Gold Farming Might Be A $500 Million Industry
Pdwarfy ain’t grinding nuthin
Gold farming might be a joke among many MMORPG players, but, according to a recent Manchester University study, it certainly is a lucrative one. The study estimates that the industry is a $500 Million market, with over 400,000 employees (80% based in China) earning an average of $145 a month. Professor Richard Heeks, who authored the study, had this to say:
“I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games-playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry. In a way that is still true. It’s just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands.”
Hundreds of thousands grinding away in games like World of Warcraft and Runescape, for low wages and in poor conditions. This is the ugly side of globalization manifest in virtual worlds. It’s almost surreal to imagine, but apparently gold farming is becoming a major sector in the economies of the countries involved.
Major enough but unregulated enough to allow the participation of organized crime. That criminal aspect of gold farming makes the Manchester study not entirely accurate, Heeks said. Meaning his estimate could be twice as low, and gold farming could actualy be a billion-dollar industry.
