Gold Farming

July 24, 2012

See also: Playbourer, Digital Sweatshop, Electronic Sweatshop

CIMM DEFINITION: The act of playing a massively multiplayer online game to acquire in-game currency that other players purchase in exchange for real-world money. (Source: www.wikipedia.org)

NOTE – People in China and in other developing nations have held full-time employment as gold farmers. While most game operators expressly ban the practice of selling in-game currency for real-world cash, gold farming is lucrative because it takes advantage of economic inequality and the fact that much time is needed to earn in-game currency. Rich, developed country players, wishing to save many hours of playing time, may be willing to pay substantial sums to the developing country gold farmers. In 2009 the global market for gold farming was valued at around $3bn annually. (Source: www.wikipedia.org)