Video documentary on "Chinese" gil/gold farmers.

Winklewil

Winklewil

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I haven't been able to see where this has been posted already, so ...

This is a short video previewing a documentary about the growing "virtual money for real money" industry in China, and focuses on a group of actual workers within a real workshop. They're working 12-hour-days. I'd almost call it a sweatshop, but it's not quite at that level ... they're definitely healthy, well-fed, and are more bored than they are depressed. Also, if what the owners of the workshop are saying is true, they're a lot better-off than they would be in most jobs available.

Still, I thought this would be enlightening. Notice that they're packed in there like sardines, and a few of them are working without shirts. Also, notice the food tables and sleeping mats on the floor. They literally LIVE in these places. :/

I don't like dealing with gil-sellers in-game, either, and I hate even having to compete with them at all ... but for those of you who seem to literally want them DEAD for daring to do what they do, I think this might help in giving a bit of empathy and understanding. I'm not saying you've got to like it, but it's good to put things in perspective. While you sit there and dip into a can of pringles for a stack of chips while playing, cursing them out for messing up your game, they're playing so that they can eat LATER. I think you can understand why they don't care if they cost you a few hours of irritation.

Now, I'd like there to be a way to destroy the industry right out, but I know that's not possible. I still whole-heartedly want to do whatever possible to cripple Real-Money-Traders ... but I think it's also important to note that I don't HATE them, nor do I think anyone should. They've got every reason to do what they do, and to pretend I wouldn't do the same in their shoes (over piecing together soccer balls) would be naive.





The game they're farming for here is World of Warcraft, but I'd imagine it's much the same for FFXI, Lineage, you name it...


http://youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4
 
Rones said:
You call that packed? You have never seen a Lan party packed with hundreds of gamers. :biggrin:
Click to expand...
Well, maybe not, but a LAN party lasts for hours, a day at best. They're LIVING there. It's not the same.

If I was living with all those people, that close, I'd go nuts.
 
Yea Wink does have a point.
I've heard stories, but to see a video says it all.
I'm sure there are other videos out there portraying Chinese gold/gil sellers.

Sure we down them for many reasons.
Some of them are pretty obvious.
Our economy -in game-, and also in other MMORPGs says it all.

But if there is anyone we should blame is not the actual players; just the industry.

These are real people trying to provide for one another, and make an honest living.

Its sort of like strippers.
A lot of people may down them. Others might praise them.
Same with the sellers. Some despise them; others use their services.
But in the end, strippers are people and they make a living out of it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of the whole gold/gil selling industry; but I shure love strippers. :-D
 
I can say that this is pretty much true for the gilsellers of FFXI. The friends that I have do tell me a little about their office. Once you get to know these people, you remember that they're human. My friends generally work 12 hours, but they do go on breaks for lunch, I don't know about breakfast or dinner. I knew that most of them lived together, and many of them were married, but I don't think they can go see their wifes, or possible children most of the time. They are also generally young, I've seen from 19-28, though most of my friends are 19-25. Some of them didn't finish highschool, and didn't go to college.

The Flyzero that speaks English well, is 19, and didn't finish highschool. I've seen him on webcam, as well as Peterli, though I didn't see much of their office. One thing I've noticed from seeing other gilselling groups on webcam, is that they generally all wear heavy clothes, sometimes gloves. They say they aren't cold, but I'm curious if their office is even heated. They also don't look unhealthy, but they don't look very clean, usually greasy hair from what I can tell.

Flyzero gets to listen to the radio while he works, but most of the time he has to watch 6 computers. When I talked with him, he was jerking around occasionally, looking at different monitors.

One of the two groups that plays the taruraru characters on our server, I don't like very much. Usually they don't talk to me, but it might be because they don't speak English. The night group contains most of my friends. Contrary to popular belief, I don't make money off of them. I do get some items, but usually if they can't be sold, or if I need it. They are very generous. For those online in Ru'lude Gardens late last night, they did a shout for anyone wanting to come to Dynamis-Jeuno. They mainly went for me, since last time I was far away, trapped and dead to get the win before time expired. But I talked with the leader who has become a good friend, and we went, won, and that was it.

And actually, as for communication I know a lot of them use TeamSpeak to talk during their work, since the office could protentially be fairly large. taruraru uses TeamSpeak to time spellcasting, though they do use the LS to talk about other things.

Even if I can only make a difference in one of their lives, it would mean the world to me. I know a lot of people hate(and I use the term loosely) gilsellers, but you need to separate the good from the bad. They are people who are greedy, or seem greedy by raising prices. I don't know, but perhaps it could be an order from their boss to do that, if prices in the game are going to low, and the workers are unable to meet their quota.

People might look down on me for being so close to these gilsellers, but for me I don't really care what they think. I get really upset over the fact that so many people can be mistreated, and I feel guilty that I have so many choices in life that they can't have. Maybe I'm too sympathetic, but I really try to make better choices in life, knowing that so many people that wish they coulld have that chance, don't even have any idea what they're missing. Sure, they might have fun playing games all day, but it does get to be tiring work. Many of them do want to get better jobs, but can't.

For me, this game is just a game, but for them it's work. I don't nessicarily help them do things that would really harm others in the game, I help them as if they were other players, and they are more than happy to return their kindness to any player.
 
... I was told they wern't gil sellers... I'm confused...

oh well
 
Kizaryo said:
Its sort of like strippers.
A lot of people may down them. Others might praise them.
Same with the sellers. Some despise them; others use their services.
But in the end, strippers are people and they make a living out of it.
Click to expand...

Strippers don't go into other people's bars and strip.

Bars have dress codes, which everyone must follow. MMO's have EULA's, which everyone must follow.
 
human or not , they making our life harder too

and we pay SE to play not to farm gil and sell it
 
Euphacent said:
Strippers don't go into other people's bars and strip.

Bars have dress codes, which everyone must follow. MMO's have EULA's, which everyone must follow.
Click to expand...

for the fucking win XD
 
Of course, some of the blame needs to be put on the people who buy the characters and the gil. If the demand wasn't there, the supply would evaporate.

For some reason, the entire point of putting time and care into building a character seems to be wholy diminished by the thought of having a level 75 character with the baddest gear that no one else has for real life money. Personally, I just can't do that. I'll meet my goals when I meet them, and by my own deeds.
 
Winklewil said:
Well, maybe not, but a LAN party lasts for hours, a day at best.
Click to expand...



What weak LAN's have you been to?

Ever heard of Dreamhack?
5000ish players, Thursday > Sunday.
Now that's a LAN :)
 
Shaunessy said:
You must live in a small town and not have many friends.
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I live in a small town and have no friends in the whole country playing ffxi so having some friends is much better than my current situation XD

on a side note, i've never seen a LAN party at all as it doesn't exist here. Reason no one (except prolly me XD) plays or "pays" to play online games as no one here is interested in them and prolly cause you pay usd50 for an unlimited 56k connection or usd60 for a 256k isdn line connection which are wayyy fucked up prices here.
 
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Well, in a Lan party you don't need the internet. Just a bunch of friends that are willing to bring their rigs over to one place, and play the same game.
 
I cant ever feel sorry for RMT workers. For one, most working spaces I've seen in Hong Kong looked just like this. Sure, its still a shit-hole, but I'm sure it doesnt bother them as much as it would bother you, who is used to living in nice conditions. Their doing what they gotta do, but unfortunatly, there are other things they could do. Bootlegging DVDs is really popular in many countries even though its illegal.

You can bet your ass, that they can work somewhere else and be able to get by. The thing with RMT though, is that they probably make a decent amount of money (like that of bootlegging) and they get to play video games at the same time. I've been to Hong Kong....I know this.

Anyone involved in RMT is crap in my book.
 
Dayner said:
human or not , they making our life harder too

and we pay SE to play not to farm gil and sell it
Click to expand...

Dayner is a cyborg. That avatar is his real picture.
 
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