[MUD-Dev] paying volunteers

[Chris Lloyd]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Nicholas Daley
> Sent: 21 September 2000 06:37
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] paying volunteers
>
> Matthew Mihaly wrote:
> >
> > We pay our Guides in credits. Since paying the Guides in credits doesn't
> > cost us money (though it does cost us potential money from those
players),
> > it seems that we could pay the Guides minimum wage in credits, (which is
> > still 6x what they get now, as what they get now is a token  thank you)
and
> > not run afoul of the law if these OSI and AOL wankers win their
> > suit. It's not actually an expense, as they cost nothing to produce.
> >
> > Any comments on this? Seems a potentially good strategy for other
> > companies.
>
> This would be the equivalent of being aid in kind (e.g. given vegetables
> for work at a grocers), and I'm fairly certain that employees (i.e.
> people being paid for their work, which is what you'd be turning your
> guides into) are legally entitled to be paid with cash, not in kind.
>

Yes - I quite agree. I was going to say 'I agree, but no one is going to sue
your company for paying them in kind instead of in money'. Unfortunately as
we all know - There ARE people out there who would do that. And there are
plenty of lawyers who would be happy to help take you to court over it. It
only takes one person to cause trouble.

However, ask the question 'Do we need to pay our helpers a lot of money?'.
The original problem was on AOL, when their volunteers complained they were
not paid enough (at all?). So, if that is the case, you might give the
volunteers better 'gifts'. As I see it, what helpers are given is a token of
appreciation, not a payment of any sort (like having a gold card or a key to
the VIP restroom).

But if you have a group of helpers that do not complain, work fairly well,
why bother? I know a MUSH where you get a bigger quota (rooms, items etc
that you can build) for being a helper. The job involves patrolling
roleplay, advising newbies and generally keeping the place tidy. No one
complains that they don't get enough, so it doesn't get changed.

C.




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