Ge Jin had heard that people in China play "World of Warcraft" for profit.
He heard that they killed monsters for virtual gold that they could then sell to wealthier gamers around the world. He heard that they worked in dreary conditions — sweatshops even, people said. And he heard that many gamers hated these guys.
But he wanted to see it himself.
Over the last year Jin — a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, San Diego — has traveled to China to find the infamous "gold farmer," the not-so-unique type of "World of Warcraft" player who last year inspired a fan of that game to post a note on the "WoW" message board that read, "Get the goddamn Chinese out of this game." That gamer received dozens of messages in support.
Jin didn't just find the farmers. He found plenty of them. "Right now China is really the world factory of virtual goods," Jin told MTV News in an interview last month. He had spoken to people who did just what the reports claimed: They mined for virtual gold and sold it through a chain of individuals that eventually reached gamers in America and Europe who, disregarding the wishes of the "WoW" makers, would purchase the virtual currency with their credit cards and use it to purchase items that speed their advance through the game. Such is the marvel of relative economic value, where the 15 bucks an American player can spend on 100 pieces of virtual gold can help a Chinese gamer make a living.
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