Ikea Tycoon

June 8, 2024 1:02 PM

IKEA wants to pay real people to work in its new store inside Roblox game. IKEA has put a new spin on remote working, seeking 10 real-life staff to work in its Roblox virtual store that opens on June 24 and becoming the first brand to offer paid work on the gaming platform. “The Co-Worker Game” will give people “a chance to immerse themselves in the working world” of the store.
posted by NoMich (8 comments total)

Second Life is never going to happen.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:32 PM on June 8 [5 favorites]

I realize this is in the UK, where US labor laws don’t apply, but it looks like the 10 paid people will work alongside unpaid people, which…. Or will these paid people be “managers,” who get to try to deal with a fully volunteer workforce? Better than trying to live in London on that wage, I suppose.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:39 PM on June 8

I'm looking forward to the virtual unionization efforts.
posted by Kibbutz at 1:44 PM on June 8 [3 favorites]

Like blocks in a platform game that start to fall as soon as they're touched, jobs like these can only be a brief stepping stone to more permanent landscapes. These aren't real jobs, they're the impermanent canvas of a billboard ad; existing only until the collective target's attention moves on and the next equally transient campaign replaces them.

(Also, putting new hires in charge of volunteers is a recipe for disaster.)
posted by krisjohn at 5:24 PM on June 8

I wonder if anybody employed at IKEA corporate today has institutional memory of the Second Life bubble of 2005-2006.
posted by simonw at 6:46 PM on June 8 [1 favorite]

A social worker I know calls Roblox "ground zero" for child sexual exploitation online.
posted by parmanparman at 6:08 AM on June 9 [1 favorite]

becoming the first brand to offer paid work on the gaming platform. “The Co-Worker Game” will give people “a chance to immerse themselves in the working world” of the store.

We truly are beyond parody.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:13 AM on June 10

A social worker I know calls Roblox

That might be an overstatement, but the investigations that People Make Games did a couple of years ago do not make it sound like a great place for kids.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:43 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]