New Residents and Enthusiasm

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems that we get more and more tourists, people who came just to check what was that mentioned in the press, not real residents, not members of the community. Hopefully, I am wrong, and they will join the fun.

I think it’s actually somewhat promising that people can just “drop in” to SecondLife, to see a concert or participate in an event as that sense of presence is something unique to the experience.

There are a couple different in-world groups that all have the word “jobs” in them that I’ve used to quickly pull people in to test things before.

Madam, as an employer of some note (in the entertainment business), I am in agreement with you. Finding suitable applicants for employment requires a great deal of expenditure in the classified-advertisements facility of the world…and applicants that are both (a) competent and (b) relatively free of Drama seem to be as scarce as hen’s teeth. Those we do manage to find, of course, we do our utmost to retain in our service; however, sometimes, the dreaded monster of Drama takes time to raise its ugly head, creating undesireable stress factors. It is trying, yes, but good things rarely are easy.

I did a calculation for a treatise I am preparing and worked out that the average wages here are approximately on par with those given to the sweatshop employess in that famous scandal by the footwear maker in indochina. It is not surprising that those for whom the task itself is not enough of a reward turn their nose up at such offers.
For myself, having just come into my fortune, the task is more than enough of a reward and I place myself at your disposal should you need a target in the future.
Sincerely,
JC

Jaymin, I’ve always wondered about that. Most jobs and other non-product-generating methods of gaining money (camping, money trees, etc) seem not to be worth anywhere near the time. Especially not for folks who have the means and the leisure to get into an online world requiring a fairly solid computer and a broadband connection- that is, members of the richest 10% of the planet, give or take (statistics pulled out of whatever oriface was handy). The concept of trading “real” money for Lindenbucks is an intellectual hurdle that’s quite difficult for new residents to leap. New residents seem to place far higher value on their Lindenbucks than the Lindex exchange rates would seem to indicate. I don’t know how many folks just out of the welcome areas are sophisticated enough in the ways of SL to turn down jobs based solely on the paucity of pay.

I’m inclined to lean toward laziness and general suspicion, myself. It’s not unreasonable to expect that anyone willing to give money to a newbie, who is fresh off the boat and has no marketable skills, is looking to rip them off somehow, no matter their true intentions. (And no, Ordinal, I’m not at all saying you’re trying to rip anyone off!)

Ordinal, are you certain they realize that weapons are effectively harmless? It’s obvious to us that that lovingly crafted antique rifle or whatnot will, at worst, send us back home. But how many things are obvious to us now that utterly mystified us when we first logged in? The default setting when stepping into a new online community is distrust. And someone walking up to you and saying “I’ll give you $50L if you let me shoot you with this big honking gun…” might just give them pause. I’m sure this already occurred to you, though.

I have had the same experience, being laughed at and abused when I wished to collect some people for a test. I find that getting friends to collect friends and some of their friends is often the most effective way of finding people for tests.

Offering 500 lindens per participant certainly does attract volunteers, but may prove expensive if you need a large number.

I have set up a couple of groups for Nemesis, of willing people who will appear on demand and expect only a token reward for testing etc. I would be glad to join you to the group and enable you to take advantage of any willing testers.

I am inconsistently in world, and almost entirely in deserted areas (I am amazingly talented at going places where people are not, mostly unintentionally), but I would stand still to be shot to bits at any time for an inventor such as yourself, or to be the guinea pig for any other experiments.

As a relatively new resident who would welcome the opportunity to earn some small amount of recompense in exchange for playing with interesting toys (or being shot at by the same such toys), I cheerfully offer my services to you if you are still in need of such.

Yrs, N Rau