Last week I was briefed by Kelly Services on the addition of a corporate HQ in Second Life. Kelly already have an presence in the virtual world, but are extending their efforts this quarter. The thing that stands out most about this more traditional corporate build for me, is the idea of using campers as a positive force.
In the picture above, you can see Dr. 57 performing a tricky operation with the assistance of nurse Dave and nurse Somo -- the "workstation", which animates participants avatars to simulate real life work situations of varying kinds, is designed to demonstrate the kind of jobs you might find yourself doing as a Kelly recruit. There are three other workstations placed in the new sim, which opens to the public today.
Campers
Second Life has a history of paying campers. Campers are avatars that "camp" on an island, usually for money, in order to boost the islands ranking in the Second Life search results. A product of simplistic algorithms and human nature. Mostly they're just mildly annoying, though if you run a business and your competitors are paying campers, that annoyance could be costly as well.
What kelly are proposing is to pay avatars to let the embedded scripts in the workstations animate them, and in return, they'll earn Linden dollars just as they would camping out at a club or store. The difference is that Kelly have no interest in ranking in the search results, they simply want to demonstrate real life work situations in a unique and interesting way.
As an attention grab I love it, whether or not it has positive results for Kelly, IE it increases awareness and helps educate and engage Second Lifers, remains to be seen. I think you'll agree it's an interesting experiment though.
You'll be able to enter the the new island later today. Just login to Second Life and type 'kelly' into the Map search and choose 'Kelly Services HQ'
Disclosure: Kelly Services are a Metaversed client.
We saw animated campers long ago. They wipe the windows, clean the floors, dig gardens.... what is new about this?
better than window-wipers, these campers are illustrating the point Kelly is trying to make. They're like actors carrying a message rather than just window-dressing.
A small number of campers (say, the window washers) never really bothered me, because the felt more like a part of the build than people trying to convert bandwidth and electricity into virtual currency for pennies on the dollar. This seems even less annoying in that the campers are being used as props for communicating a message. Considering that some use idling avatars as "models" to demonstrate clothes, why not have avatars in the scene?
The only downside I see with all the idling is that campers tend not to chat, and thus take some of the interactivity out of the situation. Perhaps there is value to a chat bot running with a script on the topic of the role being played?
I do think this idea is interesting. It might be the sort of thing to make places that seem "dead" (you know the only places the general media could find) a little more inviting.
Sure the people might not talk back, but I'd guess it is better then having your island or sim look deserted... Besides, how many random people do you talk to in a regular place?
I don't know about lag/bandwidth though. Maybe an automated chatbot made of objects would be better so it wouldn't take up one of those valuable "presence" slots? (All right, shameless plug here)
Either way, I'll be interested to see how this works out for Kelly's locations!
It's encouraging to see this reaction to this part of the Kelly HQ!
The Wishfarmers design and implement all of Kelly Services' sims, and have a deserved reputation for taking the path less traveled. Often these paths reach surprising breakthroughs -- sometimes they do not. As several here have noted, only a test in the 'real audience' over time will tell.
To be honest we've never portrayed these as 'new' (of course not), but we do hope that this may be among the possible ways to leverage this common past time toward more useful ends.
If nothing else, it can serve you as an example of this: Everything has multiple uses. Try them all, before you give up on something. :)
The way Kelly is using the camping idea really IS innovative as it is not only "make work" but presents some information about the brand's offerings, too. This is more than can be said of other locations, where campers clean the the floors or the windows :)
I am still somewhat skeptical if this will work out well for Kelly. Using the camping idea for a "serious" purpose has some novelty value and it is amusing for a while. It brings some traffic, too (I am just not sure if this traffic is helpful for achieving this project's goals). And it is a "service to the community" as it provides a way for newbies to earn some money with an easy unskilled job.
One problem with campers, though, is that they usually leave the PC after entering camping mode. So, if you arrive on a sim using camping chairs and you want to talk with one of the campers (if only "hey, what you are doing here?") you rarely get an answer. This is less of a problem when you meet a janitor. But to get no response from someone involved in the real business of the brand might be a very disappointing experience.
It certainly IS an interesting experiment. No doubt.
The whole traffic ranking system is so thoroughly abused that its really worthless. LL should do away with it altogether. Sure, I could save money by just running 60 bots 24/7 in my sims to get top ranking, but that both destroys user experience in the sim, and is a completely fabricated measure of 'popularity'. Camping is the same.
I think you may have overlooked a bit of the discussion here Brautigan -- this was never a discussion of traffic ranking, but about engaging visitors:
"The difference is that Kelly have no interest in ranking in the search results, they simply want to demonstrate real life work situations in a unique and interesting way."
Oh, God, spare me! As if people don't know what Kelly workers do. Show us someone standing at a fax machine; that is SOOOO educational!
I wonder if Kelly Services has considered that a diorama where they pay their workers .02 cents an hour, or whatever the camping payoff in Lindens works out to be, might not be a fabulous PR move.
coco
No L$ Involved Here!
No L$ are paid to Kelly campers. The article is just, simply incorrect.
There are numerous inaccuracies and omissions:
1. Campers are not paid. Period. This is just not accurate.
2. The "Nurse Somo" you describe is Sr. Wishfarmer 'Somatika Xiao' -- not Somo.
3. Kelly Services is a client of The Wishfarmers
Editor, you really should fix these before press.