When refer to gold farmers, everyone may think of Chinese gold farmers, and somebody will immediately starts shouting about hackers. In fact, this is not the same. The large majority of sold wow gold is produced by farming and botting, not by hacking and stealing. In this article, i just want to talk about the effects of gold farming and its relation to the economy of World of Warcraft.

 

First, let's know what are gold farmers actually doing?

 

Motivation to play the game is the main difference between a gold farmer and a regular player. A regular player wants to make his character as powerful as possible, wants to have lots of items, both fluff and gear, and wants to have fun. While a gold farmer is different from a regular player expecially at the start of his career, because he'll want to level up his character to the level cap and equip him with reasonable gear just like the regular player does. But once he reached the cap and okay gear, he will seek the most effective way to make gold, so he can pass that gold to his boss, who'll sell it for real money.

 

Why there are so many Chinese wow gold farmers?

 

The reason is that Chinese players can pay the game better and is a more pleasant work than working in the factory next door. They usually plays on US and European servers, because that is where their customers are. Other thing to note is that most of the wow gold farmer do the gold farming manually. The Blizzard's measure to fight against automate gold farming causes the appear of a Chinese sweatshop. The desire to make easy money is not unique to poorer countries, only cheap labor is.

 

What is the effect of this gold farming activity on the World of Warcraft economy? 

 

The most surprising result is that this doesn't cause rampant inflation. Take any given item, like a crafted epic Merlin's Robe, or a Frostweave Bag, and you'll see that its price today is lower than its price a month ago. Inflation and prices in any economy, virtual or real, depend on the relative levels of money supply and the supply of goods. As the gold farmers aren't actually farming gold, but goods that they sell for gold, they do not increase the supply of money. 

 

Second effect of gold farmers is to cause a predictable price fluctuation of trade goods during the week. The gold farmer who is lets say gathering herbs will supply about the same quantity of herbs every day. Sharing his account with other gold farmers, he can't wait to sell his goods. 

 

Are gold farmers hurting the economy? 

 

THis question depends on which side of the economy you are. If you are a seller, then a bunch of gold farmers playing 24/7 is something you'll find hard to compete with. But if you are a buyer, one of the world of warcraft plays, the gold farming activity actually lowers the prices of the things you buy, which is good for you. They help adjust the prices in the economy.

 

Source: www.wowruler.com