World Bank: Gold farming aids poor nations

@Spartacus1013 - That happened to me in Diablo II many years ago. I'll never be certain of what happened to my gold and items, but I'm pretty sure they were just sold off.

I get where the World Bank is coming from, but they need to rethink what they are actually promoting here.

@BananaBoat

let's be honest here.

The world bank doesn't, nor should it care about your online gaming inconveniences lol.

@BrianH - I know it is kind of petty, but what happened to me was a crime in some form or another. It doesn't make it okay just because the person on the other end may really have needed the money (far more than I needed the gold and items).

I have other problems with gold farming (namely that I've seen it kill the economy in plenty of MMO's over the years) but I realize that those issues are equally as non-PC when stacked against someones need to put food on the table and a roof over their head.

It's just... Nevermind. There is no politically correct way to argue about how impoverished third world gold farmers have ruined some of my favorite games. I'd have to turn in my .edu e-mail address, my student ID, and my liberal agenda.

@BigD145
That would be true if the united states followed it's own advice and supplied .05% of our gdp for global poverty relief; we donate .2%.
In short, your taxes are providing only 40% of the minimum required to even make a difference according to our OWN economists. What we do provide is enough to say we donate more than anyone else (but a smaller %) and pay lip service to our ideals.

@akeso You're citing our government's contribution, the citizens still contribute more than anyone else. Also, quite honestly a lot of us are getting tired of giving out more than anyone else to people that hate us. Why should I care if Chinese gold farmers are bringing money into their economy? China has the second largest economy in the world but the people are still poor and abused 'cause the government is horrible. Japan is just about the only country that we should be bending over backwards for right now, those people are going through a lot, but you don't hear nearly the ruckus you heard for Haiti, and Haiti doesn't actually contribute anything to the rest of the world.

@jarodscarborough
Are you sure that starving poor Chinese of money will be an effective way of combating their government? Similar attempts were tried with Cuba and Iraq and with disastrous results.

Also, Japan's population is almost a mere 10% of China's population. China being the second largest economy in the world is irrelevant if it has a billion+ people to spread that money around. Plus there's no guarantee that a massive government shift in China would even lift people's wealth up significantly. India is the biggest democracy in the world, and its government is much more liked than China's, and yet India's per capita GDP is nearly 25% of China's.

Your political stance here strikes me as grotesque. Charity as a form of business investment. Blech. Do you also believe that large sectors of American society should be left behind since they do not have a good ROI (return on investment) when compared to other sectors of society? Do tell!

@HellFiend So... Goldfarming should instead be done by American workers? I can see a politician getting behind that.

@HellFiend
It could be argued that the wealthy American who is buying gold is freeing up their time, maximizing their entertainment, and then boosting their morale, thus allowing them to keep up a productive career.

Could be argued anyway... ;-P

PS-- For those who bought/rent it... Dead Space 2 appears to have been primarily made in China, judging by the credits. There's not much difference between buying from gold farmers and buying Dead Space 2, IMO.

@GuardianLegend What, like some sort of trickle down theory? That worked really well for this one country...

@GuardianLegend

The makers of Dead Space 2 didn't wreck anyone else's gaming experience that they paid for in order to create Dead Space 2. Rather a big difference.

@(Unverified)
The comment topic is about labor outsourcing. In that context, I don't see a big difference between buying from gold farmers and buying Dead Space 2.

@Neofalcon the World Bank says 20% of the gold is stolen from accounts, not the vast majority

The World Bank is full of shit.

Why would they choose to make less money with a harder method, over more money with an easier method?

Farm gold with a human, or a bot, taking forever. Or placing some malicious software on sites, set up a few phishing sites, and whisper people in game, hope they fall for it, get their account info, log in, and steal all their gold?

The days of people farming for hours are ended. Even botting would take forever to get the kind of gold they sell. While one person's account might give them the gold to make 2-3 sells for only a few minutes worth of work.

@Emophia Yea, seriously. That place is a gold mine.... of thorium.

Thus increasing inflation, and having gold sellers reduce their prices, keeping the original problem in, and creating new ones.

When a company starts selling in-game currency, it means they are unbelievable greedy, a rip-off, in it only for the money, not caring about their gaming environment, or all 4.

Zygna doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation.

@GuardianLegend He doesn't make less money. He just spends much less of that money locally.

@Shinta
OK but it says that 98% of the money from gold farming stays local to the goldfarmer, in a $3 billion market. While a mere 7% of the money from coffee farming stays local to the coffee bean farmer, or $5.5 billion.

In order to establish which is wealthier, the coffee farmer or the video game gold farmer, we need to figure out how many workers there are, then divide those earlier billion dollar figures accordingly. My hunch is that, per person, the gold farmer is still richer than the coffee farmer.

PS -- I can't believe coffee farmers only get a 7% cut of the coffee business!!! What a bunch of crap. I hate capitalism.

@AMonkey
It would be equally as noble as falling for an advance-fee email scam. I'm sure all of those 419 frauds really help Nigeria's GDP.

@Ziphion Thank you lol. This comment ends the thread.

@Ziphion
There's a big difference between getting scammed out of your money and making a consensual business transaction.

@SheppyReturns Gold sellers drive inflation thus making your money less valuable. I could really could not care less about the plight of Asian gold farmers.

@SheppyReturns
But it's still a game where skill is little to nothing, grinding out the best gear is everything, and sitting on a hillside for 8 hours is considered gameplay, right? Imagine if you could skip that 8 hours and get to the actual GAME? I know, I know... weird concept but it could happen.

Of course Blizzard could do the whole "legalize gold farming" thing, take the illicit aspect out of the industry that will exist whether they like it or not and control, take their cut, and allow this economy to actually balance itself the way it has in SOE games when they started regulating this stuff.

The main reason why I say the "gold farmers farming drives up the economy" argument is nonsense is because this stuff wasn't around in all MMOs. In fact it was barely present in Ultima Online or the first Everquest. What happened instead was certain guilds horded which drove up the economy. In the end, whether it's gold farmers is a corporate faction in space controlling the bulk of the galaxy's GNP, hording is hording.

Me, if I could get to the parts of the game that I enjoy without spending 31 hours getting to that glorious 3... where is the problem? "Oh boo hoo, it screws up the systems economy because apparently Blizzard doesn't want to profit off a system like this but will sell you a virtual pet for $20."