Gold Farms and Sweatshops in the Online Games Industry

When children fantasize on a career in the online games industry, gold farming in 12 hours shifts for about $150 a month is probably not what they have in mind. The gold farms phenomenon is relatively new, but already spread worldwide, a recent Manchester University study reveals. Mostly located in China, with branches in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Central America, these gold farms became known as "virtual sweatshops". 

Gold farming, the act of using a repetitive in-game element (such as using an automatic clicker to kill a monster over and over again) to acquire points or virtual goods in MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Lineage, is a hundreds of million dollars industry. The gold farms, also known as sweatshops, employees work daily in 12 hours shifts with a single, short break, allowing the recreational gamers to buy the "gold" from them, or actually from their employers. 

Gold farming is not an illegal act in most of the massive multi player online role playing games, and organized gold farms that supply virtual golds to whom it may concern for real cash, is probably what the games creators had in mind in the first place. Nevertheless, it seems like things have got out of control a long time ago, and according to Prof. Richard Heeks of Manchester University who led the research, the gold farming industry is expected to grow even further.