Third-World Sweatshops Producing Virtual Goods

prostoalex writes "MSNBC points to the court cases spawned by virtual worlds. Recently, Tom Loftus notes, a virtual island in one of the MMORPGs sold for $30,000, enough to attract commercial attention. Apparently, some businesses create third-world sweatshops, where low-wage laborers are being paid to play and accumulate enough virtual merchandise, so that an eBay sale of it makes the operation profitable. 'One such business, Blacksnow Interactive, actually sued a virtual world's creator in 2002 for attempting to crack down on the practice. The first of its kind to center on virtual goods, the case was eventually dropped,' MSNBC says." Update: 02/06 18:59 GMT by Z : We ran a story about the sale of the virtual island, and Terra Nova has a lot of commentary on the sale of virtual goods. For comparison, the economic impact of this phenomenon is roughly equal to that of Namibia or Macedonia.

Comments

Video game addiction is becoming an epidemic.

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG, I can't believe that. People are spending real-world money for virtual merchandise?

Video game addiction is becoming an epidemic. I swear my roommate's job is World of Warcraft... he plays it enough. I tell him that he should go eat or go to the bathroom, but he insists on leveling his wizard or something. I think its funny (perhaps because it's unfathomably pathetic).

Re:Video game addiction is becoming an epidemic.

[Odin's Raven]

I tell him that he should go eat or go to the bathroom, but he insists on leveling his wizard or something.

Is your roomie's entertainment score increasing, or is he still sitting at the computer even when he's maxed out? Do you see "bored" icons over his head? You may want to invest the simoleans to get some other entertainment options, such as a pinball machine or a hot tub, just so he has some variety to choose from.

Also, make sure the problem isn't something simpler. Have you ever seen your roomie leave his computer room? If not, double-check the placement of doors, furniture, etc and make sure there's a clear path between his computer room and the kitchen/bathroom. (I nearly lost a guy to starvation before I discovered that I'd placed the new refrigerator in front of the only door to the kitchen.) Oh, and make sure you've trained him up at least one point for cooking so he doesn't keep setting the stove on fire.

Remember that you might have to intervene multiple times to break your roomie of the computer habit. Just keep clicking on him and assigning another task, and watch closely to make sure he doesn't wander straight back to the computer. You might have to put up with some stormcloud icons for a bit, but with any luck he'll learn a new routine and end up happier in the long run.

If he's just impossible to retrain, you might have no choice but to stick him in the swimming pool and remove the ladder. It's a bit harsh, but in extreme cases it's sometimes better to just accept the loss and create a fresh roomie.

Thank you capitalism

[Gothmolly]

for creating a system where uneducated people in uncivilized countries can stop their endless cycle of backbreaking labor, to play video games, for 3. Profit!

Only thing scarier..

[inturnaround]

The only thing that's scarier to me than the existence of virtual sweatshops is the possibilty, remote though it may be, of the existence of a virtual Kathie Lee Gifford. Yikes!

Re:I feel soooo sorry for them

[Anonymous Coward]

No...you don't understand...they make them play with 5200FX..5200FX!!!!

There's a commercial a-coming!

[AndroidCat]

On late night TV with Sally Struthers: "This is Juan. He's 14. He works in sweatshop in Thirdo Worlda producing Evercrack virtual goods. For just $2 a day, your contribution could ensure that Juan no longer has to do this to survive. Won't you please help?" (Contribute now and receive a Juan screen saver with RSS feed from Juan's blog. You can make a difference.)

Yea, well...

[BrianGa]

Just wait until all the sweatshop MMORPG labor jobs are shipped to India...

Re:Sweatshop?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever seen the EverQuest economy? It cut the 'normal' or casual player out. Prices were so inflated it was darn near impossible to get anything without killing the mob yourself.

OMG, you mean you actually have to play the game yourself to get things??

New addition to the EULA

[tod_miller]

If you try and sell an island, it will first become infected with rabbid biting moneys, and then sink into the sea, not with a amagnficent effect or fanfare, but that annotin "gwpfffit" noise that comes with windows.

Then your nickname will be "I was pwned, and all I got was this t-shirt" at which point your character will be wearing a T-shirt with "Pwn3d!" written on it.

Take care of your island, and it will be nice to you.

A fool and his money..

[rofthorax]

What? You paid 30,000 dollars for a game character, from someone you don't know, on a online universe that may not be around perpetually?? That's about as dumb as the guy who bought a house from crooked lawyers..