Gold-farming occurs when an online player gives another player real-world money in exchange for in-game currency. The "farmer" can get gold in a variety of different ways; possibly by killing enemies, selling and trading items, etc. The farmer's main goal is just to gain in-game money and then sell it to people who need it.
Most game companies discourage this act, as it could possibly lead to in-game inflation. If there are large quantities of players just looking to obtain gold then the supply of gold increases, thus raising the price of goods which could cause new players to become discouraged.
Regardless of whether gold-farming is a legitimate business, the 87-page study by Heeks looks at gold-farming with a much more positive angle. He estimates that the gold-farming industry for all online games and regions is currently at $500 million, but he suspects that the number could easily rise to $1 billion as the business becomes more known and acceptable.
That's a whole lot of money but, I don't see how developing countries could get into this business on a mass scale. Developing countries may not have access to computers or the economy in those countries may not be able to handle the start-up costs that it requires to become an effective gold-farmer. Leveling up or trading requires time and the time would cost money that no player would be willing to spend on a new gold-farmer.
Unless however, that the gold-farming industry in the developing countries was funded by the government, which it probably would be. This poses another problem then, which would be that a mass movement of gold-farming might cause inflation that could cripple online gaming economies.
The study says that this may not be a problem though, citing that online games like EVE and Runescape have actually experienced deflation after a rise in gold farmers. I find that fact very surprising and if I have time I will read the study in its entirety and see if there were other factors that affected these online games.
If gold-farming is actually a viable source of income though, not only would this be an awesome job to have but it could help more people (including workers with physical disabilities) get jobs in developing countries.
Photo: [1]
Poor people farming
what a radical concept
more gold for the rich
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