Is this stuff legal to buy? 250,000 a bolt

[RaDian FlGith]

It wouldn't mater if they sued or not It is The Program was Illegal to US labor laws. You can Volunteer for a non profit but the last time I checked Ea is a for profit corporation. The same thing happen to AOL too they lost their volunteer program.

Thank you, oh great interpreter of the laws...

But no, the program was not illegal. EA reacted to the garbage that went on with AOL which a former Shard Lead Councilor (who was being paid for her work) decided to take a stand for one of her friends who was "wronged" by not getting whatever promotion he felt he deserved or whatever it was.

There's a bunch of balogna rumors and stories about the program. EA didn't start treating its volunteers like crap until the lawsuit was filed. Prior to that, things were just fine. But as with any program, favoritism crept in, and basically a few bad volunteers ruined it for everyone else.

This is one of those fine lines where EA giving players the tools to help each other out was a good idea. Honestly, they'd have been better off charging us for the right to be a Councilor and made an application process for the account.

Some of us enjoyed helping other players very much.

Some of us lost sight of why we volunteered in the first place and tried to cash in on it.

In no case was EA exploiting anyone.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Actually, iirc, it was a parent that noticed their not-legal-to-be-working-child doing it, and it cause a couple of red herring flags to go up.

Not even close. And if that had been the case, then the children should have been responsible for their own actions, which would have included forging documentation proving they were at least 18 years of age.

 

[Landicine]

I was a counselor before the program died, and I didn't sign on the the class action suit when I got a letter about it. I had chosen to give my time to the community. However, I was also a mediocre counselor since I didn't treat it like a job. I worked when I felt like it since this was before the shifts, and I stopped doing it after a few rude players. Knowing human nature as I do, the program was only going to keep the martyrs and the people on powertrips in the long haul. Normal people are going to burn out on such thankless volunteer work. In the end, EA was probably going to have to pay people anyway, legal action or no, or be stuck with a system that alienated more players than it helped.

Also, people complain about lawyers until they need one, and a good number of law suits aren't frivolous. Companies do break the law from time to time, especially labor laws. In this case, we can debate it back and forth, but I support the right of someone to sue even when I think the case is foolish/pointless/crap. Also, a lot of these cases get tossed out.

Also for this case, wasn't some special coding involved to make slimes dye things? Surely, that wasn't done by a volunteer as well? If so, that person is pretty freakin' cool.

 

[NewThunder]

Also for this case, wasn't some special coding involved to make slimes dye things? Surely, that wasn't done by a volunteer as well? If so, that person is pretty freakin' cool.

I do not see any reason why they could not apply the code to the other shards, they is no need for and EM's or seers for this event. Clearly certain shards are given better marketing then others.

 

[Spree]

Thank you, oh great interpreter of the laws...

But no, the program was not illegal. EA reacted to the garbage that went on with AOL which a former Shard Lead Councilor (who was being paid for her work) decided to take a stand for one of her friends who was "wronged" by not getting whatever promotion he felt he deserved or whatever it was.

There's a bunch of balogna rumors and stories about the program. EA didn't start treating its volunteers like crap until the lawsuit was filed. Prior to that, things were just fine. But as with any program, favoritism crept in, and basically a few bad volunteers ruined it for everyone else.

This is one of those fine lines where EA giving players the tools to help each other out was a good idea. Honestly, they'd have been better off charging us for the right to be a Councilor and made an application process for the account.

Some of us enjoyed helping other players very much.

Some of us lost sight of why we volunteered in the first place and tried to cash in on it.

In no case was EA exploiting anyone.

Then please send me the regualtions so I can hire workers to work for free.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Then please send me the regualtions so I can hire workers to work for free.

Specify your classification of "workers," what they're going to be doing, and just exactly how you're going to be using them.

UO Councilor were not "workers." The 6 hours a week "schedule" was to ensure that there were Councilors available at all times of the day. I went from Councilor to Assistant Senior Councilor to Training Lead and Senior Councilor just fine putting in the time I felt was appropriate, and never felt taken advantage of.

Now, I won't say what EA did to the Councilor program in the end -- having us train our own replacements -- was proper. I will say that it was a direct result of the lawsuit though, which, as I recall, never got much of anywhere.

The fact is, Councilors were providing a service to other players, not to Electronic Arts. How can I say that? Because -- exactly as I predicted back then -- EA continues to go on, and UO continues to go on, without the Councilor program in place. Was it better with the program? Yes. We the players were able to benefit other players. Did it affect EA's profitability? Not in the least (except maybe a few pissed off Councilors quit the game, but that's unlikely too, because those of us that were good Councilors were Councilors because we enjoyed playing the game).

And yeah, I personally had to tell a couple of people they weren't cut out for the program; but my standpoint was being able to help out other players in a kind, friendly tone, regardless of how the players were treating them. I have an extensive Customer Service background, and so that was the method of my training.

However, if I needed a week off from Counciling, if I wanted a break, if I missed a shift, no one was there waiting to fire me. Because I did the other end of things people seem to forget to do. I communicated with my team.

This "job" that people complain about did not require anyone to work 40 hours a week. If someone put in 40 hours, it was because that's what they wanted to do. If a Shard Lead put in 40 hours, it was because he or she failed to delegate responsibility. My Shard Lead had faith and trust in his Senior Councilor team, and we Senior Councilors had faith in our Assistant Seniors, and so we definitely didn't see our Shard Lead anywhere near to 40 hours a week.

THe problem with the woman who decided to file lawsuit is that she saw an (AOL) opportunity, and decided to take it because she was about to be let go from her position for other reasons, most of which a lot of us were not privy to, but which any of us at the SRC level were quite aware existed. She took her vengeance out on the program, and it got dismantled. And EA and UO went on just fine without us.