Gold Rush - Is gold farming here to stay?

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

Is gold farming here to stay?

 

Antonio Hernandez is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it any more. As a long-time player of the world's most popular massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft, he's spent the last two years watching the in-game economy being utterly devalued by the actions of companies selling virtual currency to players for real money.

 

They're called "gold farmers", a piece of net slang which refers to groups of people in low-income countries who are employed purely to play games like World of Warcraft. They attain large stocks of virtual cash and sell it on at a dollar premium.

 

Explained in simple terms like that, it sounds utterly ridiculous - people paying real money to acquire in-game currency? Chinese "sweatshops" filled with low-wage workers playing orcs, dwarves and elves? Depending on which angle you look at it from, gold farming either sounds like an outlandish idea from a cyberpunk novel, or a sad reflection on first-world society. Or both.

 

However, the reality of the situation is that gold farming represents a very real problem for companies who operate MMOG games - and for the players of those games, who see the balance of resources in their games being destroyed by an influx of players whose sole objective is to make gold and sell it to others.

 

Which brings us back to Antonio Hernandez. Like many World of Warcraft players, he hates gold farmers - but he has decided to take the matter into his own hands. This week, he instigated a class-action lawsuit against IGE, the biggest gold-farming company in the world, alleging that they have profited from deliberate interference in the enjoyment WoW's subscribers.

It's tough to see Hernandez winning this case, but even if he does, it's eminently unlikely that it will have much impact on the inexorable rise of the gold farmers.

 

What the case will do, however, is draw further attention to IGE - the leading company in this field, and perhaps the firm which has done most to legitimise gold farming as part of the videogaming ecosystem.

Although IGE's biggest business comes from World of Warcraft, the firm provides in-game currency for 14 different MMOGs - everything from EverQuest through to recent arrival Lord of the Rings Online.

 

Its highly professional website is covered in logos attesting to the firm's reputation as an online retailer, and is translated into French, German, Japanese and Korean. Buying in-game currency from the firm is a highly automated, well-implemented process, with good communication, order tracking and prices set based on availability and demand.

 

What's more, IGE has firmly lodged itself within the MMOG ecosystem - and has made impressive moves towards establishing its credibility with MMO players. Last year, the company acquired popular MMO website Allakhazam, which includes vast databases of statistics, information and guides for popular massively multiplayer titles. Other database sites routinely used by MMO players, such as World of Warcraft's Thottbot, also belong to IGE.

 

Keenly aware of the hatred some players hold for gold farmers, IGE has resisted the temptation to brand those sites, or to advertise on them; but nevertheless, the connection exists. It's a foot in the door for IGE and its ilk - but the gold farmers' courtship of respectability doesn't stop there. Gamers will take a long time to change their minds about gold-selling practices, but the multi-billion dollar industry behind MMOs could move a lot faster.

 

A few paragraphs ago, I referred to gold farming as a very real problem for MMO companies, and that's entirely true; however, it's also a very real opportunity for the same companies. Certainly, in its present form, gold farming can damage gameplay and destroy other people's enjoyment of an online world.

 

However, it's unlikely that it will go away, despite the actions of angry players like Antonio Hernandez or the various technical measures used by firms such as Blizzard to ban the farmers. As such, the question being asked by many MMO firms is straightforward - why not embrace it as part of the business model?

 

That's why Sony Online Entertainment earlier this year hired former IGE executive Dave Christensen - a move which was roundly slammed by the MMO community. SOE is by no means at the top of the MMO game any more, but despite this, the gamer outcry at bringing an IGE executive into the fold feels a bit like building sand walls against a tsunami. SOE's stance is logical; companies like IGE aren't going to go away, so finding some way to build a cash-for-gold service into Sony's business model makes sense.

 

It makes sense not least, in fact, because doing so will allow companies to build games that allow players to buy gold without damaging the economy for everyone else. The biggest problem with gold farming is not some kind of overbearing moral question, as some gamers appear to believe; the problem is that it unbalances games and destroys in-game economies. That problem exists because bought gold is a factor which designers don't allow for in creating MMO titles.

 

The irony here is that, if anything, World of Warcraft is proof that a game gold business can work. The game has encouraged an explosion in the gold farming industry, and not just because of its own vast commercial success.

WOW uses gold as a "speed bump" for players, essentially pausing their progression through the game while they save up currency to buy their way to the next stage - be it a new type of mount, new armour, or new skills. The really desirable items in the game can't be bought, so people still have to play in order to get them; in this regard, gold farming has little impact on the game.

 

The question, then, for anyone buying gold is simply this; how valuable is your time? If saving up gold is a tedious part of gameplay which is merely there to prolong the game experience and prevent you from reaching end-game content too quickly (which it is), and you consider your time to be worth more than a handful of dollars per hour, then buying gold is a perfectly logical thing to do.

 

The success of IGE proves that many gamers think this way; what remains is for MMO operators to bite the bullet and accept that this is something which many of their subscribers want to do. It's foolish for them to leave it out of their designs, and business models, for much longer.

 

Despite this, it's likely that it will take some time before gold sales are fully incorporated into the MMOG business - there's simply too much resistance to the idea from a vocal part of the community, and of course, companies must take that into account. Gold farming is an unpopular idea, and this has become a matter of dogma for many players.

 

However, it's clear that not all players feel that way - and as the market for MMOGs expands, the lure of a new revenue stream is likely to prove far stronger than the objections of a minority. The biggest threat to IGE, indeed, isn't the anger of gamers or Antonio Hernandez's lawsuit. It's simply that in a few years, IGE's existence will be pointless, because companies like Blizzard, SOE and NCsoft will also be selling gold - their own gold.

 

by Rob Fahey

[Rogue15]

sure it's fine...BUT THEY DON'T NEED GO GO SPAM-ADVERTISING IT IN THE MOS EISLEY STARPORT FOR GOD'S SAKE.

[HUGOMAND]

You can't buy money in real life, you shouldn't be able to do in MMOG's neither. Credit farming disgusts me, and I hate that there's nothing we can do about it, as long as there are no laws against it.

 

If you dont have enough time to make money in a MMOG, you dont have the time to play the freaking game.

[Rogue15]

yeah it's ridiculous. just cause people want the BEST stuff in the game...i wasn't too upset about it til i subscribed last week, went to mos eisley AND THERE'S SOMEONE AFK SPAMMING MOS EISLEY STARPORT ABOUT IT. and nothing is being done about it. all i can do is /addignore.....the prices on everything are near-insane, swoops....40,000 credits...come on now...

 

another thing is the majority of the people with the high-end items will be the ones that buy the credits to buy the stuff!! THAT IS NOT FAIR.

[PoiuyWired]

You can't buy money in real life, you shouldn't be able to do in MMOG's neither. Credit farming disgusts me, and I hate that there's nothing we can do about it, as long as there are no laws against it.

 

If you dont have enough time to make money in a MMOG, you dont have the time to play the freaking game.

 

 

You CAN buy money IRL actually. Its called foreign exchange, and a good way to make money.

 

Thing is, I am annoyed by in-game advetising of RL business like these. I mean, They can advertise in mags and websites RL, but please don't spoil my game.

[Rogue15]

yeah that's what i mean the advertising spoils the sw immersion...what's next, a advertisment for a rl suv?! or a prescription for viagra lol

[Jan Gaarni]

40.000?

Back when I played this game, I sold swoops for 24-28.000 credits (I forget the exact price, but somewhere between there).

 

But I guess, all things get more expensive with the passing of time. That's natural.

 

Unfortunatly, your wages in an MMO rarely go up to follow it.

 

I will never buy gold from anyone. Not even the creators themself if it's the only way to get it. The day that happens I will stop playing MMO's. End of story.

[Rogue15]

ugh!!!! they bloody mailed me!!!! wtf! why!!!!!!

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

You have to look at both sides of the arguement. There IS a market for gold farmers, that is clear. Alot of people out there are time poor but cash rich, and because MMO games require you to level up etc to obtain good loot, or skills, they just can't invest that kind of time some hard core gamers do.

 

So they either pay someone to do that for them, or run the risk of getting left behind. Especially today, if you are new and trying to join an MMO that has been around for years, you are already on the back foot.

 

Not everyone is a hard core gamer - there are some who use MMOs as a form of escape but can't invest that kind of time to progress.

[Rogue15]

selling credits is one thing, but going to the point of spamming the starports about it is something that needs to be taken care of. I wouldn't mind the mails about it, but spamming it is just plain rude.