La búsqueda del tesoro

By having the concept for the build already available, clients attend to finding a contractor that can cover the demands of the project under commission. Upon successfully completing this activity, clients end up with a number of potential contractors for commissioning the project to. The two steps involved in carrying out this activity are: scouting for contractors and establishing communication with them.

It needs to be pointed out that many clients have an established list of contractors they collaborate with every time they want to commission a new build. In this case, there is no need to go through this activity, as they already have access to the resources they need (contractors and established means of communication) in order to reach their goals (commissioning a map).

Georg: “If one of my old clients needs something, they can

just pop me a message and I will be able to see it instantly and reply to it as soon as possible which means that you skip the step of requiring you to be found, because you are already found and they already know how to contact you.” [Observation material: The participant, who was a builder, elaborated on the ways in which he receives new commissions by clients. This discussion took place during a building session, where the topic of finding a contractor was

20 _{The reader needs to be reminded of the possibility that the roles of the contractors and builder}

might be undertaken by the same individual. Here, for clarity and to better describe the ways in which contracting unfolds, contractors are mostly treated as being a completely separate actor to the builders.

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brought up while the builder was expanding on the reasoning behind his building practices.]

4.2.1.1 Scouting for contractors

Scouting for contractors is accomplished by visiting Minecraft fora that contractors themselves use for promotional purposes, such as SMC and PMC. Clients choose which contractors to get in contact with based on: the feedback the latter have received from previous clients; their portfolio; and time constraints regarding the delivery of the final build.

Choosing contractors based on feedback. A common practice amongst

members of the creative community was acknowledging each other’s work and trustworthiness through “vouching:” satisfied clients will leave a comment on the contractor’s personal forum thread in order to express their gratitude for receiving high quality products21. Bearing this in mind, clients go through the comments the contractors they are interested in received in the past and check whether they have received “vouches.” If so, they decide on whether they are going to contact them or not, in order to discuss things further regarding the commissioning of the build (see section 4.2.2).

Furthermore, by checking those comments, they can verify the contractors’ legitimacy with regard to the attached portfolio. In their opening post, the contractors include examples of their own work (or the builders’ work they are associated with) in an effort to provide an indication of their skills, what they have produced in the past and what their clients can expect of them. There is always the possibility though that the contractors are showcasing work that belongs to others, which falls under the general practice of scamming22. Such malicious practices are mentioned in the comments left by members of the community, which is why clients consult them as a method of narrowing down the list of good builders before establishing communication with them.

21 _{“Vouching” is members’ term.}

22 _{One common form of scamming is by accessing a Minecraft world and downloading it by}

using World Downloader: a Minecraft modification (mod) that allows its users to download the maps they are logged in to. By doing that, these users can acquire a copy of that map, store it locally in their computers and use it in any way they see fit. It is a software tool that is used quite frequently by scammers, see chapter 5.

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Choosing contractors based on portfolio. Clients also search for contractors

based on exhibited examples of their work, as found in fora and websites. The contractors whose work meets their needs (in terms of build types, aesthetical quality and overall skill) will be shortlisted prior to being contacted by the clients.

Tien: “I just look if the build is nice. I would then filter out

the bad builders and leave the good builders by looking at their comments, or their vouchers, and the portfolio of their skill.” [Interview material: The participant, who was a client, was explaining his reasoning behind choosing which contractor to contact in order to commission a new build.]

Choosing contractors based on time availability. Time constraints also affect

the method of scouting that is adopted by the clients. A specific client reported that due to the fact that he needed a build as fast as possible, he contacted the “top 6 most commented [contractors]” (Nick), skipping the aforementioned procedure of checking the feedback and the overall skill of the contractor.

4.2.1.2 Establishing communication

Having found potential contractors for doing the job, clients proceed to establishing communication with them in order to discuss in further detail the matters related to the commission itself. The sequence of steps involved in doing so is: proposing commissioned work; and contacting.

Proposing commissioned work on fora. The proposition of commissioned

work turns upon the written conversation that takes place in the Internet fora members use for promoting their work and networking. During these conversations, both parties mention matters that are of mutual interest. Clients’ first message (which is what initiates the conversation and makes the clients’ interest in commissioning a build available to the contractors) may state “what I am looking for and the price that I am willing to pay for it” (Tien), as well as various functional and aesthetic details. These are actionable details that help the contractors in: (1) forming an initial understanding of what they are asked to create (which type of build the client is interested in); (2) how much time it is going to take them to build and deliver it (the size of the build); (3) whether

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the client is willing to pay the amount of money they usually charge for similar builds (the price); and (4) clients make their availability on moving forward with the commission known to the contractors by “say[ing] something like "Add me on Skype"” (Tien) and sharing their Skype handle.

Whilst many of the matters mentioned in these posts are further discussed between these two actors during determining commission details, it is evident that an initial filtering takes place here, with contractors rejecting jobs that are “not worth their time”, or do not align with the type of work they prefer to do: “[the builder] said he didn’t feel comfortable editing the build of another builder, as he didn’t really had that much proof that I didn’t just take a build from another server” (Tien).

Along the same lines, contractors might turn down such a proposition upon consulting the record of scammers (usually referred to as the “blacklist”) their team or their union has developed over time23. This blacklist includes the names of the scammers, their Skype handle, as well as the type of scam they committed (such as not paying for the build upon receiving it).

Eventually, this interchange of online messages leads to the subsequent step of contacting.

Contacting. Getting in touch with contractors happens almost always through

Skype, which constitutes the main means of direct communication in the community. As mentioned above, Skype details might be shared through the posts clients leave in the contractors’ forum threads. However, what was revealed through this fieldwork was that these details are also exchanged informally between members every time there is a need for: commissioned work, subcontracting parts of builds, working on a build as a team, etc. Depending on the situation at hand, individuals are introduced to already- created Skype groups, where they can elaborate on what they are looking for. On the other hand, Skype groups might be created on-the-fly, specifically for discussing the matter at hand.

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Spence: “Like, most of the stuff happens in Skype. That's how

word gets around. And we have a very kind of weird infrastructure when it comes to Skype. Like, you want to try and get your work, your way into it and add certain people in certain teams and you progress into more and more contacts and people you know.” [Interview material: The participant, who was a contractor, was elaborating on the use of Skype in communicating with other members of the community.]