MMORPG News - Au Farming

The Guardian has some pretty sad figures on Gold Farming.

Li Hua makes a living playing computer games. Working from a cramped office in the heart of Changsha, China, he slays dragons and loots virtual gold in 10-hour shifts. Next to him, rows of other young workers do the same. "It is just like working in a factory, the only difference is that this is the virtual world," says Li. "The working conditions are hard. We don't get weekends off and I only have one day free a month. But compared to other jobs it is good. I have no other skills and I enjoy playing sometimes."
Li is just one of more than 100 workers employed by Wow7gold, an internet-based company that makes more than £1m a year selling in-game advantages to World of Warcraft (WoW) players. Customers may ask for their avatar's skill level to be increased ("power levelling"), or for a virtual magic sword or precious ore to be obtained. As one player put it: "Where there's a demand, China will supply it."
Division of playbour
For thousands of Chinese workers such as Li, "gold farming" is a way of life. Workers can expect to earn between £80-£120 a month which, given the long hours and night shifts, can amount to as little as 30p an hour. After completing his shift, Li is given a basic meal of rice, meat and vegetables and falls into a bunk bed in a room that eight other gold farmers share. His wages may be low, but food and accommodation are included.
These virtual industries sound surreal, but they are fast entering the mainstream. According to a report by Richard Heeks at Manchester University, an estimated 400,000 Asian workers are now employed in gold farming in a trade worth up to £700m a year. With so many gamers now online, these industries are estimated to have a consumer base of five million to 10 million, and numbers are expected to grow with widening internet access.

More information.

I can't help but be a little shocked every time I hear about this 'industry'. It is hard for me to wrap my head around this method of earning a living.
I certainly couldn't do it, I am one of those who play MMO's for years and never have enough gold for the better things. They'd fire me in a week.
As long as companies like Blizzard make obtaining desirable items in their games a competition that is geared so that only a few can accomplish it, you will see this kind of thing happening, so I believe their sad industry is quite safe.
Can anyone name any other entertainment medium where the customer's satisfaction is intentionally gated like MMO's? Heck, can you name any other business where customers must perform at certain peaks to get the best of what a company is selling to every customer for the same price? Odd business.

This is the first rather seriously researched article on that matter I know of.

I'm actually glad I can learn from that report.
(Not in the meaning that I would want to do gold farming as well …)

Originally Posted by Greymane
As long as companies like Blizzard make obtaining desirable items in their games a competition that is geared so that only a few can accomplish it, you will see this kind of thing happening, so I believe their sad industry is quite safe.

Not really. Currently, in Wrath of the Lich King, endgame is ridiculously easy to access. You can do it with strangers, and if your raid isn't completely comprised of idiots, you'll wander from one loot pinata to the next, collecting epics without having to think or figure out tactics. Oh, gold will get you some good crafted items, but the very best are obtained from big bad bosses or arena tournaments: both of which require your participation, and no amount of gold will buy you the items.

Until someone comes up with the idea of raid-farming services, anyway. And why not? The current content is easy enough.

Ive always thought this sounds like a pretty fun way to make a living. I mean, sweatshop conditions aside of course, regular weekends and what not. Play mmos all day long. I know it's a bit tedious, but it beats the hell out of running autocad all day long.

If a gold company would give me weekends and some decent benefits, I'd be all for it!

Originally Posted by Essaliad
Until someone comes up with the idea of raid-farming services, anyway. And why not? The current content is easy enough.

They did. I read in another article along time ago, where they interviewet a gold farmer.
And he talked about how they had been working intensly to master the raiding content so that someone could pay to be a part of such a raid and get priority on items dropped.

There just wasen't enough interest in that service so it didn't last long. Which the guy who was interviewet was quite sad about since he was main tank, and it was alot more fun than just grinding gold all day.

Play mmos all day long. I know it's a bit tedious, but it beats the hell out of running autocad all day long.

Uhhh, no, it's not going to be a bit tedius, it's going to be pure tedium. They will figure out the most effecient way to get gold and they will do it over and over and over. Imagine doing the same raid, all day, every day. Quality Assurance testers have more fun.

As for the previous poster noting the oddness of the business - yeah, it is a bit strange for entertainment, but it's a pretty unique industry.

Kinda sad that the article doesn't even try to ask what the effect is on the games themselves. We had an awful time in City of Heroes when salvage and recipes got put in the game. The gold farmers followed immediately and started spamming everyone with in-game emails and, worse, in-game tells. Every hour, some idiot would hit you with a tell trying to get you to go to some website! The developers had to put some very harsh limits on trial accounts to counter it. We still get occasional in-game email spams but now we can wipe them out easily. Still, what a waste of development time, how annoying to have to limit trial accounts so badly!

Interesting article but it just perpetuates the stereotype. There are plenty of people making a living gold farming in the USA and Europe too. I wish someone would write that article.

There are plenty of people making a living gold farming in the USA and Europe too.

If there are, there shouldn't be. How can a company stay in business paying those crazy USA and Europe wages while selling a completely fungible product that the Chinese can produce oh so much cheaper?

I remember reading about some companies in Romania… if so, that's hardly the "rich" part of Europe.