Wednesday, May 10, 2006

This gets me thinking...

I work in the area of "cyber-wellness". Its social work and we help people use the internet fruitfully and responsibly. One of the new phenomenon that has come up with regard to "massively multiplayer online role playing games" (i.e. MMORPGs where you control a character in a virtual world.) is this "game gold farmer" (admittedly kind of my own term...I don't think there is a proper name for them yet). A good video about them is hosted on youtube.com you can find it HERE.

LINEAGE II

The objective of these MMORPG's is to level up your character like I wrote about HERE. And this, by necessity takes time. Thats something we all (rich, poor, famous, handsome, short, tall, fat or thin) have a limited amount of... but the thrill in leveling up your game character is so great that people are willing to PAY others to play for them just for the satisfaction of having a powerful game character (If a person needs a powerful game charater to feel important, or good about themself... something is wrong somewhere...)

RAGNAROK

So, if a person in a rich country wants a powerful character, but has no time because of work, school or family... what is he/she to do! Same thing as when we want cheaper shoes... out-source! Pay money for the service of somebody who will play the game for you...
WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Thats what the "farmers" do. They play games for a living. Earning game gold for people who pay them real money for it. This is another indicator of how much MMORPG's have captured peoples attention. Both for the payer(its so important I'll pay real money for virtual items and skills) and the farmer(Its such a good way to make money I'll spend my life doing it). Right or wrong? On the one hand, it may be exploitation of those in poorer countries "My time is more valuable than yours, so go ahead and farm for me" but on the other hand is it as bad or worse than the kids in sweatshops making cheap shoes or textiles for rich countries (at least these farmers are not physically exploited and their work is profitalbe - at least in the $$$ sense)? I'll admit i havent thought through this 100% all the way fully... but it does give me something to ponder. Feel free to share your thoughts on the tag borad or comments page!

SECOND LIFE
MAPLE STORY

NOTE:Each picture in this article is a VERY popular game with playing numbers in the ten to hundreds of thousands, all part of a online, dynamic, never-ending virtual world.

posted by Coach Jonathan Wong @ 5/10/2006 08:46:00 PM Comments: 0