500,000 in Developing Nations Earn a Living Selling Virtual Loot
Half a million people, most of them in China, earn about $145 a month crafting virtual gauntlets, cloaks, swords, tunics, leggings, and more, in a business estimated to be worth $500 million globally, according to research by a University of Manchester professor. It's called "gold farming," and it refers to the legally precarious practice of exploiting a repetitive mechanic in a game to get the best possible outcomes, with the express purpose of collecting valuable virtual loot for very real cash.
The practice isn't new, but the metrics surrounding it seem to be snowballing.
The BBC reported last Friday that the practice is flourishing, despite efforts by game companies to quash trade in virtual items for cash. According to Professor Richard Heeks, gold farming may even be comparable in size to India's outsourcing industry.
"The Indian software employment figure probably crossed the 400,000 mark in 2004 and is now closer to 900,000," Prof Heeks told the BBC. "Nonetheless, the two are still comparable in employment size, yet not at all in terms of profile."
There's even an evolving hierarchy. Security firm Secure Play chief Steven Davis say Vietnamese gold farmers are accepting low wages to do for Chinese gamers what the latter does for those in the West.
This, despite moves by some to police virtual worlds and tax virtual income. In some countries, the practice has even been legislatively banned.
Of course the whole issue's a philosophical quagmire. Does gold farming alter the experience of other players or damage a game world's economy, and if so, to what extent? Is it tantamount to gambling? Can a company legally forbid someone to engage in extracurricular transactions that indirectly involve intangible digital wares? Should a company have the power to prevent you from selling your account and/or related materials to someone else, the way you might resell books, CDs, comics, furniture, cars, or any other material item in meatspace (this gets into the whole "is a EULA really valid" imbroglio)? And do you have a moral obligation to determine whether that Level 60 WoW Warrior plus CD key comes from an exploitive "sweatshop"?
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Why would the company act in a way that's 'philosophical' or 'moral.' That's not the issue to a game company. The issue to a game company is
a) What will yield the greatest sustainable short term success (especially if incorporated)?
b) What will yield the greatest long term success without expending anything in the short term?
This is really no different than the question that faces Security Professionals every day. Do I spend resources on an expensive update which will protect me in the long run, or do I wait till another expensive update. Note, of course, expense doesn't simply mean raw $, but also time..
Approaching it from a security-model standpoint is probably the best bet to understanding and solving the issue-- with the recognition that it can never be solved, only faced.