The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer 553
An anonymous reader writes "This weekend's New York Times Magazine puts a human face to the 'gold farming' profession. Virtual world economist Julian Dibbell travels to Nanjing, China, for a look at the working conditions and first-hand experience of farming gold from virtual monsters as a way to make a living. From the article: 'At the end of each shift, Li reports the night's haul to his supervisor, and at the end of the week, he, like his nine co-workers, will be paid in full. For every 100 gold coins he gathers, Li makes 10 yuan, or about $1.25, earning an effective wage of 30 cents an hour, more or less. The boss, in turn, receives $3 or more when he sells those same coins to an online retailer, who will sell them to the final customer (an American or European player) for as much as $20. The small commercial space Li and his colleagues work in -- two rooms, one for the workers and another for the supervisor -- along with a rudimentary workers' dorm, a half-hour's bus ride away, are the entire physical plant of this modest $80,000-a-year business.'"
Putting things in perspective (Score:5, Informative)
Living wage in China? (Score:4, Informative)
-Rick
Re:100 gold coins for $1.25... (Score:5, Informative)
1g = 100silver = 10,000 copper
When you start. You start with copper coins.
Your mount at level 40 costs ~100g.
Your mount at level 60 costs ~600g.
Your mount at level 70 costs ~1000g.
Your fast mount at level 70 costs ~6000g.
6000g = 60,000,000 copper
The game is designed with a rudimentary economy that despite the unlimited gold from killing things is designed to eat up money for repairs and other equipment costs. It is easy to spend all your money on shiny objects.
Top end quests are worth 10-20g for completing.
Re:Military commissions (Score:5, Informative)
Always has been? You might learn a little bit about the history you misquote so freely.
Setting aside the use of influence and nepotism (which are fraternal - not identical, twins of outright purchase)...
Persons of wealth buying the positions (in the Church and in the Armed Services) isn't something that happened (or happens) in tribal societies - nor (in the Western) world does it happen today. (It was largely wiped out in the late 1800's to early 1900's.) It was rare in feudal Japan and virtually nonexistent in classical China. It was extremely rare in classical Greece and semi-common only in later period Rome. In fact in the Western world - the practice was only widespread from late medieval times to early modern times.
Or in short, no - it's not commonly the way of the world nor has it always been.
Re:there are 2 forms of acceptance (Score:4, Informative)
A cynic may ascribe the worst motivations to the actions of others, and may decry those actions -- but acceptance of them is antithetical to the cynical mind.
Sorry to get off on a tangent there, but as a proud cynic, I sometimes take it personally when people use the term to refer to a defeatist.
Re:there are 2 forms of acceptance (Score:2, Informative)
I think "maids" and "gas station attendants" are on a different skill level than "accountants" and "lawyers." By your definition they're all a service class with the same degree of difficulty as any other class.
This is simply not the case.
A good lawyer, accountant, IT or cook have spent years training and honing their skills to be a master at what they do. Each has their own literature, discipline and technique that few or no other field possesses. This is not the case with maids and gas station attendants. That's why they are by all definitions "low-end jobs."
Do not confuse specialists with servants. Your doctor or mechanic might get pissed.
Re:Time is Money (Score:5, Informative)
Sony did a white paper on the Station Exchange economy [raphkoster.com] which noted that the largest sellers were 22-year-olds (who have plenty of time but not a lot of money) and the largest buyers were age 34. These older players have more money than time, and that fact drives the demand side of the virtual economy, creating a sustainable market for both power-leveling and game accounts.
Re:Military commissions (Score:4, Informative)
Actually it was not rare towards the end of the Tokugawa era for wealthy merchants to pay for Samurai to adopt them in order to gain that class status. (Actually to be fair, General Hideyoshi tried to get a descendant of the Shogun to adopt him even though he was older than the descendant so he could gain the official title for himself, but the descendant would not and he had to settle for a lesser title)
Although, by the end of the Tokugawa era, most Samurai had no true formal military training (and sometimes no swordship training either) and lived from hand outs from their feudal lord patron so were often more than happy to adopt anyone willing to foot the bill.
Re:Military commissions (Score:3, Informative)
Um lords were commanders and their sons became the lords/commanders.
Samurai was an aspect of lineage. Basically the whole thing was nepotistic and aristocratic, if you know people higher up (Through friends or family) they'll talk to you at parties, instruct you in the craft and want you as their backup.
If you were starting a company right now with a good idea you'd probably look to your friends or online aquaintences for employees rather than hiring someone who you may not get along with or who may have a very diffrent attitude towards work, it has gone on a long time and it will continue.
I like the idea of gamers being able to do better because they have more money (in FPS (First person shooters)this equates to FPS (Frames per second)) and it's pretty rediculous that we should be trying to remove their motivation to contribute to real society when so many people admit they've been sucked into these games treating them like jobs.