[MUD-Dev] Criminalize Community Volunteers?

[Brian 'Psychochild' Green]

Dave Rickey wrote:

> From: Brian 'Psychochild' Green <brian at psychochild.org>

> >Now for the real rant portion of this post.=20

[snip]

>     Hey, hey, back off here.  That was a very specific response to the
> contention of "if the volunteers went away, they'd just have to hire
> people."  If they go away, the companies *can't* just hire people, not =
on
> anywhere near the same scale.

Heh, that venom wasn't entirely meant for you.  "They won't make money"
a fairly common cry from some of the stuff I've been reading.  The way
you put it is much better.

> [...]and lower their expectations, or else they'll have to be prepared
> to double their subscription fees.

Hmm.  Perhaps.

> >(Admittedly, given the wages paid in the industry, some of us do/did
> >give away part of our lives, but it at least paid the rent and bought
> >the Top Ramen.)
>=20
>     That's about all it does.  I could triple my salary tomorrow on any=
 of
> several standing job offers to go back to web server programming, with =
a
> little hunting I could make twice *that*. =20

I'm lucky, I signed up as a programmer.  That meant I merely doubled my
salary when I went outside the industry. ;)

> And development houses *don't*
> discharge people for incredibly petty reasons?  Read Fat-Babies much?

Ah, and this reveals the little man behind the curtain of my arguments.=20
The way companies treat volunteers is another symptom of what I consider
the industry's general lack of concern for people working for them.  The
same bullshit used to fuel the debates about exploiting free volunteers
is also shoveled into the engines that explain why developers get paid
so low.  "We don't make much money."  "If we had to pay more, we'd never
turn a profit!"  "If we don't turn a profit, games wouldn't get made."=20
"It's too risky to pay more."  "Listen, lackey, do what you're told and
be glad we're letting you play in our sandbox in the first place."  Any
of that sound familiar?

[snip]

> >It's sad that
> >the selfish exploitation by some of the larger companies could cause n=
o
> >end to problems for the rest of us.
>
>     Sorry, but I think that's your bitterness talking.

Yeah, but that's beside the point. :)

> Most of the people
> doing this do it because they *like* it.  If they have enhanced powers =
it's
> because they *asked* for those powers so they could do it better,

Now, I didn't say volunteers were bad.  Volunteers are a great thing!=20
They made lots of stuff on Meridian possible that we couldn't have done
otherwise.  I think we should encourage volunteers.

> if they
> have restrictions on how they can treat the customer and use their powe=
rs
> it's because the company can't endorse their efforts and grant them pow=
ers
> and *not* excercise control over what they do "on duty".

But, I cannot agree with this.  Companies should either treat people:

a) like volunteers.  Give them the power to do what will help the game,
then get out of the way.  If they are harming the game, step in and
chastise them like you would any player that is ruining the experience
for others.

b) like employees.  Set restrictions on what they can do to your hearts
content.  Just don't forget to pay them.

>     In a MUD, you can hand someone wiz powers and if they don't actuall=
y do
> anything constructive with them, you don't *care*.  In an MMOG, you can=
't
> afford to lose track of what people are actually doing with those power=
s.

Recording what they do is fine.  "I'm going to spawn monsters tomorrow
for an event.  I figure I'll do about 10 orcs."  "Sounds great!"

But, when you mandate what they do, then I think there's problems.=20
"Here's 10 orcs.  Spawn them tomorrow at an event.  If you don't, we'll
take away your powers."  See the difference?  One is empowering a
player, one is extracting free labor from the player.
=20
>     I want to give these people *more* power.  I want to give them the =
keys
> to the engines of creation, make it *their* world.  You're telling me I
> can't do that without paying them?

Certainly not!  Hopefully you've read some of what I've contributed to
the field; I'm quite in favor of giving players more options.  If you
want to give them the keys, have at it!  But, when you give them keys
and say, "Uh, build me a castle over here, and a series of ice caves up
here," then you are exploiting labor.  On the other hand, "Don't make
anything that looks like a giant penis," is covering your ass.=20
Hopefully people can see the difference here?  It's subtle at times, but
important, IMNSHO.
=20
>     That being said, I would have to agree in principle that there is a
> tendency in some quarters to think of the volunteer programs as an
> unreliable employee pool.  I can't get into specifics without getting m=
yself
> sued, though.

Heh.  That's exactly what I want to avoid.  Not just for legal reasons,
not necessarily for moral reasons, but for reasons of health for the
industry.  I'm sure some of the sharper developers out there can see
what I am getting at. ;)
=20
>     I think the way out of this is to integrate the "players helping
> players" system back into the game.  But that's going to be *very* tric=
ky.

And that's exactly what I would like to encourage, too.  Even Madrona
Tree said the same thing in the post I originally replied to.  But,
there's a difference between someone with experience helping a newbie
(that happens all the time), and a company telling a player, "I'll give
you a free account if you agree to become a verbal pi=F1ata!"

--=20
"And I now wait / to shake the hand of fate...."  -"Defender", Manowar
     Brian Green, brian at psychochild.org  aka  Psychochild
       |\      _,,,---,,_      *=3D* Morpheus, my kitten, says "Hi!" *=3D=
*
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   "They're not bugs, they're 'place-
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'    holders for code that works.'"
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)         - Andrew Kirmse, Meridian 59 creator



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