Notes

Inside World of Warcraft Gold Farm, Future Of Work



Inside World of Warcraft Gold Farm, Future of Work

Wagner James Au on November 26, 2006



To get a glimpse into the future of work in the Internet age, check out MTV's website. According to me the most recent news segment on gaming, "Is Mining Virtual Gold Expensive?" features the first video footage taken inside Chinese gold farms, the gray market companies which collect and sell virtual gold (primarily from World of Warcraft) to more wealthy gamers across the world. (The New York Times had an article on the subject in the past, but the company's managers were much less hesitant to go on the an interview with the reporter.)



Ge Jin, a UC San Diego grad student is the creator of an intriguing MTV segment that includes interviews with the managers and employees of several gold farms. The segments are inspired by Ge Jin's documentary (YouTube clip here). According to the segment there are half million Chinese earn an income from WoW gold sales to the US and the EU. This is the future of online work. Consider the youth and low incomes of gold farmers, and the increasing demand for outsourcing online tasks. Amazon recently launched an app called the Amazon Mechanical Turk that isn't a game.



A Hollywood production company is outsourcing Second Life projects to its Vietnamese subsidiary. These highly-skilled workers are able to create professional 3D environments for less than the cost if it was done here. It's simple to see how Warcraft's Chinese farmers could be the blue-collar workers of the 3D Internet.



Matt Sunbulli, the MTV's producer put us in touch to Ge Jin. We asked Ge Jin questions regarding the phenomenon and sought his opinions on how it can be related to the work that is coming online.



How did you find these gold farms?



Ge Jin: I have a close friend who had operated a gold mining operation in Shanghai since 2003. This is why his gold farm was the first one I've visited. My friend's gold farm shut down in 2005, as did many gold farms in Shanghai. Many of them moved to smaller cities with lower costs for housing and greater human resources.



So I tried to contact other gold farms through the old network of a friend. Tsa club I was lucky enough to find many gold mines in Jinhua Nanjin, Nanjin Lishui, Hangzhou. I was again blessed to earn their trust. It could be because I am from the same family as a lot of gamers (many owners of gold farms were gaming workers).



Are gold farmers afraid that the Chinese government will close them down?



GJ: The ones that allowed me to film there were not afraid because they're located in cities where local authorities are open to this type of business. This new industry is not yet controlled by any national policy. It's up to local governments to decide.



Most local governments have no motive to shut down these gold farms because they lower unemployment and also lower the rate of crime by reducing unemployed male youth on the streets. Some gold mining facilities declined my visit because they don't want to pay tax and instead prefer to operate underground, or because they are concerned that their work practice is problematic...



What does WoW Gold Farming reveal about the future of work and the implications?



GJ I believe these gold farms prove that the game platform is able to be used to engage more people in an internet-driven economy. Although the Chinese gaming workers do not have the knowledge to program or design software, they are able to communicate and navigate in 3D worlds where tools and routines are well-known to them. This will make it more likely that those with less gaming experience and cultural capital will be able to take part in the global community.



Category: Online Games, tablet pc





Navigation after navigation



Read More: https://tsaclub.com/