Gold Farmers: The Motion Picture
by Mike D'Anna 
Mar 14th 2006 at 9:39PM
Actually, I'm not sure if that's the title or
not, but I think we need another movie called "_______:The Motion Picture"; it's been too long...In any case, there is a documentary on the way about Chinese Gold Farmers that looks pretty fascinating. In this preview from over at YouTube, you can get a glimpse into the day-to-day lives of your friendly neighborhood farmers at Shanghai's Tietou Gaming Workshop, which, judging from the clip, looks as bleak and boring as you might expect it too. Still, I guess it beats making shoes for Kathie Lee Gifford.
Filed under: Cheats, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bart Kol Mar 15th 2006 12:29AM
God I real hate them.
Joe Eversole Mar 15th 2006 12:44AM
I hope I don't get flamed into Hades for this, but, it definitely made me feel less bad for the workers. It's possible that the filmmaker could only get access to the "shiny" workshops and not the scary ones you picture when you think sweatshop.
I get bored if I play my WoW character for more than a few hours a day, so I can only imagine how soul crushing it has to be to play day in and day out. But, I can imagine a lot worse things to do with my life if I had limited options and no resources.
Anthony Mar 15th 2006 10:04AM
To put things in context, farmers exist because the demand exists. Another example would be, cigarette companies exist because there are people who smoke. Ultimately it is the fault of the consumers who uses the service... to put it plainly, it's US consumers who buy gold that creates farmers.
RighteousDork Mar 15th 2006 11:46AM
Well said Anthony. People piss and moan about farmers but yet there are people out there who are willing to partake of their services. Cigarettes are a great analogy. Those Truth ads love to beat up on Big Tobacco but it doesn't change the fact that there are still people out there wanting the goods.
After watching that, I feel nothing but sympathy for those people. In my opinion, that's a horrible way to live. I've seen nicer meth labs than that first gaming workshop. Even that God-awful house in Fight club beats what those guys are dealing with. I can't help but feel depressed about the whole thing. I wonder if we can adopt one of them for the price of a cup of coffee.
jpc Mar 15th 2006 1:20PM
I think alot of it has to do with the fact that there is no coin word equivalent to 'farmer' for the person who buys from farmers. If there was we could start flaming them in /1 and on forums/blogs like this one instead of the poor farmers who are only trying to put food on the table.
Makes me think if other people who aren't in such dire need and yet sell in game items/gold irl, what about them? Are they worse than the farmers? You know, the people who just happen to be really good at the game and find good stuff and make alot of in game money and have no use for it and so put it up on ebay and what not. Where do they fit in?
~jpc
SenatorSpam Mar 15th 2006 3:35PM
To #1:
Would you rather make a living working in a Nike sweatshop for 12-hours a day or sit in front of a computer and do something that's enjoyable with friends around?
This is heaven compared to a sweatshop.
Montauhk Mar 15th 2006 5:20PM
It didn't seem all that bad really. They are getting paid to play videogames all day. You can hang around work without a shirt on, smoke your brains out, take a nap in the next room, doesn't seem so horrible. I didn't see anyone lording over them or whipping them with salamis like I imagined. I have had summer jobs that were much worse (anyone ever work in a call center?)
The only negative I see is the inflation of the virtual economies on the servers. Even that is somewhat self correcting though as you can sometimes encounter in game.
Farmers generally seek to create one thing, gold. They also help to create consumption of the gold by auctioning items they farm in order to get more gold. As long as the farmers garner gold by selling items to other players within the game, the gold supply stays the same.
The only thing Blizzard needs to do is manage the vendor buy prices and real-coin drop rates from mobs, which I don't see as a major source of income for farmers. As long as the majority of what goes on related to farming stays within the item/AH realm coin inflation can be avoided.
I don't really know where the major source of income for gold farmers is though so I am really just talking out of my ass. A rudimentary understanding of economics leads me to believe that if money in=money out we are generally ok. I'd be interested in reading any other articles about how farming affects in-game economies though.
MMOnomics are quite intriguing.
Vacamuerta Mar 16th 2006 3:38AM
The Title: Chinese Farmers in the Gamedom
It appears at the end of the clip. Quite an interesting piece so far, although amaturishly shot--looking forward to the next installment, so keep us posted!
Mike D'Anna Mar 16th 2006 4:49AM
Thanks for the info, Vaca; my player never would quite play the clip the whole way through.
Bart Kol Mar 16th 2006 5:38AM
Heaven would be to log into my game, and gather items, do quests, enjoy myself in the game. Instead of finding packs of farmers in all high level areas cooardinate how to steal my kills and herbs, and then asking me "picklock ok thanx plz" back in ironforge or spamming the chats with the items they get, sell and don't deserve.
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