Here Becomes More Like There
by prokofy on 24/04/07 at 11:21 am
Prokofy Neva, Dept. of Worlds, Planets, Multiverses, Simulated Proofs of Concepts, and Badly-Thought-Through Soviet Central Committee Planning by Game Companies
Once again, without any real public discussion, Linden Lab took one more step closer to becoming like its evidently envied competitor There today, as it instituted a new “Certification” system to issue what amount to licenses to top, skilled creators, putting them at a pinnacle of privilege in the inworld market of goods and services.
The online community There is often blasted for having a clearance process for developers to submit content. Now residents in SL, if they want to appear as “company-approved” and “possessing the top, acknowledged skills” will have to become “certified” in a process that will be run by 4 Lindens and and still-to-be-determined group of residents fanboyz who can sign up fast enough on the wiki.
This system is likely to generate enormous amounts of controversy, but there will be “no place to put it,” as the forums comments are likely to be locked; the wikis are likely to be moderated, with discussion content (like my initial protest there) likely to be wiped as “not positive,” and the blog will likely either tap out at 100 comments claiming a “wordpress glitch” or will simply be removed by Lindens.
The four Lindens in charge of the program are Glenn Linden, who is already known for running the elite developers’ community insiders’ list; a new Linden named “Heretic Linden” who represents if anything, not heresy, but company conformism with this program; Blue Linden, who manages the Teen Grid but also now the “volunteer system” (although this brief is unclear, given the removal of Live Help); and Eric Linden, one of the longest-running Lindens with viral marketing virtual-world cred as the author or owner of most trees and other Governor Linden builds in Second Life, who is already known for other FIC institutionalizations like the Bedazzled contract for Wells Fargo and the making of machinima such as Bells and Spurs.
The residents who will run it are not yet clear, though dozens have rushed to sign up including SL Viewsmaster Oz Spade, IVM builder Hiro Pendragon, SLCC organizer FlipperPA Peregrine, and other FIC regulars.
While some will welcome the system as representing a much-needed quality control for the world, the system poses serious questions not only about openness for creativity inworld and the free market of goods and services, but the Lindens’ real intentions about “getting out of governance” when in fact, they’re instituting a quisling/overlord system with a program that certifies what are likely to be their long-time pets as “the most skilled”.
The immediate result of this “certification” is to create a control on the market, where some residents will get to have “Goodhousekeeping Seals of Approval” on their products as “certified” builders and scripters, and others will be unable to get Linden Lab boost to their marketing unless they submit to this system, likely to spawn various sycophantic “certifying agencies” who pass the first round of skills credentialling.
The system runs against the long-time claims of Linden Lab to be facilitating “your world/your imagination” unlike other games and worlds by encouraging user content, because they have finally ended the fiction that amateur content can be as good as professional, or credentialed content.
Currently, as the platform still allows people to upload the elements needed for creativity and sell them regardless of whether they are “approved” or “credentialled,” the Linden-induced “certification” seal may in fact come to signify conformism and lack of innovation, and may actually signal buyers in the market that they are dealing with the fanboyz club of content creators. This will enhance sales for some, but could inhibit them for others.
“Linden Lab is developing certification for the use of key Second Life tools. We’ll begin with in-world building tools and LSL. We believe this will benefit Residents, Developers, and anyone who wishes to use Second Life by clearly identifying both key skills and the holders of those skills. This will also enable the creation of training to build the skills required for certification. It is Linden Lab’s intent to work with an external certification provider to offer certification testing and maintain a list of those Residents who have been certified,” the Lindens wrote on the wiki.
Evidently the Lindens have given up trying to ease the orientation and use of their wonky tools, and have decided to retreat into a “certification” process to spawn various third-party businesses to be “certified” to, in a sense, become mini-Linden Labs to their communities. Some users have already expressed concern that such an apprentice-like system will not be able to scale.
My contribution to the wiki discussion, before it’s wiped:
“This system is the final institution of the FIC. It’s not a positive development, as the free market and free media should establish value for skills. A free market and free media also enable anyone new to be able to access that market and media without having to clear unnecessary hurdles and bastions of establishment thinking and procedure.
All that’s happening here is that Linden Lab is dispensing licenses to create, completely overriding their concept of “your world/your imagination”. That is, sure, anybody can go on rezzing a cube, but Lindens are now deciding, in Central Committee fashion, who does this *well enough* to be able to qualify to exist in their certified community. It runs entirely contrary to the notions of openness and creativity which they originally promoted.”
Io Zeno
Apr 24th, 2007
“Coco, where do you see that they will charge for this certification? how do you mean “cost”?”
I brought it up, so:
“It is Linden Lab’s intent to work with an external certification provider to offer certification testing and maintain a list of those Residents who have been certified.”
They don’t work for free. If they are going to outsource this to a testing service, unless LL is paying for the tests themselves (doubtful), residents will have to pay to be tested. And keep their names on the list.
Steven Catron
Apr 24th, 2007
If the testing is outsourced to a reputable company in this area, say Thompson Prometrics, it will cost money.
It is hinted in the wiki that this is intended, so the conclusion is proximate.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 24th, 2007
Ordinal, you’re saying you wouldn’t like a system that involved residents certifying other residents, but that’s what this is, look at all the fanboyz signing up. And these 4 Lindens, what residents were they before they became Lindens?
What third-party testing service could they possibly find that could become adapt enough to test SL skills except a resident’s company, or a former Lindens’ company? It’s bound to be a racket.
Creator fascism is defined as an ideology that privileges and protects creators above all from rules and laws that apply to others.
Cocoanut Koala
Apr 24th, 2007
Yes, the sentence from the Wiki that Io quoted.
Now my question is, how much do you suppose this might cost me? Any ideas?
coco
Io Zeno
Apr 24th, 2007
If it’s a written test it will be quite easy for a third party company to do the testing. No where does the wiki say this will be a hands-on test. In fact that would be so difficult to do reliably, and necessitate having a real person be in SL with each person being tested, I can’t imagine that is what they are planning. So much of building is geometry and math it can be done with text and graphic representations well enough.
Io Zeno
Apr 24th, 2007
It depends on who they use, Cocoa. A test can cost $50 or $500. Who knows.
Cocoanut Koala
Apr 24th, 2007
A MATH test! I’m too old to have to take math tests again! lol
If the cost is as prohibitive as $500, Io, I would think this would be a good mechanism for further separating the haves from the have-nots and the knowns from the not-so-well knowns creators in SL, and further discourage anyone new from entering the field.
coco
Io Zeno
Apr 24th, 2007
I use every cheat known to avoid using math in building so if they go that route, I’m outta luck, lol.
I would hope they will be reasonable and have the test in the lower end of that scale. But I am clueless as to how detailed, long or short these tests are going to be, honestly. I doubt they will be in the upper end I quoted but that is just to give you an idea of the range.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 24th, 2007
I think something that Robin said during her office hours about this contains a clue to understanding the Lindens’ perception of it.
When I mentioned the certification idea and my concerns, at first she didn’t know what I was talking about. Certified? she asks.
Then after we talked a bit more she said, “Oh, you mean the program that developers are using for their customers?”
And that lets me know that they already perceive of the developers as a class apart — they always did. They are no different than any game company, or software company of the routine variety, that has developers with perks. Gwyn is particularly found of espousing this theory, and often posters follow this hectoring line, trying to tell you, oh, they’re just a software company, shut up, they get to do what they want blah blah.
And you begin to see that they perceived the first round of people after beta as “the developers” and maybe were even surprised to find all the rest of us showing up, and not even really having a place to put us. But now, they’ve got it straight in their minds: there are developers, and those people have customers. Those customers aren’t like my customers inworld, they’re Customers like IBM or Toyota.
Everything for the Developers!
Io Zeno
Apr 24th, 2007
She may also mean, Prok, that is really *is* intended for developers who work with RL companies (their customers). Which is a reasonable argument for this that has been made, RL companies don’t know who is qualified for contract work within SL and this is one additional thing you can put in your portfolio.
Cocoanut Koala
Apr 24th, 2007
Well, I don’t care if it was created to help developers dealing with real-life customers. If there is such a thing as a certified builder, I want to be one.
coco
Zetetic Aubret
Apr 24th, 2007
I totally respect your worries, Prok, but I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding about what certification is used for. I think they intended it to function more like, eg, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineering certification processes. In engineering communities, that kind of certification is intended primarily for IT workers, and it’s meant to be a stamp on their resume that proves that they’ve passed a test proving _functional_ competancy in certain technical topics. Certifications like MCSE are used almost exclusively in hiring decisions, and are really just like mini degrees.
If you look at any software superstar, though, I bet you’d be hard pressed to find any with an MCSE. It’s just not for that kind of person. If you’re doing creative, compelling, high level work, your work speaks for itself – you don’t need certifications.
As Second Life moves into a more corporate phase (a shift the web went through, too) people looking in from the outside want some way to tell who’s competant in creating things in Second Life and who isn’t. They don’t have the background to evaluate the work itself, so they want something to turn to as a proxy. This is not, and is unlikely to ever be, a way to prejudge the quality of something. No piece of software (outside of enterprise markets, in which nothing interesting ever happens anyway) says “Designed by all MCSE certified engineers.”
While a creative meritocracy is a great vision, it’s not a sustainable vision. As soon as the community is composed of people who create and those who don’t, other metrics for evaluating quality are going to arise. Thus far a lot of that has been word of mouth, but it’s only natural that it shifts to more formal metrics because word of mouth doesn’t scale.
Of course, I could be totally misinterpreting their intentions. If the program turns out to be what you think it is, I think your critque is basically on target.
Frankie Antonioni
Apr 24th, 2007
Ok here is what I think, I think that Second Life needs a Better Business Bureau, and we need a way to rate people for each transaction.
Here is how it would work, each time that you buy something, or pay rent, or give somebody money, that will count as a transaction.
Each transaction will have a tranaction number.
This is how the transaction number will look.
B 73682 34871 77453 34
It will consist of a letter and seventeen numbers.
Here is how the rating will look.
P N
Transaction 0 400
Gifts 800 0
Rent 0 0
Under transaction, this person has zero positives, but 400 negatives. Under gifts this person has 800 positives, but has zero negative. Rental has zero for positive and negative.
Now transaction is for if you buy clothes, furniture,other objects or if you pay someone to build or create houses or objects.
Gifts are for if you put money in a tip jar or pay a prostitute, or if you just give someone money.
Rent is for if you are renting a house or store, or if you are paying someone rent.
To view this information you will have to go to the SL website.
Now if anybody from Linden Labs is reading this, could you show this idea to others at LL.
Frankie Antonioni
Apr 24th, 2007
Well it didn’t come out right, I had the letters P and N, just a little bit over to the right.
Nacon
Apr 24th, 2007
Prok said: “Everything for the Developers!”
Ahh ok… …and do you even develops anything? I’m sure that’s the question will be asked when you can’t show them you’re certified in interview for jobs.
“Um, Nacon, isn’t that why you had S. Valentine banned, so you could have the whole SIM to yourself and your creations?”
He got himself banned from SL and I left the sim to someone else… hell, he wanted me to make everything for him. wtf?
Prokofy Neva
Apr 24th, 2007
Oh, this explains it better. A reader who asked to remain anonymous submits this for our perusal:
[10:42] Heretic Linden: Hiya, Instructors! I hate to send this in group IM, but group notices are sort of down right now, so here’s the info. A bunch of us Lindens have decided to create a Second Life Certification. Obviously, this involves every last one of you since you are the most knowledgeable Residents in SL. We would love it if you would help us shape this project. To facilitate Developer, Instructor, and Volunteer participation, we have created a SL Certification wiki, which can be found at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/SL_Certification. Please visit, edit, and discuss. Thanks for your time and consideration.
[10:43] Lexi Hayek: will do!
[10:43] Second Life: Lexi Hayek has left this session.
[10:43] Lefty Belvedere: great idea
[10:43] Anna Adamant: ty Heretic…:).. will do!
[10:43] Heretic Linden:
[10:43] Sundance Churchill: Will you be making a blog post?
[10:44] Xylo Hasp: that’s heretical
[10:44] Heretic Linden: Probably not since we are primarily looking to include a specific group of Residents (Instuctors, Volunteers, Developers).
[10:44] Sundance Churchill scribbles down the URL
[10:45] Second Life: Sundance Churchill has left this session.
[10:45] Cay Trudeau: Excellent
[10:45] Second Life: Heretic Linden has left this session.
Cocoanut Koala
Apr 24th, 2007
Hmm. Looks like the word got out, and they got more than developers, instructors, and volunteers. I wonder if they are going to kick out the rest of us?
coco
Prokofy Neva
Apr 24th, 2007
Zetetic, it’s not a “bit of a misunderstanding” as you can see from the above-posted bit of FICiness from the instructors’ group IM.
They aren’t even talking “developers,” but another class of people they worship and fete, which is volunteers, instructors, mentors, helpers, etc. (they overlap, of course). You know, Jesus blesses the apostles, and tells them to go forth and teach all men. It’s how all religions and cults work, make secret knowledge, impart it to a few acolytes, make them work their way up, have them then train others. It’s not an open system.
Heretic Linden is only heretical to the superficial concept the Lindens used to tout about “your world/your imagination” open to anybody; in reality, he is in utter conformity with the esoteric meaning the inner Linden core has always imparted and always will impart to their initiated ones.
The field of translation also has “certification” and people who want their birth certificates and medical school records always ask on different groups and agencies where I belong for a “certified translator”. But that concept is difficult to enforce in a federal country with different states. There is no master union of translators or state certification in the way there are in other countries. That is, you can become a State Dept. translator, and pass some test, but for some employers and jobs, that actually may be a signal that you’re sub-par. There is only one way to be valued; from the market, from your actual work, from your record and portfolio, from your actual published works.
Programming is something easier to quantify and value and test for than translating (though such things exist too, and I even have a degree with X number of hours of translation course work and an exam that would do for “certification” in some countries). Still, as Coco is aptly pointing out, in the SL context, it’s about creativity, art, imagination, etc. Somebody might script something that is fun and awesome but violate the rigidly sandbox- and IRC-channel norms of clean scripting, it might listen too much or have too many lines or whatever their criteria is.
Furthermore, in SL, before hiring a builder, normally you’d see a portfolio that would more than likely include actual builds or items you could actually see, and examine the name of the creator of — in that sense, SL exists as a 3-D living resume and certificate that really begs the question of something some pretentious ass will write on his profile.
I said long ago, that as soon as they make a wiki that only allows instructors, mentors, helpers, etc. log on to it, against some grid that some Linden funnels, we will have a two-tier society institutionalized. And it will come to that. Right now, anybody can log on to that wiki and post something (even I did). That won’t last.
Already, in the sections called “discussion,” where people began to ask questions about the general purpose (which was very half-assed and formed poorly — it would get a D on a high-school essay). And as soon as I made some pointed comments, and another person did, we were edited and shunted off to a new section called VOICES AGAINST. That’s why I hate wikis and wikipedia. Anonymous, rigid, busybodies following really harsh tribal ethics push and shove at the group — it isn’t really open. Somebody with the time to sit and obsess all day like Signpost Marv will have at it and run it by default.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 24th, 2007
Coco,
Yes, I wonder about that too. Especially the Banned Ones like myself who are locked out of the blog and the official forums. Then, if going to the wiki to register and participate is part of certification, how can Banned Ones be certified? So the fact that Torley or Pathfinder Linden became insulted about any challenge to their pets or their gurus at the Lab and booted you becomes an actual economic liability — in short, a closed society, no different than the Soviet Union.
Of course, they have got to know that you can’t create little feted groups that last for long. Word always gets out, and they can’t maintain omerta or conspiratorial silence without actually sounding like the bad thing they are — which they’d probably still like to avoid.
Zetetic Aubret
Apr 24th, 2007
I still don’t fully buy that argument. Coco is right to say that genuine recognition within SL comes from creativity and artistic merit, but this certification process isn’t about that at all. Certification processes are lowest-common-denominator verifiers. It’s not an MFA, it’s more like a vocational school degree. It’s for people where a portfolio maybe doesn’t make sense. This is not about the creative “feted” classes. They’re going to be involved (presumably) in the discussion about what should go on the test, but I imagine the most creative and interesting builders and scripts won’t go through the hassle of certification because their work stands on its own. No one expects certification to measure creativity, and it’s not taken as a promise of creativity – just as a mark of technical competance.
As in your translating example, I expect certification will evolve into something that most people don’t get because it’s not important for their building practice. I honestly don’t think this program will have that much of an effect on the world.
All that said, if certification DOES become a pass to any sort of functionality/club/events/channel/sim, I agree that would be a terrible thing. I haven’t been involved in SL nearly as long as you have, so I guess I still have faith that they’re genuinely trying to do the right thing and it won’t come to that. That chat log doesn’t look like as much of a smoking gun as you make it out to be. It looks to me like they’re busy, don’t mean for this to be a big hairy deal, and want to make the people they’re asking to help feel good. That’s classic volunteer management, not fete-ing the elites, from my still-optimistic perspective.
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Apr 25th, 2007
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Nacon
Apr 25th, 2007
heh… spammer.
Anywho, you know, maybe they are planning on building network with business and jobs more than just having certification. Why need one for Volunteers? It’s volunteer…
Must have a certification to… volunteer? Now it’s not making any sense.
Doubledown Tandino
Apr 25th, 2007
I just don’t get why LL would want to create more work for themselves. Submissions = more work for LL.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 25th, 2007
They’ll just certify a round of pets, then have the pets do the next rounds, it will make them feel terribly precious and self-important.
Steven Catron
Apr 25th, 2007
I assume that an official builder or scripter certification would have to be done for the real person, not for the avatar.
On the other hand LL plans to provide lists of certified scripters and builders for potential customers, which are likely to include the handle of the avatar and the name of the person playing it, so a prospective builder or scripter can be contacted ingame as well as in the real world.
I suppose this will lead to some interresting disputes about privacy.
Lewis nerd
Apr 25th, 2007
There’s one big flaw in the assumption that you have to be a “Linden pet” to be on the Developers list.
I’m on it, and doing nicely for a part time, small scale effort thankyouverymuch.
http://www.lewisnerd.com
Lewis
Aleister Kronos
Apr 25th, 2007
Clearly I am very late into this discussion – but anyway, here goes:
It makes a lot of sense to have virtual equivalents of RL bodies. For example in the UKin RL we have: RIBA for building architects; Federation of Master Builders for constructors and so on.
Within a virtual worlds environment (I’m looking to the future Metaverse here), having standards bodies that help regulate and QA their members, and arbitrate with disgruntled clients would be one sign of a grown-up virtual world. But this would, of necessity, have nothing to do with LL per se. I would expect companies like MOU or The Sheep to be members of such bodies.
However, I see no reason why artisans and craftsfolk need to be certified by LL or anyone else. For QA and arbitration, membership of a guild or union might be thought useful – but certification will deliver limited benefit, and would be a totally unreliable measure of creativity.
Reality
Apr 25th, 2007
Personally I see this as more or less like Microsoft’s certification of drivers and other such software/hardware related things.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 25th, 2007
Lewis, you haven’t been certified yet.
Lewis Nerd
Apr 25th, 2007
True, but there is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t be. As it’s still early days, we’ll have to wait and see what you have to do to get the certificates.
If I do … does that make me FIC?
Lewis
Prokofy Neva
Apr 25th, 2007
No.
Mat Warf
Apr 25th, 2007
Having seen code quality in various parts of the open source client, this is pretty rich.
FWord Utorid
Apr 25th, 2007
First… Like college diplomas, the majority of IT Certifications are nothing more than bullshit. Having a document or attenting a series of seminars or kissing someone’s sphincter at LL by jumping through the flaming hoops makes you no more or no less qualified to perform any given task. “Hi, I’m a certified texture creator.” “Hi, I have a degree in PRIM DESIGN.”… “I can write lsl scripts that fail at at equal or greater rate than anyone else that writes lsl scripts.” While I understand that LSL scripting does require a degree of expertise… The rest of this is not unlike getting a PhD in finger painting.
Next, quite a few so-called “certified” IT professionals got their certs by cheating, lying, or stealing. There’s a wonderful company called TestKing that sells all of the answers to all of Microsoft’s IT tests. There are even people out there called ‘proxy testers’ that, for a certain fee, will take a test FOR you, often in China or India. There’s even a website, http://www.certguard.com/ , dedicated to reporting on the criminal behavior that surrounds this kind of knowledge roadblocking.
I have every confidence that the stability of the LL Certification system will rival the stability of the grid itself, and the credibility of the system will be as rock solid and trustworthy as a married, hefty politician at a titty bar.
Straight up, if you are going for a certification in “skin design” and a masters in “smudging the edges of an artificial vagina”, and you expect to wind up with a high paying (read, more than 18L$ per hour) job as a result, you should begin to look elsewhere. Of course, if you are looking for a bumper sticker, a t-shirt, or a piece of paper for your “I love ME” wall — suitable for framing, this could be for you. I’m sure they will give you a lollypop if you are good.
– fu
Nicholaz Beresford
Apr 25th, 2007
This is common practice with basically all large companies offering platforms. The platform itself is worthless and in order to genreate content (which in return generates users) you give the power content creators a bit of special treatment.
The next step is to provide a seal of quality.
Novell did it, SAP doesit, Oracle does it, Microsoft does it.
But it is nothing but cover-your-ass for those in fortune 500 companies hiring professionals to develop content for them. If a project goes south, they can still say “but we hired a certified professional whatnot” for it.
It does make some sense with very complex platforms (a friend of mine was a Microsoft Certified Windows NT Specialist in the good old days) and on that course learned quite a few intricacies about NT which the average joe on the street doesn’t know. It did not make him a better consultant, it did not make him a better programmer, but it showed people hiring him, that he knew at least the basic ins and outs.
And, most importantly, it covered the asses of those who hired him.
I think this will be similar with this program and I guess Coco wasn’t too far off that with the fortune 500 remark. If you don’t sell to clients who need to cover their asses agaist their own management, you most likely will not need the certificate. And if you do sell to those clients, you’ll make enough money to pay for the $500 to $2000 which those things usually cost in the IT world.
Montana Corleone
Apr 25th, 2007
God, I wish you guys would learn to read….
The aim is to set up a certification system that will be administered by a third party. Residents can they choose when they hire someone whether or not they take any notice of it. It’s a way of saying, yes, a certified person has at least the minimum skills required for the task. Whether they do a good job or not is neither here nor there. And as some have said, it’s not really residents who will be looking at this, but RL companies because corporates love bits of paper and ISOs…
And they are calling for “members of the Developer, Instructor, and Volunteer communities” not because those will be the ones in it, but to set the criteria that the certification by that third party will use. They are the best placed people to know what skills it is someone needs to do a job.
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/SL_Certification
They clearly state they don’t want to influence the certification themeselves, but are hoping that quality MAY go up as a result. And if the modelling and scripting pilots work, the hope is to extend it to other areas.
Seems to me like a good idea since there is no such current scheme. If it’s run properly by the third party, is not too expensive and used, then it will be good. But some of that is stuff that will be decided by this group, and anyone is free to apply to help set these criteria.
Maklin Deckard
Apr 25th, 2007
From the Wiki — Read as: Yes it will cost money, if the ‘third party’ is anything other than community-based volunteers. As in the real-world the cost will depend on the duration, presitge and popularity of the courses.
I have ZERO interest as a builder of PAYING some asshole friend-of-a-Linden who got his or her own little ‘soak the player’ franchise from LL. If this is going to be part of SL, the Lindens need to be running it and (if necesary) charging for it…not creating business opportunities for their inner circle.
“Yes, the “pro” vs “amateur” thing is certainly something that makes me dislike the idea too. It’s not as if we need any more social division, particularly if the criteria are resident-set. But I suspect that if it comes to that many people will simply ignore it.
I won’t be jumping through any hoops myself, I can say that now.” — Ordinal
I won’t be going for this certification. I am quite happy with my little shop and the items I make. I have them on holovendor so people can see what they are getting. This is just a crutch for the lazy corps that won’t do their homework before hiring — and a golden opportunity for the lindens to reward their friends / top designers.
And much like my experiences with MCSE’s (the last FOUR I have worked with were certified, but I would NOT let them touch a server since they had jack and shit for hands-on knowledge), I am going to assume most the people rushing for this are just looking for a paper to wave at the easily impressed by titles…book smart, experience dumb…and shy away from their products.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Apr 25th, 2007
Ok, all very interesting. But I have the deepest most innate distrust of both LL’s motives for this, and of ‘certification’ under circumstances.
Professional qualification is one thing – and can be highly misleading too.
‘Certification’ is nothing but a cash cow for those issuing the certificates.
I’ve had more poor work carried out by, and witnessed more unprofessional behaviour by ‘certified’ this that and the others than by ‘uncertified’ ‘fly-by-night amateurs’, as the ‘certified’ and those issuing certificates would have you believe the uncertificated are.
The only true measure of a person’s ability to carry out work is the quality of the finished product – something corporate idiots seem totally unable to grasp. Probably because they can’t even recognise a decent job of work, or produce on themselves!
IF this move is all about providing the corporate fools with a ‘guide’ to save their asses – fine, I have no ambitions to work for them.
I worry about this whole concept permeating the rest of SL and affecting people’s ability to use SL as advertised.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 25th, 2007
>They are the best placed people to know what skills it is someone needs to do a job.
Um, we did read it. And they aren’t the best people. And people who actually hire them and pay them, people like me, might even be in a better position to judge than any of them. And that’s why it’s call “the free market”. And that’s why the free market, not a central command, should decide these things.
Ronin
Apr 25th, 2007
Certifications are standard in most IT related professions. It turns out they’re a great source of revenue for the companies that offer certification programs (Cisco, Microsoft, etc.). Linden is probably seeing this as yet another way to generate cash from their creation.
I suspect SL certification will be much like other IT certification processes. Anyone will be able to apply and most people with any real experience will pass. Meanwhile many talented and skilled people will simply skip being certified and let their portfolios speak for themselves.
The thing is, as more big companies move into SL they’ll bring their RL business practices with them. In many cases those companies prefer to hire certified contractors. Builders and scripters who wish to work with companies that have a certification requirement will be wise to consider being certified. Everyone else can go on conducting business as usual.
Seriously, I don’t see how this rises to the level of controversy.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 25th, 2007
One problem is that it will not be Linden Lab overtly doing the certifying, but “third-party organizations”. Yet these might well be run by/influenced by/in cahoots with residents and Lindens in ways that won’t be visible.
And don’t forget how this is being set up. A wiki is set up that is designated only for a select group of favoured customers, and at any moment, indeed it could be closed off to the general resident public because the Lindens involved have basically stated explicitly that they didn’t even think this information should be blogged as it only concerned a select group of their pre-vetted favourites.
When Cisco or Microsoft write their standards, they don’t ask their customers to make them up, or draw in a special clique of their greatest fanboyz, they have their own people write them. Here, what’s happening as usual is the Lindens are crowdsourcing an onerous task, and in the process, setting up cronyism and insiderism once again.
People are always citing the experience of these developed, established, large IT firms and software firms in general as rationale for what we perceive as Linden Lab’s bad behaviour.
But Linden Lab isn’t like other companies, it’s not large, it’s not a publicly-owned company, and its internal practices and valuations are kept secret. It’s no Cisco. Its main product is a world where people live and work, and they have assumed the function of the federal government of that world, and they have also arrogated to themselves laying the foundations of the Metaverse. So they have to be held to a higher level of behaviour than just some ordinary software company making a widget, and frustratingly, precisely because they are no Cisco or Microsoft with some kind of established procedures and publicly owned, it’s like dealing with a cult.
Obscure Doodad
Apr 25th, 2007
I think you folks are not thinking this through.
If you really want this certification process to fall apart, it’s pretty easy to stop it.
A Fortune 500 company whose build you wish to compete for, and do not wish to be certified first, will remain very accessible to you. All you need do is ask them to examine whatever certification documentation is provided and look for the clause that says LL will be financially responsible for a builder’s work that holds their certified stamp of approval should the purchasing F500 company not be pleased with the result.
In fact, that could stop it right away. The folks signing up on the list could group themselves to take this position for the certification process. LL, or the 3rd party certifying agency, must legally assume RL financial responsibility for the quality of the work. “Certification” doesn’t mean anything anyway if someone is not financially liable for the the certification.
Move this into the RL legal arena and I guarantee you all work on this idea stops.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 25th, 2007
Obscure, I didn’t think of that angle, but I did note on the wiki itself later in comments and queries that no certification scheme makes sense if there isn’t some kind of disputes resolution mechanism to back it up, and obviously LL won’t take that on.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Apr 25th, 2007
This was my (poorly made it seems) point about the difference between a professional qualification and holding a ‘certificate’.
While there are Certification organisations that DO incorporate dispute resolution, there are plenty (the con-merchants) who don’t. Their ‘certification’, not being backed by any form of redress in the event of a performance failure, is meaningless in reality.
Genuine professional organisations on the other hand are generally quite strict about member standards, usually having a fairly strict professional code of behaviour, a fair and transparent dispute resolution system, and the ultimate sanction of expulsion, and/or, in some cases, a system of penalties, sometimes backed by a sum held on deposit against fines or an unfavourable dispute resolution.
Ask yourself this. Is LL, or a local ‘solution’ likely to fall into the first group, or the second? Bearing in mind their usual standards of transparency and probity?
Obsucre Doodad
Apr 25th, 2007
“Professional codes of behavior” is grandiose verbage that means nothing in a court of law. If you want this concept stopped dead in its tracks, make sure all F500 companies hunting for “evidence of competence” are explicitly informed that there is no financial recourse available to them if they are not pleased with the work.
As soon as builders/scripters choose to swagger about and claim themselves “professional”, they are entering a legal arena with which they are almost certainly not familiar. The certifying agency would be liable. The builders themselves would be liable. Doctors are not sued only for what they charged for their bill. They are sued punitively, commensurate with their level of assets and income. Do builders/scripters really want to pay malpractice insurance because they are “certified” and “professional?”
But most importantly, if this certification in any way whatsoever implies LL is in any way whatsoever involved with the certifying concept — which includes their work so far in organizing or encouraging the process and maintaining any sort of list and ANY MENTION OF THE CONCEPT AT ALL on its websites — then they are . . . let’s just label them future co-defendants. Punitive damages will be in play. In California, where juries are generous.
Just make sure the legal concepts are propagated to LL and and the certifying agencies and this idea dies quickly.
Brace
Apr 25th, 2007
Dint read any of the comments.
My two cents is this:
If there IS to be ANY type of “certification” goin on – there should NOT be ANY residents involved in the decision making process.
Who’s “good enuff” or WTF Evar should be decided by lindies only. That might cut down the smoochy woochy Fickle Intolerant Crassness by about half – mebbe.
feh
This is idiotic.
Now I’ll hafta sign up my NCI just so we can look “legit”?
Like we aint been kickin ass in the arena of noobie help/support/education for the past two plus years
*sighs*
Brent Recreant
Apr 25th, 2007
If this is possible, I agree there should be NO residents taking place in it. I can just see this fallen into corruption.
Prokofy Neva
Apr 26th, 2007
Just as a follow-up:
Heretic Linden has now made a closed group, that does not show up in the group list, it’s hidden, and your status in this group therefore does not show on your profile. (BTW, the Lindens have seen to it that the old glitch whereby even hidden groups not showing members would show up on profile is not gone).
The members include Heretic himself, of course, Blue, Eric and a whole passle of SC fucktards like Joshua Nightshade, Lecktor Hannibal and others who don’t really “develop” much at all but just wanted “in” on the first institutionalization of the FIC in a Linden-made inworld group.
The person who mentioned this group to me is afraid to publicize what is going on, for fear of losing their place in the group. And that’s how they do it.
Heretic no doubt imagines himself bravely bucking convention and riding the tide to the future. Doesn’t it make you want to vomit?
Prokofy Neva
Apr 26th, 2007
I don’t trust this particular bunch of self-seeking opportunists, racketeers, and SC thugs to make any kind of fair institution. It contains people of good reputation on it, who joined it even in fear of being left out. That’s sad.
Here’s the list of this secret, closed group. Here’s its charter:
“This group is dedicated to the development of a SL Certification system, which will in turn function as an in-world resource for Residents.”
Abramelin Wolfe
Ace Albion
Adam Rakosi
Adri Saarinen
Alexander Regent
Apollo Case
Arthur Fermi
Banana Stein
Bartiloux Desmoulins
Blue Linden
Bobble Bertone
Bubba Biberman
Carl Metropolitan
Casu Capra
Catty Loon
Ceera Murakami
Charlene Trudeau
Ciemaar Flintoff
Curious Rousselot
Dalian Hansen
Damanios Thetan
Darien Caldwell
Davidorban Agnon
Desideria Stockton
Destiny Niles
Detect Surface
Dnali Anabuki
Dnel DaSilva
Donnagh McDonnagh
Dytska Vieria
Earnest Candour
Economic Mip
Eladon Galsworthy
Elle74 Zaftig
Equitus Bosch
Eric Linden
Escort Defarge
Ethan Therian
Fleep Turque
FlipperPA Peregrine
Fox Diller
Gaius Goodliffe
Gatz Morang
Gus Putine
Haterot Okina
Heretic Linden
Hiro Market
Hiro Pendragon
Huns Valen
Illya Sullivan
In Kenzo
Iris Bourdeille
Itzura Radio
Jauani Wu
Joshua Nightshade
Kami Harbinger
Karsten Rutledge
Lecktor Hannibal
Lewis Nerd
Linnian Sugar
Little Penguin
Logan Bauer
Lordfly Digeridoo
Lucian Overlord
MadamG Zagato
Matthew Dowd
Max Case
Max Pitre
Mevo Syaka
Moo Money
Nargus Asturias
Newfie Pendragon
Nimrodina Wayne
Nomasha Syaka
Noramyr Gullwing
Osgeld Barmy
Osprey Therian
PajVar Kerensky
Peekay Semyorka
Pericat Aquitaine
Phish Frye
Pipe Hesse
Porky Gorky
Pumpkin Tripsa
Ravanne Sullivan
Ravenelle Zugzwang
Rebel Television
Ro Gastel
RobbyRacoon Olmstead
Rocky Merosi
Rraven Moonlight
Salazar Jack
Schuyler Kent
Scout Detrius
SignpostMarv Martin
Sindy Tsure
Sitearm Madonna
Skye McArdle
SL Mathilde
Strife Onizuka
Sylvia Trilling
Tab Scott
Talarus Luan
Threshin Barnett
Till Stirling
Timeless Prototype
Tre Giles
Uccello Poultry
Vincent Nacon
Will Webb
Xylo Quisling
Zal Chevalier
Zorena Deckard
Lewis Nerd
Apr 26th, 2007
Most of those names I’ve never heard of, so quite what they do I don’t know. Yes, I know I’m on there, that’s because I’m on the developers list, and applied.
Lewis
Prokofy Neva
Apr 26th, 2007
Lewis, why is the group closed? If the wiki to register is open, have you found out anything about that?