Virtual Free Trade
This is priceless. I just finished taking a course in Third World history that focused on how wealthy nations exploit the resources and cheap labor of poorer, developing nations. Interesting class, lot of food for thought, but right now it mainly makes me think that this article in the New York Times is hysterical and deeply troubling all at the same time.
We are outsourcing video-game-playing to China. There are sweatshops involved.
“For 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, my colleagues and I are killing monsters,” said a 23-year-old gamer who works here in this makeshift factory and goes by the online code name Wandering. “I make about $250 a month, which is pretty good compared with the other jobs I’ve had. And I can play games all day.”
…
On eBay, for example, 100 grams of World of Warcraft gold is available for $9.99 or two über characters from EverQuest for $35.50. It costs $269 to be transported to Level 60 in Warcraft, and it typically takes 15 days to get the account back at the higher level.
…
One huge site here in Fuzhou has over 100 computers in a series of large, dark rooms. About 70 players could be seen playing quietly one weekday afternoon, while some players slept by the keyboard.
“We recruit through newspaper ads,” said the 30-something owner, whose workers range from 18 to 25 years old. “They all know how to play online games, but they’re not willing to do hard labor.”
Another operation here has about 40 computers lined up in the basement of an old dilapidated building, all playing the same game. Upstairs were unkempt, closet-size dormitory rooms where several gamers slept on bunk beds; the floors were strewn with hot pots.
It is truly amazing the gaps in the world that we find ways to fill, isn’t it?
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.
Tuesday, December 13th 2005 at 7:41 pm |
Okay. You know I’m a diehard video game fan. I love ’em. I wish I had time to play them all day. I’d never leave the house. I’d either be playing them, taking video of them being played for my site, interviewing the people who made them, or writing about them.
That said…
I just do not get the valuation being placed on these virtual properties. Now, okay, I’ll admit, I’m a game grandpa – I like my game in little three-or-five-or-ten-minute chunks. I do play some longer, more involved games, but I don’t play any of these persistent online environment games which (A) are basically a fancy graphical interface shell for a chat room, and (B) almost require you to live on the internet. But my more practical, down-to-earth side tells me: what does it profit anyone to have these things/places/abilities that do not exist in real life? I know it’s fantasy football writ large, and people pay money to play that too…same question there, really. I understand a fee to pay to access the servers that contain the player’s character, that character’s world and belongings, and everyone else’s characters and belongings…but I’m not sure I get exchanging real live money for a cloak of invsibility, shoes of stealth, sword of swinging or bag of barfing that only exists in that virtual space. (Then again, I’m sure there are people who would turn around and say they just don’t get the shelves of action figures behind my chair at home.)
And yet, at the same time, it’s an interesting development. Money is being exchanged for an “item” which does not add further physical waste to the world. On a certain level, I like that. I’m just not prepared to live on the ‘net in order to go there though.
OBLIGATORY OLD CURMUDGEON ALERT: Besides, back in my day, we did this same thing with paper, pencils and dice, and occasionally miniatures. And we liked it!
Tuesday, December 13th 2005 at 9:01 pm |
I gotta say, I don’t see much difference between action figures, roleplaying stat sheets, and virtual objects. They’re all devices to give some kind of structure or touch point to the imagination. To say that a virtual game piece isn’t legitimate because it’s not physical is like saying writing for the web isn’t legitimate because there’s no hard copy.
And the idea of grinding to get better weapons or XP or whatever goes back at least as far as Dungeons and Dragons and Legend of Zelda. I’ve always found it to be something of a flaw in that type of game, whether massively multiplayer or not. Then again, I used to try and max out to 99 lives on Super Star Wars. So pot, kettle. Anyway, the interesting thing here is that people seem to be willing to pay other people to play the “boring” parts of the game for them so that they can get to the fun stuff. Which is no different than life, I suppose.