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I’m no expert in economics and I’ll state that upfront. I am, however, a business professional providing consulting services to corporate and public clients, something I’ve been doing for twenty years. In my recent blog on RL vs. SL™ vs. Physical World vs. Atomic World, the question of fair value was brought up by JetZep Zabelin. It’s been a practice by many, not all, entrepreneurs and established corporations to pay people in virtual worlds using the inworld currency and “virtual world goods” pricing --devaluing their work a great deal. You often see things like “Come work for us and get your name on everything!” or “Respond to this RFP, we’re going to pay you nothing but you’ll get a lot of recognition!” Ugh. I’ve prepared detailed scopes of work using project management systems for task order management, workload balancing, scheduling, budgeting and cost estimating. I write contracts with everyone and require hourly rates or lump sum agreements, tax information, nondisclosure and non-compete agreements. My point is that as businesses, we have to be, and should be, corporately responsible. We’re entering into agreements with professionals that perhaps we’ve never met face-to-face, but value for their work and responsible performances. So, pay them. Pay going rates. Businesses can’t expect someone they contract with to deliver if they don’t, nor do they have any legal grounds for recourse. Today’s rate for 100,000 Linden Dollars (virtual currency in Second Life) at an exchange rate of L$ 263.92 per US $1.00 is equivalent to US $378.90. This translates to US $9.47 per hour, in a 40 hour work week. Most administrative assistants are paid much more than that—US $29,263 annually if they’ve less than a year of experience (see http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Administrative_Assistant/Salary) this is approximately US $14.06 p/hour. I don’t remember any time in the last 20 years when a good graphics artist or programmer was paid $9.47 per hour. As I stated in an earlier blog on identity and transparency (see http://www.world2worlds.com/index.php/blogmenu/69) the IRS has already begun the process of determining that those working in virtual world environments can be classified as “part-time employees” as demonstrated with Electric Sheep. I’m sure that sooner or later, subcontracting work to people working within virtual worlds will be investigated, if not by the IRS, then by another branch of government (you pick, there are SO many). For those working in virtual worlds—you know you’re talented and your work is worth X dollars an hour to you and the industry. Charge it. Stop giving it away. In John Jainschigg’s blog at http://www.zzomg.com/ he states “If this analogy is meaningful -- what changes the picture?” In my opinion, three things: 1) the IRS (or other government agency); 2) Corporate responsibility -- awareness of employment and contracting law, and 3) the individuals that realize their value and charge for their work. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on this subject. I know there are many more points I’ve not covered here—I don’t know if they can be covered by one person in a short blog. Second Life® and SL™ are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.
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I've finally articulated something like a reply (no html in comments? Link is http://sophtopia.blogspot.com/2008/07/digital-colonialism-and-digital.html) - please bear in mind that it's preliminary and amateur, and meant with the deepest fondness and respect.
I'd love to keep this discussion going - there's a lot in these issues, and a lot I'd like to learn.