There has been a bit of new data about WoW Gold farming recently and Professor Richard Heeks has provided some updates over at VERN. Some of the key takeaways:
- Estimates of 400,000 people working in China on gold farming/trading are seen as very realistic, and the number could be 500,000 up to 1,000,000 (with *possible* total Chinese RMT turnover of up to $10 billion a year...which seemed way too high for us)
- The system is setup so that there are brokers (e.g: Swagvault) who sell to American consumers and gold farm shops
- It has been estimated that there are 60,000 "brokers" (this number also seemed a bit high)
- Gold farms employ those with just high-school diplomas or below, and so the farms are put where they can get space cheaply; typically some way outside a city or in smaller towns/cities.
- The gold farms Anthony saw were full of young guys aged around 18-20 with beers and cigarettes, hanging out playing games and having a good time. They realize it's not a long-term occupation but they also appreciate that they are part of something that is rather new and different. His estimate is that they'll stay for maybe 1-2 years before moving on to another kind of job.
Is gold farming the Chinese equivalent of the American Teenagers Fast Food Summer Job?