Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese
The readings this week are an expansion of what we began in week six. The class was first introduced to the online MMORPG economies in Clive Thompson article "Game Theories." David Barboza's article follows the online economy through an examination of "Goldfarming" a phenomina that is happening internationally in digital sweatshops.
Gold farming is the term used when an individual, a small business, or a corperation pays gamers to simply accrue game currency, as well as build characters and earn rare items, which can be sold on the digital black market for real world profit. The ease with which this is done is prime for sweatshop labour, which Barboza tries to focus on in his article, but does so unsuccessfully. Instead the article has to do with the ability to make profit off of digital currnecy, which was already examined in Thompson's article.
Barboza's discriptions of the work environment become seemingly minor atrocities which occur in digital sweatshops. "Another operation here has about 40 computers lined up in the basement of an old dilapidated building, all playing the same game. Upstairs were unkempt, closet-size dormitory rooms where several gamers slept on bunk beds; the floors were strewn with hot pots, " Barboza observes. However, the comparison these sweatshops to the "thousands of textile mills and toy factories that have moved here from Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of the world to take advantage of China's vast pool of cheap labor," seems streched in the article, as if an afterthought.
The socio-economic impact of these goldfarms are worth studying, not just on the digital market, but with what it has done to the work ethic of our generation in not only International sweatshops but in the warm glow of computer screens in the United states as well.
Due to limitations in my internet access ability I was not able to view the multi media portion of this article. When I have the ability to view it, I may ammend my assertions.
4 comments:
SO now I know what the comment chiense goldfarmer really means. I'd hear that in WOW chat sometimes and until I read these articles I really had no idea that is what they are talking about.
For me there are two big ideas happening within these articles. First the article "Everquest: 77th richest country in the world" opens with the comment that in virtual worlds people enjoy participating in politics and feel they have an impact on economics, maybe the real world could learn something from this. The article continues by suggesting that there is something utopian aboout the economic system that forces everyone to start from the same place and work their way up. But then both articles about outsourcing laborers to farm gold pieces give the impression that the economic problems of this real world are merely recreated in virtual realms. So which is it? What do we make of this apparent paradox?
The second question I had relates to the idea of virtual business. Is it sustainable? As people recreate their lives in an online context, will demand for virtual businesses increase or is this another dot.bomb business practice? I have no economic background so I really have no idea. And what about businesses/games that translate game money into real product? Where do they fit into this?
I did watch the multi-media portion of this and it pretty much says the same things, but adds in more specifics about the money these people are paid, what the age ranges are, what kind of kids do this, and he talks more about the dorms they live in.
I don't really think the point of this article was to show how easy it is to do this or how it is done. I think he was trying to show how bad this really is. Not only are these companies doing something illegal, but they are taking advantage of their employees (some of which are disabled, high school drop outs, and teenagers who haven't figured out the real world yet according to the video). Like I said in my absract on the same article, these are games and they are supposed to be played for fun, not profit.
To try and give my opinion on the second question there, I feel that the business of gold farming for these role playing games, is a very high risk one. The businesses depend more on the popularity of the games in which they farm, than they do on the success rates of their actual farmers. What will become of these gold farmers when interest level for these role playing games shifts to a different type of game. I believe this as a result, is inevitable.
Not too long ago gamers were playing a completely different genre of games. Who is to say that in five to ten years, role playing games will be a thing of the past. It can be seen through this weeks articles that the virtual economy of these games is thriving. However, I would consider it to be incredibly fragile. When the stability of the economy is one hundred percent dependant on consumer interest, the end results will never be good as it is that consumer interest is constantly changing at a rapid rate.
I was intrigued by the other articles at the bottom of the page. There was a woman who was arrested in Japan for deleting her ex-boyfriend's game on Lineage II, and someone in Australia that bought an island in a game for $26,000.
I can see how the angry ex would delete her ex-lover's account, but I don't see why a 22-year-old would spend so much money on virtual real estate. It seems that this kid is getting ripped off, because there is a low resale value to what he has purchased. I could see one of these gold farms buying an area, bulking up the money that the creatures drop, and letting their players gain exclusive access to that area, but where does the line get drawn when you are conning someone out of their money?
I think another important question to ask is the legality of online purchases. Different countries have different laws regarding this, and something that is perfectly legal in Korea or China might not be legal in Australia. Who polices international online trade? What country gets to tax it? Should there be taxes on it?
John
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