[p2p-research] LoveMachine Inc: Second Life founder’s reputation-as-currency start-up?

[Ryan]

  Sent to you by Ryan via Google Reader: LoveMachine Inc: Second Life
founder’s reputation-as-currency start-up? via Futurismic by Paul Raven
on 11/16/09

Oh, to be a CEO of a tech start-up… they can get bored of their
projects even faster than the public can, y’know. Actually, that’s a
little unfair – Philip Rosedale, the man behind Linden Lab, hasn’t lost
interest in Second life so much as he’s looking for a new fish to fry
with his new company, LoveMachine Inc. [image by Mrs. Bones]

What does LoveMachine do? Apparently it’s developing a system of the
same name that was used by Linden Lab as a points-based incentive tool:

Linden employees gave and received “love” for a job well done. If an
employee was well-received amongst his or her peers, their accumulated
love currency was redeemable for a cash bonus at the end of the month.
Similar to social capital systems like Whuffie Bank, it appears that
LoveMachine may become a reputation currency system for businesses.

Interesting to see another outfit chasing after reputation economies as
a potential business model… and restricting such a system to the
limited and manageable confines of discreet organisations makes sense,
as closed economies are inherently easier to manage. I expect they’ve
heeded Bruce Schneier’s advice on reputation economies, too:

You’ve all experienced a reputation economy: restaurants. Some
restaurants have a good reputation, and are filled with regulars. When
restaurants get a bad reputation, people stop coming and they close.
Tourist restaurants – whose main attraction is their location, and
whose customers frequently don’t know anything about their reputation –
can thrive even if they aren’t any good. And sometimes a restaurant can
keep its reputation – an award in a magazine, a special occasion
restaurant that “everyone knows” is the place to go – long after its
food and service have declined.

Details of the LoveMachine plans are understandably sketchy at the
moment. However, Rosedale and company have got a public worklist of
jobs that they need a contractor to take on, and – if you live in the
San Francisco area – they’re looking to hire. [hat tip to Fabio
Fernandes]

Project Wonderful - Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0.00

LoveMachine Inc: Second Life founder’s reputation-as-currency start-up?
Tags: economics • LoveMachine • metaverse • reputation • Second-Life

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