July 16, 2009

Take 2: China’s ban on gold farming - Part 2

Will this move by the Chinese government change the MMO landscape? Two writers weigh in.

GameZone’s Michael Lafferty and Steven Hopper have talked about China’s ban on gold farming, and in this two-part editorial piece, each have the chance to present his take on the subject. Last week, Michael offered up his perspective on the topic.  And below in the "thrilling conclusion" of the two-part series, writer Steven Hopper offers up his thoughts on the matter.

Some background information on the subject:

Recently the Chinese government enacted laws that banned the practice commonly known as gold farming. Essentially, gold farming is when gamers (usually in a massively multiplayer online game) go to key areas and camp for drops or collectibles, then sell those on the market for in-game currency. That in-game currency goes into one repository and then players can go to a third-party web site (it should be noted that some publishers and developers frown on this practice and accounts can be banned for doing this), pay real-world money for a specified amount of in-game currency and then their in-game character is either met or mailed (within the game) and given the in-game currency they purchased.

What this enables the player to do is buy items in the game that they would normally have to spend hours grinding to get. There is also the possibility that certain mobs may be camped for drops, thereby denying players the opportunity to advance quests that may target that mob.

It can create a hostile environment within games and cloud a social gaming environment with an ugly and competitive atmosphere.

Steven Hopper:

As long as there are video-games, there will be people looking to find shortcuts, warp zones, and cheats in order to get a jump on both the game and other players. Considering the shear amount of effort that goes into an MMORPG, there will be people looking to get rich quick off of the efforts of gold farmers. They play aggressively, zone off areas, and discourage the same values that make the MMORPG genre so compelling in the first place, but they wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t a desire for their output.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I could see why some gamers would be lured over to the practice if exchanging real-world currency for virtual-world goods. For one, it saves a ton of time. MMOs are anything if time sinks, and some players who want to partake in high-level raids, end-game missions, or get the best loot money can buy without spending countless hours camping out and running hundreds of missions to score some coin can do that for a quick and easy charge.

The recent law passed in China to limit real-world to virtual-world transactions in the country is definitely a big hit to the gold farming industry. Estimates put China as representing about 80 percent of the entire gold farming business. However, the thing to realize is that where there’s demand there’s supply. Bootleggers were still able to get alcohol to customers during Prohibition, and gold farmers will find ways to get gold into the hands of willing customers.

China may be a big part of the puzzle, but there are still numerous countries where the practice is still legal, including Korea, Japan, the US, and many other countries that would step up to the plate and provide the service where it is wanted.

The issue though isn’t whether or not gold farming should be an illegal practice, but what game companies can do on a developmental level to render the process obsolete. Many MMOs have put micro-transaction systems into play that allows players to cut out the middleman and simply pay an additional fee in order to get what they would otherwise be using their cache of gold for. There are even some MMOs around that rely completely on the micro-transaction system for income, as playing the game itself is totally free.

Banning gold farming in one country is like suturing a wound and leaving the infection. Gold farming is in such high demand that even banning it in China will only have modest results, as other gold-farming operations in other countries will be more than happy to fill the void. Only by changing the payment models within the games themselves can we truly move beyond, and still create compelling game experiences that can be enjoyed by everyone.

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