUi aren't volunteers. They never were. When there was a call going out for student teachers, it was as a paying job, not as a volunteer position. Let's at least get that straight.

Cheers.
- Reghan.

They definatly are volunteers. Go apply to become a teacher. You will have to take a couple of classes, and then go through some homework type of projects that include modifying a plushy, creating a class based on a topic that you are givin, mocking a class, and a few other things. You are not paid at all by TUi. I believe it was HappyHolly that said that above when she said TUi is nolonger playing the middle man with sponsors. TUi does not pay the teachers for their classes. I don't know if that is different for the management positions, but we are not talking about the managers here.

Sad that TUI and apparently it's staff have gone so far downhill, it seems to have all started when it was sold (that's when the whole professional classes etc... started and charging for higher level classes) it used to be really about the education, the teachers didn't expect to get paid most didn't even expect to get tipped but were happy if one of their students became successful and doubly so if one of their students became successful and taught or passed some of that knowledge along I guess places like NCI and The Shelter are the only two places where people actually help new residents for the sake of helping new residents anymore.

I couldnt have said it any better myself.

Incase you all didnt notice my suspension is up.

Thanks Antec for reposting this for me after [name removed] went back on her word and had me suspended because she didnt like what i was saying. appreciate it


Im here to stay

laughs..If TUI is bad hate to see how bad those other locations are.........It was not to long a thread about those learning center had people asking for tips over 250l per instruction.......Now if that not bad i don`t know what is

Antec:

I am a teacher. At TUi.

I had not thought about that, but it does sound like that could be the case.


There is actually (or used to be) a "teachers lounge" at TUi that has resources for teachers in it. In the resources section there are scripts and textures that are for the teachers to use while putting together a class. If they use textures from outside of that they need to A) be the creator or B) have written permission from the creator to use it. I have never taken a class at TUi that had a custom texture being used in it. I am not saying that they do not exist, I am saying that they are few and far between.


That is exactly what I am trying to get them to realize.

And? What is your point?

What does it matter to you? It wasn't posted to you, was it?

There are some advantages, to having a messy inventory.

I found this in my old folders, a notecard with class announcements dated June 23, 2007.

"We are hiring new instructors..
You don't have to know ALL about SL to become one either. And the best part! You make MONEY "

To my possibly limited knowledge, volunteers do not make money.

thank you

What is getting strange about this thread is the bashing of TUI.............and the promoting of those other locations. Frankly TUi has a better record then then the rest.

I'm going to go on record here and say that I used to but due to these changes (and some rl stuff i'll not go into) no longer teach at TUi.

Having said that I also want to go on record to say that the people who volunteer to keep TUi running put in many hours which arent seen - that in my book makes them volunteers. I know because I used to be one. To them I applaud you and you know who you are.

Teaching is hard work - work not volunteering. You work hard creating a class, doing the notes, setting up your classroom, getting all your supplies together and so on. It is not unusual for many hours to be spent doing this. Personally I feel that it is nice for these teachers to get tipped - in lindens, thanks or perhaps a free gift.

Teaching is also a job where griefing happens and where many people do not bother to even remotely thank you infact challenge your teaching style, your class and so forth. It pretty much is a thankless job. I often wonder if those challengers had to teach a class for 20 people with ims filling up their screen, someone yelling at them and still trying to keep focus how would they cope?

Yes they do not have to teach but many do it because they love seeing a new person learning really basic skills from rezzing a prim (how many of us remember how hard that was in the beginning), to understanding position is not size (omg i've just lost my prim! I just changed 3 numbers!) to get it any texture at all (loves torley's textures).

Why I left was because I was teaching sponsor classes where the student would not be required to pay a charge to attend but I was also getting some income and that option was removed and removed with zero notice or discussion. Its not the money which mattered to me because when I DJ I do it because I love music although tips are nice and when I teach I do it because I love to see people progress although the tips (especially when people give you gifts like clothes they have made which is much nicer for me than receiving lindens) are nice too. Why I left really was the lack of discussion on huge changes which took place.

When things change you have 3 roads to take - 1) say nothing, 2) discuss and try to compromise, 3) leave and find another way. I am not the type to say nothing and option 2 was removed therefore I took road 3.

I will miss TUi however I intend to be a student there where once I was a teacher and volunteer. I wish the teachers there all the best from my heart and I hope I will be seeing you around classes and outside. I wish the students good luck in your learning processes - things do get easier I promise! I wish the badmouthers compassion and empathy with the teachers and students (even if not with the management).

Teaching should be something we are passionate about. When you have that passion try to remember the students and your own reputation because although change might be something you can not control how you react to that change defines the person.

Oh and as a side I volunteer in RL. Volunteers generally get compensated for fair expenses - travelling, food, hotel accommodation etc. If you take the compensation it is up to you however it is still offered more often than not. Or at least it is where I live. So to volunteer does not mean you suddenly have to spend every penny or linden you own doing so. Nor should you have to.

I gave a few scripting lessons on my land and I noticed it tooked me a lot of time to prepare the slideshows, the topics, the chat, the theory, examples, etc. It took me several hours during the week, and after that giving the 2 hours lesson. So, people needs money...you know a human needs to eat and that stuff.

What I don't like is that thing "You should tell the owner before giving a class", that's just silly.

But I don't see nothing bad to charge 10L, (that's not even a penny in RL for a 2 hours class). I think the OP overreacted a little with the money thing.

I don't know about all the insides of TUi, the problem I see is that it's very big and you can't control all the things that are being taught. For example: I went only once to a scripting lesson on TUi to see how they teach, and the teacher said that LSL was an Object Oriented Programming Language...
wich is far away from being truth.

Is not a problem of how much you charge for a lesson, but it is a problem its content. Instead of amount of teachers, they should get less and good teachers.

But 'Unviersities' in SL are very complex to make them good. Teaching is something that takes RL time and a real teacher can't spend several hours a week for earning half a dollar or less, s/he needs to eat.

Why are you applying real life needs to a virtual world? The money that you make in second life (for MOST people) has nothing to do with putting food on your table. You choose to spend your FREE TIME in a virtual world as a HOBBY. Not as a living.


I do not see anything wrong with charging 10L either. What i see the problem with is the fact that the 10L cap has been removed on how much a teacher is allowed to charge. Removing that cap goes against their motto of "we do it for the love of teaching". The staff at TUi still claim that they do it for just that reason. However, if you read the posts you will see that all of them are saying that they deserve to be paid for their work. That tells everyone that they are not there just for the love of teaching. Maybe they should change their motto to "We do it for the love of teaching as long as we can recoup our costs and maybe make a little extra money".



We are not talking about Real Life teachers here. We are talking about real people that have chosen to spend their free time here. They do not need to make money from teaching in order to feed themselves. If that is the reason that they have for it then I wonder how they can afford an internet connection.

Umm...maybe it is the fact that you are posting on a public forum that is used for discussion of all involved. If you want to have a private conversation maybe you should consider taking it to an email.

Again, you are saying much of the same things that other staff members are saying. You all want to be reimbursed for your time spent on the courses. In that effect you are putting a monetary value on your time. Whether or not you are applying a large price to your time is not the issue. The issue is, as I have said many times, that you claim one thing and then go with another. (This is not directed only at you as you have left TUi as a result of the changes, it is directed toward the comment)

As for what you said abour real life volunteering, that is a big difference. If you go to volunteer in a large disaster area, katrina for example, you incur many large costs. Some of those include time off from work, food, lodging, gas to get there, gas to get back, and many other expenses. When you come into second life those costs do not apply. This is not real life. You all need to stop comparing SL to RL. They simply do not relate.