Should we, the residents, motivate the Second Life developers? How?

Occasionally we get readers write in with story ideas. We are always pleased to accept their ideas and tips of course, but we don't normally operate a "guest writer" spot. However, Bob Wellman wrote in with an interesting opinion piece about Second Life that is printed more or less in full below the fold.

For those of you that don't know, the Tao of Linden says that developers work on projects that attract them and interest them. This is not always the same as the issues that frustrate the residents of Second Life.

What I am about to write is coloured by my RL background as an IT Project Manager. I know just how hard it is to motivate people working on a long term Software project and lets face it they don't come much longer than Second Life.

From what I have read it seems that LL has a nice laid back attitude towards employees. It allows people to pick what they wish to work on from the pile of enhancements and problems identified by Second Life residents and internal staff alike. I am sure it sounds like the sort of place we would all like to work. However, from a motivational point of view, this is a double edged sword:

• On the one hand it means that people are working on things they feel good about or interested in and so they are motivated to do a good job off it. Wonderful!
• On the other hand there are issues that no one fancies and that no one is inclined to tackle because they are boring or difficult to do. No Kudos in trying and failing. Oh dear!

These second set of issues need addressing too, as far as Second Life residents are concerned, but how are the LL employees to be motivated to address them? Let me, at this point, give an example.

If you look at the problem of alpha sorting textures you will see that it has been open for a long time, and with many votes for it showing how important it is to residents. It is without resolution or even someone taking on the assignment after nearly a year. Why? It is because it is a difficult issue to solve. No one wants to take on a nasty task when one can pick easier tasks to do and you boss doesn't insist you do the hard stuff. Why would they?

[In fairness to the Linden Lab developers this is not a problem unique to Second Life - it is just more noticeable because we have people that don't understand it mixing textures with alpha channels close to each other in Second Life, in games this is addressed by graphic artists and a lot of time and effort. But, it stands as a reasonable example nonetheless. Eloise]

Now, there are many long term issues like this one that get passed over, some even older and more popular, but if Second Life is to be improved, and in the long term survive future competition, they will all need addressing. The question is how do we motivate LL employees to tackle the hard and/or boring issues that are important to Second Life and its residents? It would be nice to think that LL can do this internally, but if not maybe "We the Residents" need to help in the motivation process to get a better world for all of us.

• Do we erect statues to hero developers based on the impact of their fixes (the more votes the issue carries the larger the statue)?
• Do we have a Residents Improvement fund where we donate money to LL employees as a bounty on certain issues?

I have no idea what the solution is. All I know is the problems needs addressing and with all the talent in Second Life someone reading this article may be able to suggest a scheme to make it happen. So, do you have any ideas that might help? Just Askin'.