Gold farming
Gold farming is playing a massively multiplayer online game to acquire in-game currency which is then sold to other players.[1][2] People in China and in other developing nations have held full-time employment as gold farmers.[3]
While most game operators expressly ban the practice of selling in-game currency for real-world cash,[1] gold farming is lucrative because it takes advantage of economic inequality and the fact that much time is needed to earn in-game currency.[4] Rich, developed country players, wishing to save many hours of playing time, may be willing to pay substantial sums to the developing country gold farmers.[5]
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[edit] History
What began as a cottage industry in the late-nineties with players using eBay and PayPal to sell each other items and gold from Ultima Online[6] and Lineage,[7] the sale of in-game currency has become increasingly more commercialized with the growing popularity of massively multiplayer online games.[8]
Today's gold farming may have its origins in the MMORPG Lineage, where it was known as "adena-farming" as "adena" is the currency of Lineage.[citation needed] 2001 reports describe Korean cybercafes being converted into gold farming operations to serve domestic demand.[7] This model seems to have been outsourced to China to initially serve Korean and Western players, with full-time gold farmers working long hours in cybercafes.[5] This type of operation experienced swift growth circa 2004.[7] In 2011, The Guardian reported that prisoners in Chinese labor camps were forced to engage in gold farming for the benefit of prison authorities.[9]
Academic studies of gold farming reveal that the social networks of gold farmers are similar to those of drug dealers.[10]
[edit] Figures
While reliable figures for gold farming are hard to come by,[11] there are some estimates of the market for in-game currency.
In 2005 The New York Times stated that there were over 100,000 professional, full-time gold farmers in China alone.[5] And in 2006 sales of such virtual goods were thought to amount to somewhere between 200[12] and 900 million USD.[4]
Another estimate, drawn from 2005/2006 data, valued the market at not less than USD200 million per year[13] and suggested that over 150,000 people were employed as gold farmers with average monthly earnings of USD145.[13] This same report estimated that 80% of all gold farmers were from China[11] a fact which has led to prejudice towards Chinese players.[14] 2008 figures from the Chinese State valued the Chinese trade in virtual currency at over several billion yuan, or nearly USD300 million.[15]
[edit] Rules and enforcement
In virtually all online games gold farming is specifically prohibited by the game's EULA or terms of service and is grounds for a ban.[16] Recently, however, blockbuster-game-maker Blizzard expects to open an online marketplace to allow exchange of real-world money for in-game items, including gold, for players of its upcoming game Diablo 3.[17]
[edit] Law, regulation and taxation
Awakening to the idea that virtual goods can have real value, some governments have taken action in this area.
[edit] Australia
In 2006 a spokesperson for the Australian Government stated normal earned income rules also apply to income from the sale of virtual goods.[18]
[edit] China
The Chinese State banned using virtual currency to buy real-world items in 2009 but not the reverse.[19]
[edit] Japan
In response to increases in gold farming, in 2006 the Japanese Government urged the computer gaming industry to self-regulate as well as vowing to investigate this species of fraud.[20]
[edit] Korea
A Korean high court's 2010 ruling means that exchanging virtual currency for real money is legal in the country although subject to taxation.[21]
[edit] US
A US Congressional committee investigated taxation of virtual assets and incomes derived from them in 2006,[22] and the IRS has, in its National Taxpayer Advocate's 2008 Annual Report to Congress, expressed concern that virtual worlds are a growing source of tax noncompliance.[23]
[edit] Lawsuits
Zynga, the makers of FarmVille, successfully sued to stop online sales of its in-game currency.[24]
Jagex, the makers of RuneScape, have engaged in actions against several gold farmers and bot programmers including lawsuits.[25]
[edit] In the media
Neal Stephenson's 2011 novel Reamde has a plot centered on T'Rain, an online game that encourages gold farming, but whose players become vulnerable to losing control of their own data after being infected by the REAMDE "ransomware" virus, written by gold farmers who aspire to a higher-stakes income model.
Cory Doctorow's 2010 novel For The Win[26] is based around gold farming and the fictional growth of unionisation among workers in developing country economies.
Alan Harris's radio play The Gold Farmer was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of The Wire series on February 6, 2010.[27] It features a man who plays an online role-playing game and whose next door neighbour is a gold farmer.
A 2006 art project by UBERMORGEN.COM, Chinese Gold, used found video and machinima to document and explore the Chinese gold farming phenomenon.[28]
[edit] See also
- Game sweatshop
- Gold farming in the People's Republic of China
- Powerleveling
- Virtual currency
- Virtual good
[edit] References
- ^ a b The business end of playing games bbc.com, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 14:55 GMT
- ^ Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games - Page 2 Richard Heeks, Development Informatics Group IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, UK - 2008
- ^ For Chinese gold farmers, see Davis, Rowenna (March 5, 2009). "Welcome to the new gold mines". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/05/virtual-world-china. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- For non-Chinese gold farmers, see Gamers load for virtual asset swap vietnamnet.vn, 12:30' 10/07/2006 (GMT+7)
- ^ a b China's full-time computer gamers bbc.com, Friday, 13 October 2006, 19:20 GMT
- ^ a b c Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese nytimes.com, December 9, 2005
- ^ Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games - Page 4 Richard Heeks, Development Informatics Group IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, UK - 2008
- ^ a b c Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games - Page 5 Richard Heeks, Development Informatics Group IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, UK - 2008
- ^ Gold Trading Exposed: Introduction eurogamer.net, 19 March 2009
- ^ Vincent, Danny (25 May 2011). "China used prisoners in lucrative internet gaming work". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
- ^ "Gold Farming Research Digs Up Similarities With Drug Dealers". Kotaku Daily. http://kotaku.com/5594424/gold-farming-research-digs-up-similarities-between-drug-dealers. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
- ^ a b Poor earning virtual gaming gold bbc.com, 01:36 GMT, Friday, 22 August 2008
- ^ The high cost of playing Warcraft bbc.com, Monday, 24 September 2007, 07:58 GMT
- ^ a b Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games - Page 10 Richard Heeks, Development Informatics Group IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, UK - 2008
- ^ Chinese WOW players speak out eurogamer.net, 17 January, 2006
- ^ China Limits Use Of Virtual Currency informationweek.com, June 29, 2009
- ^ Gold Trading Exposed: The Developers eurogamer.net, 9 April 2009
- ^ "Auction House". Blizzard, Inc.. 2012. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/services/auction-house/. Retrieved 1/20/2012.
- ^ Virtual world: tax man cometh theage.com.au, October 31, 2006
- ^ China bars use of virtual money for trading in real goods PRC Ministry of Commerce, Monday,June 29, 2009 2100 GMT
- ^ Japanese gov't looks into gold farming gamespot.com, Jul 19, 2006 5:48 am AEST
- ^ Play money is real money, says high court moremoney.blogs.money.cnn.com, January 22, 2010
- ^
- US Congress launches probe into virtual economies secondlife.reuters.com, Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:43pm PDT
- IRS taxation of online game virtual assets inevitable news.com.com, December 3, 2006 9:45 AM PST
- ^ IRS Getting Closer to a Virtual Goods Tax insidesocialgames.com, January 20th, 2009
- ^ Zynga Suing Site For Unauthorized Virtual Currency Sales gamasutra.com, April 14, 2010
- ^ [1] Runescape.com, November 9, 2011
- ^ Cory Doctorow’s “For The Win” creativecommons.org, May 11th, 2010
- ^ The Gold Farmer bbc.co.uk
- ^ Space Invaders artists and works Netherlands Media Art Institute
[edit] External links
- Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games Richard Heeks, Development Informatics Group IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, UK - 2008
- Gold Farmers - Website of Ge Jin, a PhD student from UCSD who made a video documentary of gold farming in rural and suburban China.
