Gold Farming story on NPR

"Morning Addition" on NPR Monday had a report on the Chinese
gold-farming industry, primarily related to its existence in WoW:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10165824

Right off the bat the announcer makes reference to online "murder"
related to the gold farming trade, and you know they're offbase. The
report does bring up some factual aspects of the gold farming
industry; I was very surprised to hear that farmers form raids - it
just doesn't seem to be the most profitable use of their time,
especially since raiding is often considered a money sink for regular
players.

Of course the guys running the operations say they're just providing a
needed service. Yep, and drug dealers and prostitutes say the same
thing about their lines of work. It's fair game to say these people
wouldn't exist without someone buying their "product". The article is
100% wrong in saying these activities exist in a "gray area"; in WoW
at least we all know these activities are against the TOS.

The whole racial strife angle seemed to come out of left field to me.
I tell you what, I'm going to dislike gold farmers whether they're
from Cleveland or Canton. This whole aspect of the report appeared to
be the gold farmers' trying to throw up some smoke to draw attention
away from the real issue at hand. At it seems to have worked - the
legitimate complaints that gold farmers inflate virtual economies and
are competition for resources for regular players are only hastily
mentioned at the very end of the report. Now that's some sloppy
reporting.

What I thought was funny was the introduction to the farming center,
and in the background you can hear WoW gunfire going like
firecrackers. They were all hunters!

----
Gnuthulhu, Undead Warlock
Fthagn, Undead Warrior
Rhyleya, Troll Hunter
Wydefoote, Tauren Shaman
Curwen, Blood Knight
Thunderhorn,US
Remove your coat for email.

On May 16, 5:24 am, AlphaWoolf
wrote:
> "Morning Addition" on NPR Monday had a report on the Chinese
> gold-farming industry, primarily related to its existence in WoW:
>
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10165824
>
> Right off the bat the announcer makes reference to online "murder"
> related to the gold farming trade, and you know they're offbase. The
> report does bring up some factual aspects of the gold farming
> industry; I was very surprised to hear that farmers form raids - it
> just doesn't seem to be the most profitable use of their time,
> especially since raiding is often considered a money sink for regular
> players.
>
> Of course the guys running the operations say they're just providing a
> needed service. Yep, and drug dealers and prostitutes say the same
> thing about their lines of work. It's fair game to say these people
> wouldn't exist without someone buying their "product". The article is
> 100% wrong in saying these activities exist in a "gray area"; in WoW
> at least we all know these activities are against the TOS.
>
> The whole racial strife angle seemed to come out of left field to me.
> I tell you what, I'm going to dislike gold farmers whether they're
> from Cleveland or Canton. This whole aspect of the report appeared to
> be the gold farmers' trying to throw up some smoke to draw attention
> away from the real issue at hand. At it seems to have worked - the
> legitimate complaints that gold farmers inflate virtual economies and
> are competition for resources for regular players are only hastily
> mentioned at the very end of the report. Now that's some sloppy
> reporting.
>
> What I thought was funny was the introduction to the farming center,
> and in the background you can hear WoW gunfire going like
> firecrackers. They were all hunters!
>
> ----
> Gnuthulhu, Undead Warlock
> Fthagn, Undead Warrior
> Rhyleya, Troll Hunter
> Wydefoote, Tauren Shaman
> Curwen, Blood Knight
> Thunderhorn,US
> Remove your coat for email.

Interesting piece. Thanks for posting it.