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Bad Press For Gold Farmers Affects Chinese Players

Next Generation is running a piece entitled Why PC Gamer Kicked Out Gold Farmers. Editor-in-chief Greg Vederman talks about why they decided to no longer accept advertising from 'Gold Farming' services for Massively Multiplayer games like World of Warcraft. Though there are moral grounds for this decision, it contrasts with a Eurogamer piece on the negative reactions Chinese players recieve on English-speaking servers. From that article:"Apparently there is a common belief among English speaking players that most non-English speakers are gold farmers and are only playing for commercial gain. As a result, players are asking anyone who wants to join a group to type one or two sentences in English. If the sentences contain spelling or grammar mistakes, the player is rejected. Since you have to join groups to complete certain quests in WOW, this is presenting many Chinese players with a serious problem. "

33 of 640 comments (clear)

  1. I hate to break it to them... by Winlin · · Score: 5, Funny

    but I can after 5 years on EQ1, I can pretty much predict that anyone who will only group with people who can type 2 complete sentences without mistakes is doomed to a lifetime of soloing.

    1. Re:I hate to break it to them... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Up til I quit WoW last june, (we downed Onyxia and Domo) I was in a guild where everyone could type more than 2 sentences.

      Yeah you quit when they caught you using the word "til" and spelling "june" without a capital initial.

    2. Re:I hate to break it to them... by BTWR · · Score: 2, Funny
      after 5 years on EQ1, I can pretty much predict that anyone who will only group with people who can type 2 complete sentences without mistakes is doomed to a lifetime of soloing.

      And I can pretty much predict that anyone who has been playing EverQuest for 5 years is also doomed to a lifetime of "solo-ing." :)

  2. I know a lot of native English speakers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...who cannut be countid on, to submit a coupel of errorfree sentences of proper correct and tpyofree English themselves.

  3. What about Zonk? by biocute · · Score: 4, Funny

    If the sentences contain spelling or grammar mistakes, the player is rejected

    Are you always playing WOW alone?

  4. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by zuzzabuzz · · Score: 5, Funny

    All are good points. But God help them if they're trying to learn English in WoW. Chatting with some people there makes the part of my brain that learned English die a little bit every time.

    --
    -buzz
  5. Re:Wait, What? by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 3, Funny

    and English incompetence isn't a communication barrier?

    Doesn't seem to be a problem on /.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  6. Re:Don't farmers just work with other farmers? by Krach42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If someone doesn't want to team up with foreigners, I'm guessing that there's something going on other than not wanting to support gold farming.

    I use the German client, just to get practice on my German. Every item I link is in German on the text bar. One day someone asked me why everything I linked on the chat was in German, and I said 'cause I'm using the German client, and he said.

    "Sorry, I just can't support those who didn't support us during the war." Then left the Guild.

    Now, be entirely aware that I am: a.) american, and b.) support the war.

    --

    I am unamerican, and proud of it!
  7. One or Two SEntences, sans typos? by Glamdrlng · · Score: 1, Funny
    ...players are asking anyone who wants to join a group to type one or two sentences in English. If the sentences contain spelling or grammar mistakes, the player is rejected.
    Dude, this disqualifies damn near every gamer I've ever encountered.
    --

    Yes, my only tool is a hammer. And you're starting to look like a nail.
  8. Grammar mistakes by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Funny

    "My grammer is definately very good, i swear i live in teh US!"

    BUZZZ - REJECTED!

  9. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by Talinom · · Score: 5, Funny

    Second, you don't necessarily want to meet the retarded 14 yo from your own country,

    Yes. Use different servers to meet the retarded 14 year olds from someone else's country!

    --
    "Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
  10. Re:Don't farmers just work with other farmers? by Vann_v2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe he was really an 80-year old man and was talking about WWII.

  11. Re:Laughably false by kindbud · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some multiplayer quests in WoW take several hours -- if my hours are wasted ....

    There's something deliciously ironic about this statement, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is, exactly...

    --
    Edith Keeler Must Die
  12. Re:Gold Farming? by Richard+Frost · · Score: 3, Funny

    OK, you know those commercials where they plant some Skittles in the ground, and after a little while a rainbow bursts forth and it rains Skittles? It's kind of like that, except with gold. But it's online. And there's no rainbow. And the gold's on monsters, not in the ground. And then you sell the gold to people in first world contries.

    Excuse me, I need to go to the vending machine.

  13. Class: Grammar Nazi by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Funny

    but I can after 5 years on EQ1, I can pretty much predict that anyone who will only group with people who can type 2 complete sentences without mistakes is doomed to a lifetime of soloing.

    Class: Grammar Nazi.

    Description: A sage, specialized in the subtleties of language.
    Common jobs: Deciphering ancient runes, translator for diplomacy
    Bonuses: Intelligence +5, +5 bonus against chaotic enemies.
    Penalties: Charisma -10, they don't use to get along with characters of age Alignment: Good, neutral or evil, but always lawful.
    Common phrases: "Grammar tip of the day". Very annoying.

    1. Re:Class: Grammar Nazi by gstoddart · · Score: 2, Funny

      Class: Grammar Nazi. ...
      Penalties: Charisma -10, they don't use to get along with characters of age Alignment: Good, neutral or evil, but always lawful.

      don't 'use' to get along with characters of 'age' alignment???

      Dude, in a Grammar-Nazi definition, you write this? =)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  14. English speaker? by FurryFeet · · Score: 3, Funny

    From the article:

    Mark MacKay, owner of the WOW Gold Price List website, has condemned this practice in a statement which reads: "Over over 1.5 million World of Warcraft players are from China alone, with the majority of these players being non-English. While their has been recent publicity about the gold farm factories in China, it by no means justifies thinking that every Chinese or non-English speaking player is a gold farmer."

    Now, Mark MacKay does not sound like a Chinese name, but I'm having trouble believing that he's an English speaker.

  15. Of cource PC Gamer is upset! by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 4, Funny

    These so-called "gold farmers" are freelancers who get paid to play games, so naturally the PC Gamer editors are getting irate. It's unwelcome competition! The only difference is that the farmers don't then turn around and kiss up to the publishers of the games they play so that they get to sell ad space and scoop the screenshots for the next round of titles.

    Keep the gold farming where it belongs: in the reviews where games get glowing reviews and turn out to suck ass!

  16. Re:wow is racist by tilted · · Score: 2, Funny

    fuq em. they deserve it. lazy bastards wont go find honest work they deserve to be kicked/spit on/etc.

  17. Wait... by John+Pfeiffer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wait wait... There's AMERICAN WoW players who can type a couple sentences in English without grammar or spelling errors?!?

    Let the flaming begin! *pulls out the BBQ sauce*

    --

    Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
  18. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    unfortunately some of the examples of english they learn from are filled with slang, colloquialisms, horrible grammar and inept orthography

    It is called "American English".

  19. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by Cryptnotic · · Score: 5, Funny

    It might be racist to screen out chinese players but let me tell you that it DOES save you from being ninja looted randomly.

    It is racist. Ninja is Japanese, not Chinese. Learn the difference or you will be called an ignorant bigot.

    --
    My other first post is car post.
  20. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by LnxAddct · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh god... I just had an image of a bunch of tourists running around screaming nothing but "Chuck Norris" and "Vin Deisel". Please don't let foreigners learn their english from WoW!
    Regards,
    Steve

  21. Re:Gold Farming? by Megane · · Score: 2, Funny
    Can someone fill me in on what Gold Farming is?

    I think you need to read this Penny Arcade strip to get the full idea of what a gold farmer is:

    (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/02/16)

    (click on the "news" button at the bottom for the commentary on that strip)

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  22. OMGWTFRUTLJKINABOOT?! by dextromulous · · Score: 3, Funny

    I Lrnd EgLSH FRM WoW ND I THNK I CN RED ND wRTR IT PRTY GUD

    --

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types and those who don't.
    1. Re:OMGWTFRUTLJKINABOOT?! by Hodr · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know you probably spent a couple minutes trying to make your post confusing to read, but I got about half way through it (including the subject) before I even noticed what you were doing. I think I need to unplug for a while.

    2. Re:OMGWTFRUTLJKINABOOT?! by Darby · · Score: 3, Funny

      TLKNABOOT?!?

      That ain't English, it's Canadian

  23. Re:Ultima Online by KanSer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Completely offtopic but, I remember the UO launch fo Japanese servers vividly. They had plans to get people to join, including instant skills and free gold.

    This quickly backfired.

    Not only was the server PACKED, but murderes and griefers ran rampant, and it was very easy to happen upon, oh 500,000 gold. And in UO that is impossible to carry. So suddenly I found myself in the midst of a Japanese-American war where everyone was slaughtering eachother, there was gold everywhere, and it was impossible to drag it to your bank. You were effectively stuck in one place with that much gold, and one hell of an easy target.

    I amassed and lost several small fortunes that day. It was quite fucking hilarious, as well. OSI certainly learned their lesson that day and the servers soon got wiped into oblivion and got the clean start they should've had in the first place.

    --
    • MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward Wednesday April 20, @4:20
  24. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by tsm_sf · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't play the game myself, and while what you're saying might be true

    Ladies and gentlemen, I give you "Internet Discourse in a Nutshell".

    --
    Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
  25. You mean expect from Americans online? by Retardismo · · Score: 2, Funny

    It isn't like we usian have the best grammar.

    When will the british servers start banning people who cant spell civilisation right?

  26. Re:If they weren't farmers, they'd be on their own by neocrono · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was playing with a female paladin who I can only assume did not speak english as a first language. "She" was exceedingly hurried, bouncing around, drawing aggro and generally careless in her actions--and didn't seem terribly receptive to the requests or recommendations of anyone else in the party.

    Trying to be tactful but express concern with the behavior, I said "you're a little gung ho, aren't you?"

    She replied, "what's gung?"

  27. Re:Why is this even possible? by Fractal+Dice · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe the MMRPG you are looking for is called "the stock market". I wasn't able to afford the subscription, but I hear its very popular. However, it also has problems with gold farming, griefing and people exploiting bugs in the system.

  28. Just lost interest by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't be trying to do a quest and have people who can't understand "Ok, sap that guy." or "Please don't break that sheep"

    Ok, I have yet to play WoW, but I have to say that if it involves any quests where "breaking the sheep" is actually a worry I think I lost all interest. Perhaps 'yall should just leave that poor sheep alone and find more species specific companionship instead.

    Although perhaps that's what you were doing when you were instructing someone to "sap that guy"... Not that there's anything wrong with that! :-)

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley