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Post by dcfusion on May 24, 2007 15:53:14 GMT -5
I couldn’t believe this when I read it. In China, sweat-shops are popping up were people are paid (although I use that term very loosely as these people are barely paid enough to survive) to collect ‘virtual money and goods’ playing on-line games such as “World of Warcraft”, which can then be sold to other gamers for real money. I even did a quick google search and found that I can ‘buy’ 2,000 World of Warcraft gold coins for $193.99 US. Now, I'm not a World of warcraft player, so I don't know if this is a good deal or not. From joystiq.com: Sales of virtual goods will reportedly reach $9 billion by 2009, overtaking sales of actual games, but at the expense of hundreds of thousands of exploited workers, who may earn as little as 500 Yuan per month (roughly $65). I can see this becoming very dangerous because how can you regulate people playing games. I can already here the sweat-shop owners now "Oh, they aren't working, they are playing games. No abuse going on here". So sad. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to exploit people in todays computer age. [admin edit: made the links more visible]
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SeventhSeal17
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Post by SeventhSeal17 on May 24, 2007 16:05:02 GMT -5
I read that also.
I cannot help but laugh at the irony of the way Chinese workers are exploited.
They claim they are Communist, and that they follow the words of Marx... yet, proletariats are still licking the shoe of the bourgeoisie as much as in our Capitalist society, nay, more.
Pathetic.
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Post by Ceci on May 24, 2007 23:29:37 GMT -5
The exploitation of people is not good in any way. It brings up the fact that slavery still exists in many forms and ways. Is there more information on this issue so we can read a little more upon it? And btw, nice to see you here, DC!!!
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Post by dcfusion on May 25, 2007 8:29:30 GMT -5
The practice is called "Gold Farming" Someone put up a nice entry in Wikipedia about it. There is also a nice article at the International Herald Tribune . Very interesting, yet disturbing, stuff. btw - glad to be here! [admin edit: made the links more visible]
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SeventhSeal17
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Post by SeventhSeal17 on May 25, 2007 9:51:53 GMT -5
I was speaking to an old dorm-mate the other day (he plays World of Warcraft) and was asking him about the subject. So, I will present you some insider information, so to speak. Ok, basically, Gold Farming is not exclusively conducted by these Asian (this is a very common and profitable practice in Korea also) "sweat-shops". It is a term used by players when someone consistently kills the same enemies over and over and over again hoping to receive enough currency to purchase whatever it is they are after. He says he has done it on many occasions. Now, he said the average person can only Gold Farm and retain their sanity for at most, three hours. But one day he came across a person in his farming area (the place he goes that yields the best results) and was frustrated. So he logged off and came back about five hours later in order to give it another try. They were still there. Periodically he logged on for the next six hours to see if they indeed were still there. Indeed they were. So, he knows that they were in that same place doing the same repetitive actions (literally all you do is click on things, they die, you get their items. I've tried it with him before... it's... not my thing) for at least eleven hours. It doesn't sound too bad, playing computer games for eleven hours... but man, try and sit in the chair you are sitting in now for eleven hours doing the same monotonous motion over and over and over again. I think it is illegal too, the selling of virtual currencies. For tax purposes. EDIT: Another interesting side note, I think all the gold selling companies are American. They'll outsource anything these days...
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Post by Ceci on May 25, 2007 19:28:14 GMT -5
Thank you for your sources. I am in the process of reading them. I will have my take on this a little later tonight after getting my last bit of stuff in RL done today.
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Post by Ceci on May 26, 2007 5:33:57 GMT -5
First, let me apologize to both you because Friday was very busy for me. Now, that I have a little free time, I can give a thoughtful answer to what DC posted the last couple of days. And thanks, DC, for bringing this to our attention here as well as SS17 for bringing in a first-hand account of this practice. Here's what I have to say: DC, your sources blew my mind. Since I don't play multi-player or on-line games (not even for the Sims2), I didn't know how lucrative this was. And it kind of angers me in a lot of ways because what "Gold-farming" does is cheating. The on-line player who doesn't want to work their way up the levels themselves pays for the services of another who has worked tirelessly under horrible conditions for already there. And the proprietor of these "electronic sweatshops" don't have to live under those same conditions and probably take their cut off of the top. To me, they appear like they are nothing but overseers "watching the slaves". That is what angered me as I read about the conditions of the workers. Again, no one ought to work under such terrible conditions--whether it's a video game or anything else. And unfortunately, SS17 is quite correct that this does have to do with the dark side of capitalism. And they are producing a product that is quite attractive to those really don't want to reach those levels in on-line gaming by themselves. And, it is no better than the exploitation that happens with undocumented workers. It is a shadow economy in which the workers often have to hide and work under tremendous strain while their "bosses" scoop up the cash and keep on rolling. Would I be able to do this for countless hours for low pay (in fact, the article said that they worked in "12 hour shifts" ? Heck. I love gaming, but not that much. Even if I were desperate and needed a job badly to put food on my table? Still no, because of the horrible exploitation that is going on. You know the most horrible thing about this? The faux attempts to clamp down on this practice. Although the gaming companies say they would want to crack down on the "Gold Farms", but they won't. The IHT article said it best: the multi-player universe is a site for millions of people. And that, generates in billion of dollars. Why would they want to be the fly in the ointment to stop the "consumer/workers" from going there. In that business, people mean numbers--even when it is very illegal. Again, I thank you both, DC and SS17 for discussing this. This topic deserves to be known and conversed about by everyone. So, let's continue the subject and add more insights to it!
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