14 DAY TRIAL // A recent piece of news described how someone posted an ad on Craiglist, since then taken down, advertising a position of “guild director,” with full responsibilities in running a Player versus Player organization in World of Warcraft, complete with initial salary and a bonus-based structure tied to the performance of the guild.
Since the release of the first MMOs, we have known of those we refer to as “gold farmers,” those players who focus on milking a game for resources that they sell for real money to other players.
It seems that videogaming can generate quite a few jobs, apart from those created by developer studios and publishing entities. And there are more jobs to be found related to gaming directly, in videogame competitive leagues, television shows and magazines dedicated to gaming and others. But the first two examples are different in that they generate a revenue for those involved and the only requirement is that they play games to the best of their abilities (this is not strictly true for gold farmers, but it's a similar situation, gaming skills are required).
Could we be on the verge of seeing an in-game real world economy develop? Could we be just a few years away from having true professional raiding guilds, paid and with a timetable, running tough instances in order to get that “sweet loot,” which they can then sell in a open in-game market that is sanctioned by the developers?
I think we are. The biggest resistance at this point comes from developers and publishers. Blizzard, Mythic, Cryptic, Sony are all saying that there should be a clear separation between subscription-based MMOs and free to play MMOs, which should allow some players to gain advantages by using real world money to get in-game currency or items. Furthermore, developers are stating that subscription-based games should not allow some players to use real world funds to get an advantage in game, by buying gold or items.
They are wrong. Gamers are growing older and even though MMOs are always getting new blood in, they can't afford to let older gamers go. They are wealthier, on the one hand, and always more time-strapped, because of work and family. They can part with some dollars and, in order to keep up with that kid that can play 12 hours a day, they are now resorting to shady gold traders, risking account fraud and even worse. They could be trading in an in-game market sanctioned and observed by the companies that run the MMOs, creating a safer environment and redirecting some of the money that moves around to those maintaining the game. It takes a little more of an open-minded attitude on behalf of big MMO publishers and we could be polishing up our CVs to include a laundry list of virtual world exploits.