The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed to protect people who were economically dependent upon their employers, not emotionally dependent. I was half expecting the lawsuits against the online gaming companies to wait for the outcome of the AOL lawsuit, but I guess people are in a hurry. After reading I figured that the effect of a victory for the plaintiff would be a topic for my next design diary. Our experience is that a lot of people want to be volunteers. Anarchy feedback has received a lot of requests from people who would like to be volunteer guides.
Most volunteers are what they are because they have a genuine interest in helping other players.
An online role-playing game with a volunteer program doesn't do this only to save money on support. It is a feature that the players have asked for in Anarchy Online. I am convinced that online games would not be what it is today if it hadn t been for the volunteers. They improve the overall game feeling for all players. By taking some of the load of the on staff support personnel with helping newbies and investigating problems, the support employees of the company will be better prepared to help people that need more attention and organize events.