[MUD-Dev] End of volunteers?

[Peter]

	AOL uses volunteers to patrol its chat rooms and rewards them with free 
accounts. The big three (EQ, AC, UO) do something much like this in 
which volunteers help settle disputes (and much more) in exchange for 
free accounts and lots of little perks. Some disgruntled AOL volunteers 
have started a class-action lawsuit (due for trial around spring) 
charging that this practice violates minimum wage laws, exploting the 
volunteers. In response, Origin is dropping their volunteers.
	A long and interesting article is available here: 
http://www.avault.com/articles/getarticle.asp?name=smurfs

	What it doesn't mention though, is small muds. There are only a handful 
of muds out there that don't survive on volunteers in the form of 
immortals or guides. I'd also guess that there are few muds that could 
afford to pay staff. While muds are not typically run by for-profit 
corporations, they're also not often run by 501(c) non-profit 
organizations. This impending case may mean much to the mud community.






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