Gold farming is a phenomenon in massively multiplayer online games where players will sell in-game gold for real life money. Despite being against the rules dictated in most games, this still occurs in almost every game – most gold farmers are actually teens from countries like China and India where they work to barely support their families. This article could discuss the culture behind gold farming from the perspective of Western and Eastern players as well as the evolving human right issues involving it. For the Win by Cory Doctorov and In Real Life by Cory Doctorov and Jen Wang are both sources of inspiration and information that could be used.
Actually a very interesting topic given how much online games have expanded. Discussing through perspectives of all players could be good and showing how it affects the economy for certain areas (Given it's popularity) and maybe go into how it's popular? Perhaps links between the perspective of MMO players (From anywhere) and how it leads to gold farming. Lisa Nakamura did a good article about the racialization of Chinese farmers in WoW and how new racial stereotypes develop through the online worlds. Lisa's article is a different subject matter but could be useful with citations and various development on what the perspective of players are when it comes to MMO's – Xzephyr9 years ago