When I heard the term Gold Farming in class, the first thing I thought of was when Annie's husband came and presented, and mentioned the crowdsourcing event of the people looking for gold. After doing the readings, I then realized how off I was, but then again how the two were similar.
The Gold Farmers are actually farming make believe gold on the internet while the people in the contest were finding actual physical gold.
Both have people doing work for other people for a smaller cost, while the people in charge make all of the profit.
So in that way, they are similar.
Now, back to Gold Farming...
The idea itself goes back to the beginning of time - have someone else do the hard work for you while you reap the benefits. In this case, instead of having someone you know do it, you are having someone in another country do it for you, which is a fine display of how far society has come technologically. Outsourcing to other countries that will work for minimal wages is pretty common these days.
Personally, I would never do this. I see it as cheating. If you are playing a game, you should be following the guidelines that everyone else is following. Otherwise, you enter a cheat code. There is a reason cheat codes are called cheat codes... because it is CHEATING. You enter cheat codes when you just want to mess around, or get far without trying. When you apply it to an MMO, it just isn't fair.
The analogy that I thought of during the discussion in class was customizing a car. A lot of time and effort - and money - goes into building up a car. Some people spend months or years getting their cars exactly the way they want them. People of like minds - car enthusiasts - will get together and talk about their cars, show them off, go on cruises, etc. They all share the appreciation.
Then there are the people that just want to fit in. They will do what it takes to make those people like them, or accept them. The most common case that I have seen is someone buying a car that is already fixed up, and then talking about it like they did it themselves, or actually know anything about the car. When you ask them a question about how long the motor took to build, or what type of turbo they decided to go with, they just reply "I donno, it came like that..." and they still want credit. It seems to be the same thing as just buying a fixed up character on world of warcraft. When they get it, will they even know how to use it? ...which can be said about the car or the character.
If that doesn't apply to this at all, let me know. That is just the first thing that came to me.
I think in the future, it will be worse than it is today. Everyone that has money will be paying people to do things for them, so they can take the credit for it. It comes with the 'better, faster, stronger' mindset that society seems to have. Nothing is ever good enough, and everything needs to be done faster. It is kind of sad that people wont take the time to enjoy things.
"Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
- Ferris Bueller
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what is your theme? I know I asked this about your last blog, but I am trying to get you on the right track before you do too many of these. Remember to do some of your own research and connect it to the readings in class - while synthesizing it with a humanities relevant theme. For ideas on themes check out the syllabus - or the assignment on webct.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with your opinion on goldfarming. I do not however, agree with your future dreary outlook on goldfarming and how it corresponds to the reality. Though I concur that we as humans are ambitious, I also feel that we as humans also try to soak in everything we have coming at us. The most successful people obtain their status by having other people do their work for them. This is not necessarily looked down upon in the business world, but rather, this is a concept embraced by its people. You have one person who is only capable of so many things as an individual, but the potential for greatness is there. I think this is where if you have the resources and skills, then put them to use.... I say get people to work for you, if you can reap the benefits and still be successful, who wouldn't want that? With a solid foundation of workers under you, a person can not only continue to reap the rewards of their efforts, but the individual can do this without putting in the hundreds of hours necessary to obtain these rewards.. Again, who wouldn't want this? I think the same kind of logic applies to goldfarming as well. If you have a character that you don't want to monotonously build up, then by all means, don't do it. Whether you want someone else to do it is your choice, but if you can enjoy the fun without the work, go for it. That's just how I look at it. This may be "cheating" the game to video game purists, but not everyone shares that point of view. An individual plays a video game for his or her own entertainment, not to conform to the views of other gamers.
ReplyDeleteP.S.
ReplyDeleteCut your hair!
I agree with you on your topic of goldfarming. I think that selling you character to someone else so they can do the monotonous dirty work for you is cheating. There is no feeling of self accomplishment if your character levels up without you doing it, and really there is no point to the game.
ReplyDeleteI admit, I use cheat codes all the time when I play videogames, but there is a time and place for them. When I get a new game, I don’t immediately look up cheats and put them into the game. I only use them after I have beaten the game because in most cases, it can really change how the game is played and make it a new experience for me. MMOG's are a little different. The whole point of the game is to level up your character. Why would you have someone do it for you? Basically you bought the game, and then are paying people to play it for you... Something's missing here.
I can see where people are going with this though. Like you said, having other people do the hard work for you is how we got where we are today. Without that, only the skilled workers would succeed, and the people who have smarts for running businesses and big companies wouldn't survive in the hands-on working world. I think that crowdsourcing is a very useful tool that companies are starting to use and in a couple of years, will be a mandatory thing for high tech companies to survive. Goldfarming on the other hand seems like cheating, especially if only the rich are getting benefits from it. I think it was great you made a connection between goldfarming and crowdsourcing because I too think that they are a lot alike, and can both benefit someone or take advantage of people quite easily.