Today's International Herald Tribune takes a look at the world of gold farming in online games, focusing on
Chinese farmers and their businesses. For anyone not familiar with farming, it throws up shocking images of warehouses
full of young players grinding characters for 18 hours a day, and leaves you in no doubt of their existence.
According to the article, over 100,000 people are estimated to be employed as farmers, working for low wages but with
perks (they get to play games all day). While to some it might sound like a dream job, it seems that farm owners reap
most of the benefit, providing poor working conditions. The continual efforts by game publishers and developers to
counteract farming also have an impact on the industry, but it's still lucrative enough for many farms to exist.
[via Next Generation]
