In this screencast and other assorted rich media, I’ve attempted to survey the world of linking virtual resources to real world resources. More than just gold farmers in China, this industry represents almost a billion dollars in profits. Perhaps more importantly, it highlights a vanguard example of where international law might be headed-into the world of virtual economics.
Above is an imaginary “virtual currency” commission by Wired magazine as a part of a piece on virtual economies. The article is lengthy, but it goes into detail about the RMT industry using a compelling narrative about a young venture capitalist.
I also discovered an interesting subculture of World of Warcraft players reacting against gold farmers, often times in a frighteningly racist way. Below is an anti-gold farming machinima with surprisingly high production value and effort level. I couldn’t include this aspect of gold farming in my post in detail, but it’s definitely an area worth exploring if you’re curious.
And if you’re really, really curious I highly recommend Play Money by Julian Dibbell. Dibbell is perhaps the most preeminent scholar in the field of virtual economies (even if that’s a bit lofty of a title) and he definitely knows how to talk about this unique and idiosyncratic industry in an intelligent and entertaining way.
Finally, I apologize for the monotony of my voice over, I’m suffering from a rather exciting headcold and am having a difficult time feeling dynamic and engaging.
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- The Gold Farmer in Everyone (6) | Dylan
- Travelogue: Gold Farmers, Grinding, and the Economics of the World of Warcraft (4) | Dylan
- 4th Travelogue: One Ticket to Azeroth (3) | Dylan
5 Comments
This is extremely fascinating–
But I’m just a bit confused. Who makes all these profits? The company that owns WarCraft? or the people who “play” it?
I’m really intrigued by the idea of work and play merging together. My research into music promotion online is bringing up similar questions. The internet seems ripe with opportunity to monetize traditionally recreational activities…
I’m just going to put in my two cents here. I definitely think that people sitting in front of the computer in China playing this game for 12 hours are just playing — not working. I mean Kudos to them for figuring out a way to make money off playing their favorite video game all day, but money does not a job make. This reminds me of the movie Knocked Up which I was watching last night were Seth Rogen and his group of drugged out buddies who have been living off his accident settlement for the past 6 years pass off watching movies and logging the time codes at which the stars appear naked as a job. Please. That’s called a Sunday afternoon at a frat house — not a job.
I’d argue that those people in China are working. I mean, when i was playing Runescape, which is another MMORPG, i eventually felt like i was working, not playing, because it’s not very fun to mine (mining was my specialty) for hours a day, clicking on the same rocks over and over again just to gain experience and be able to craft more expensive items. I know WoW is much more interesting than RS, but i still can’t imagine how torturous it must be for them to do this 12 hours a day.
I like that you guys all picked up on the work and play merging together, maybe that’s where I’ll take the concluding post. I’m interested in that too, I just didn’t think people would be so interested.
I think it’s a pretty complicated answer, if there is an answer, but it’s important that we all understand what this play-working environment looks like so we don’t fill it in with out own assumptions. This is a video of a small gold farming operation in Chain from the NYT article I posted above.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/06/14/magazine/1194817114277/the-wizards-of-warcraft.html
Underneath is a video of a Chinese assembly line worker doing what could be considered similar work, but with a physical object instead of online.
If one is work and the other is play, then where does the distinction lie; at what point does work become play, or play become work?
After looking at that video, there is no mistake that is definitely work. At the point you’re doing that for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, you would have to either really love that game, or really hate it. And for most people, I think the latter situation is more common. Not to mention your making only $3 per 12-hour shift. Goldfarming may become the new sweatshop, who knows.