Chinese gold farmers documented

To put it very, VERY simply, gold farming in China is like working at a fast food restaurant here. It's only for those who really can't get a job anywhere else, either due to bad education or laziness.

If you know anything about Chinese people, they'll find very 'unique' ways to make a profit from just about anything. I remember watching the Taiwan news once about how someone was forging postage stamps and managed to make a killing on them before he was caught.

I don't understand why it's necessary to make a value judgement about these people. Who cares if they're uneducated. Does that make you feel better that they're doing a really pointless job like this? If they all had PhDs, would you suddenly be up in arms about them having to do pointless work? It's a clever way to make money. Basically, they've found something that lazy people would rather not do (and yes, if you can't be bothered to play a game properly, something that is suppose to be LEISURE, then you are lazy). I say good for them. I bet they're laughing at the people paying them money to do this.

I agree with Joystiq here: it's got nothing to do with the Chinese and everything to do with the broken design of DIKU-style MMOGs like World of Warcraft and Everquest.

It's great that the Chinese have found another exportable commodity. Of all the possibilities, this seems incredibly harmless. They're not displacing US jobs, it's not polluting the environment, it's not hurting anyone except maybe other gamers. But if it's really destroying the gaming experience so much, then people will naturally stop playing and no one will want to buy gold. The fact that it's such a success means that people in the U.S. must still be having fun, so Blizzard gets to keep making money, and the Chinese gamers get to join in on the profit. And to feel sorry for the gold farmers is ludicrous. Just winning virtual rewards is enough to keep most everyone playing... think about how cool it must be to get real cash for it on top of the virtual kudos!

I dont know about other MMORPGs but for WoW, simply possessing the gold will not get you very far.

The game is unique because of the whole BoP(bind on pickup) factor, those of you that played the games knows what this is, those that dosesn't, it means that this item will only drop off a certain boss, and when it is picked up by someone, it will not be able to be traded/transfered again to any other characters.

In WoW, the best items are BoP, so you have to put in the time to get them. You can buy 10000gold from ebay but that won't do you any good other than buying some mediocre items in the auction house...

my point is that the gold farmers aren't really ruining the game for most people. They simply provide a service for the lazy people.

It's just like any service you pay money for. For example, you put your money in the bank and earn the interest, u're basically giving your money to the bank to invest for you, a form of service, you earn interest for doing nothing and they get a portion of you cut.

So it seems that the dilemna of Chinese farmers has drawbacks and benefits.

Drawbacks:
A. Class divisions within RL based on personal income are shown within games. The point of a game is to get away from RL, so this is a clear violation of the concept of gaming.
B. Gaming skill cannot be measured. Levels can be bought, honor points can be bought, ranks can be bought, gear can be bought all with RL money.
C. Competition - Noone wants to be beaten by someone who has higher levels or better gear because they are richer than them in RL. This destroys the fun of the game and should not be allowed, else the competition factor is meaningless.

Benefits:
A. Creates a consumable
B. Consumable can be sold on a market for poorer nations, due to the lack of education required in order to fulfil business tasks.
C. Creates a job that revolves around a recreation.


The only way to ever end farming and make MMO players actually play on even grounds is to create safeguards that explicitly monitor wrongful game uses. Take newer FPSs for instance, when you install the game your CD Key is imbedded into the program on your hard drive. An account must be created, but the only way to log into that account is on the computer that has the CD Key imbedded in order to load your personal settings.

Its not the fact that MMO designers don't want to stop Chinese Gold Farming, its the fact that it is more profitable for them to either A. let the continue, or B. get a piece of the action. Option B is even more profitable for the company and can be seen with Sony's Station Exchange. Basicly you can buy gear/levels for you toon, but you pay Sony to instantly generate it for you.

When the company that owns the game makes items cheaper, safer to transfer, and easier for everyone to spend their RL money on, then you step into a game completely run by RL money and not player skill. If all games implement a similar policy then you'd be happy to go back to the current situation where it was at least only a questionable thing to do. You're only choice would be to choose the lesser of the two evils.

I might be way off base, but at least that's how I see it.

This is a good thing done, I hope that it will be an eye opener to the general public all over the US and the EU regions. I am from Sweden and have to say that the problem with sold characters is not only in the US, it is also a common thing here in the EU regions.
Do I consider it a crime to sell accounts, farmed items and gold. Yes I do, but it has always been there, in games like UO, Diablo 2, Dark Ages of Camelot etc, etc the list is endless. And that there is many gameshops setups in Asia is not original, there is gameshops in south amerika and many other places also. and I even have friends that has earned extra money selling Diablo 2 accounts and World of Warcraft accounts for money. This is not a uniqe problem for Asia only. It is worldwide. And even in the US and in EU we have a large portion of people that are poor.

I have seen a few of the farmers on our server laboring in Winterspring and other known farm spots. And hell I have even provided them with Conjured food and water to make it easier for them, thinking why not, I would do that to anyone asking for conjured food or water. I dont judge anyone doing this. Because I do not have a clue about there situation in real life.

Regards from Felakin a.k.a PSAH

I have personally seen these virtual "sweatshops" in Asia and have actually talked to people online who own them.

Here is a company that I know of that is in this business.
http://www.mogmine.com

I first want to start of with the word, "Sweatshop." Now what does one mean when they use that word? Does one mean the wages are sweatshop like? Or is one refering to the conditions?

If one is refering to the conditions, I would highly argue that it isn't a sweatshop. From the video, what I've personally seen and from the people I've spoken to, the conditions are better than some schools located in these countries here in Asia. I remember riding in a car in a province here in Asia, and I saw a group of about 30 people sitting outside with chairs and desks. They were actually students studying outside in the blazing heat. These guys who work in virtal "sweatshops" work in air conditioned offices with facilities better than a lot of schools and other companies too. It isn't like a clothing shop or a factory that causes pollution and has dangerous conditions.

Also, when one thinks of a sweatshop, one thinks of a place that nobody wants to work. Yet, these virtual gaming companies have lines of people wanting to work there. People do literally line up for interviews to work there. Why wouldn't they? They get paid to play games in air conditioned offices with colleages of the same interest rather than work in a place with the same pay, yet worse conditions.

If one thinks of a sweatshop that refers to the wages, I'd like to argue again the difference. What most westerners don't know is that:

1. The wages are according to the standards of living in that country.

2. Most people in Asia live with their families, so they don't worry about paying for rent or utilites. This is key, because any foreigner, like myself, who lives in Asia would think it's impossible to live in Asia on those wages. But their thinking is based on the concept that you have to pay for rent, utilites, transportation and eventually, your ticket back home to North America or Europe. When I worked in Korea as a teacher, I found that Westerners got paid significantly more than the Korean teachers. Koreans would argue that it's not fair, but they did not think about the fact that the Westerners live on their own and have to pay for absolutely everything while the Koreans have family who can support them with housing, food, and other things. It balances out in the end.

Western culture lacks that family support system that Asian countries have in order to survive on wages like that, so I sometimes think that people in Western countries who work for minimum wage have it worse off.

I remember talking to my managers at the jobs I had in the States. This was during high school, and these jobs were in places like bookstores and movie theaters. I specifically remember one manager telling me that he lived off a box of cereal for a week. I couldn't believe it. I have a Canadian friend who is a teacher in Korea who told me about his life in Canada working for minimum wage. His basic meal would be some rice with butter or salt and the occasional can of tuna. I really find it hard to see how one in America or Canada can live off of minimum wage when they have to pay for rent, a car (public transportation isn't really good in North America)and food. If they lived at home with their families, they would be okay, but most Westerners leave the house when they are 18.

I haven't seen the whole documentary, so I can't completely criticize it until I see the whole thing. It's just that I know that in order to draw a crowd, you need to sensationalize situations to draw a crowd. Nobody would want to watch this documentary if the word, "sweatshop" wasn't included.

The comments about the game being boring are not quite right... It is quite addictive as I can attest being a young professional woman - not the strereotypical audience for online gaming. As has been said before - if I could spend my whole time playing WOW I would. And "grinding" or just repetitive actions that make you money is not exactly boring it's just less exciting than the other things a player could be doing with his time in the game. I do not buy gold because of a personal "fairness" principle but I cannot fault those who do.
Also, as someone living in Shanghai I think it impossible to completely understand the level of poverty that exists here until you see it first hand. Ten dollars an hour is a fortune in a country where unskilled and semi-skiller laborers make about 80 cents an hour and somehow survive. Living in the US I used to resent the gold farmers, now I understand that they are really trying to survive, there is no safety net here.
If you want to stop this issue - stop the buyers of the gold.

I started playing WoW the first day it was released. I don't believe that I have missed a day since. It is extremely addictive. I have all the uber gear,and three level 60 toons. I have more gold than I know what to do with. (Yes, I do have a life)I have never begged, bought, borrowed, or stolen gold/items.

I believe that the "Chinese Gold Farmers" have enabled me to earn this much gold. They have inflated the economy so that I now get more gold for mats, potions, ect.

My biggest complaint is the fact that they are known for stealing items on raids. The fact that they don't understand the language in order to follow directions is extremely frustrating to all that raid. I think that is more of an issue than the fact that they are skyrocketing the economy. Even the casual player can sell items in the auction house for higher prices.

Next month, my company is closing and moving operations to Mexico. I am thinking that after all of our companies move to the third world countries for cheaper labor, we can then sit home and collect game gold to be sold to them.

Lowla 60 Mage
Widowmakyr 60 Rogue
Eqlipse 60 Druid
Elune Server

Once upon a time there was a game. In order to get money in the game, to progress, and to achieve great things, sometimes you had to simply 'grind' a meaningless task over and over for a while in little areas that people referred to as 'farms'. It was boring, but easy. Anyone could do it.

Along came a business man. 'I know!' said the man, I'll pay some poor people a small amount of money to do this grinding, then sell the money I've made on to the crazy Americans for real cash! Before long, he had a nice steady income from rich Americans willing to part with real money for game money. The poor farmers were still poor, but the business man was smiling.

Eventually, people who played the game casually, and who weren't prepared to pay real money for game money noticed something odd. The 'farm' areas that they'd previously visited to do their own grinding in were all full up! Sometimes full of poor farmers working to fill a quota, other times full of automated 'bots', or players who used cheats to grind faster. Either way, the players discovered that they could not grind for themselves - if they wanted game money, there was only one thing they could do...

Buy it with real money.

Of course, with all of this game-money being sold to rich Americans by the million, what happened to the game economy? Why it started to inflate of course! Johnny from California had just bought 30 million gold on daddy's credit card - so what he going to sell his old sword for? He'd only paid 10 thousand for it, but now he was rich, and 10 thousand wasn't much. Perhaps he should sell it for 10 million. He know he could sell it for this, as everyone was buying game-money real cheap these days.

Billy had just bought the game to play - he wasn't rich, but he liked how on the box it said he could be a mighty warrior or a powerful magician no matter what he was in real life...

Oh wait. Get it yet?

In a country with less jobs then people and no "dole" then every dollar is infiniately more then 0. (maths). If you could only feed yourself by farming gold. Thats how you goddamn do it.

Take every opportuinity.

The next step after doing it for a few months, is you should seek asylum in another country and try getting a job considering for the first time ever, your education through "training" now leads you to be able to work with PC's.

There are alot of goat pig sheep farmers over there that have never seen 'em. And plenty of poorer people who will never see them.

I buy gold in the game. So what? Starting out, You do not get gold, but rather Copper. 100 Copper = 1 Silver. 100 Silver = 1 Gold. If I can kill monster and get 10 Copper every minute then I should be able to get 1 gold in oh about 17 Hours... Of course when you are higher levels you can get gold easier... But Until then I am happy paying $10.00 US Dollars for 200 Gold. Its better than Spending 138 days doing this. Sorry No moral problems here. I dunno, I kind of like someone doing my work, I've got a maid and she cleans, I have accountant and he does taxes, I have a groomer and she bathes my dog, I see no problem in having a gamer who makes my game enjoyable.