Games are an indispensable part of our life. We learn from games when we were toddlers; we play games at schools; from NES to Playstation, giving children a colorful childhood away from study. Video and computer games create a colorful and exciting world for all of us, a world for young and vigorous minds to roam. Life without games is unimaginable. Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, known as MMORPGs, create virtual communities that attracts thousands of people from all over the world, giving you a chance to become anyone in this world with no prejudice against race, religion and age.

---Ryan Wang

WoWMine Editor

The RMT (real money trade) industry emerged as some people found profitability trading virtual currency and items for real money. Most players would prefer leveling their skills themselves by staying on-line for days and nights grinding away at their character.

For those who don't have time playing, but are willing to pay real money to obtain better gears items, and leveling up skills, using this kind of service is considered a shortcut. It's like if you are travelling from London to Sydney, taking an airplane only takes 20 hours. But if you take a boat, it could take weeks, taking into account bad weather. This is not the times of Columbus, when boats were the only way of travelling the world.

Those who use power leveling services are like those who travel by plane, it's quick but they miss the excitement and joy of the voyage. This is known to most MMORPG players, if not all of them. The people who provide these services are known as Chinese gold farmers. They make a living mining gold, obtaining items and leveling people's characters, and then sell on the net to players all over the world.

WoWmine.com is one of the websites that sell virtual currency and provide power leveling services. We found that not many players understand the people behind this trading world, like having a car but you don't know how it works, so we came up with The Truth Behind Gold Farmers, to give our customers a better understanding of this industry and the people who work hard.

1>Why did they choose to be gold farmers?
2>Is gold farming a profitable job?
3>How did they become gold farmers?

These pictures show some of the extreme conditions that people still live under in China. Even it's been 30 years since the economic reform in China, a considerable number of people are still living under poverty line. They have no access to clean water and electricity; not enough clothing to keep warm; they don't even know what a computer is, let alone the Internet. Their only dream is to have better life. Fortunately MMORPGs, like the World of Warcraft changed some of these people's lives.

The earliest gold-farming and virtual item trading practice emerged in Northeastern China in 2001, as a group of Chinese people sold virtual gold to some Korean companies. When this was found to be an easy way of making money, more and more people turned into gold farmers. Compared to intense labor work, this is considered an easier, if not better, alternative to pull the undeveloped area out of poverty. It is estimated that there are 400, 000 people doing virtual trading, 20, 000 of them in Haerbin. We will start our article from here.

1. Haerbin, China

We interviewed Gang Wang, 32, the owner of a gold farming team, looking a bit older than he is. He lives in an underdeveloped small county in Haerbin, China. Someone like Mr. Wang having 20 employees is considered a big boss in China. We interviewed Gang.

Q: How did you get into this industry?
Gang: I was born in the 70's when it was very hard to go to university then. Too many people were flooding the universities and the number of universities available was also small. I went to Southern China right after high school to work. I was in there for about 10 years before I came back in 2004. A friend of mine got me into this business with him after I returned to Haerbin.

Q: Did you start this business using the money you earned from Southern China?
Gang: No, not at all. I couldn't save any money at that time. It was such a hard time for me. I've been to almost every city in Guangdong province. I've done all kinds of jobs, construction worker, courier, restaurant waiter, road-paving work etc. I used to work until 10pm at night. I slept in the shelter at the construction site. I earned an average of a couple of hundred RMB per month, sometimes one thousand depending on how much work there was around. Sometimes we didn't get paid by the boss. In that case you couldn't even afford the food. I came back home in 2004. With the money I borrowed from my family and friends I kicked start this business.

Q: What made you decide to get involved in gold-farming?
Gang: I didn't have any idea about it when I first started. A friend brought me into it. In 2004 gold farming was very hot here in Haerbin. A lot of people were doing it and they were making good profits out of it. I went to work for my friend's team for about 6 months. Then I made up my mind to start out on my own. I didn't have other choice at that point of time. If I still went down Southern china to work, I wouldn't make any money. I was reaching the age of marriage. Without money you couldn't even afford getting married or raising children. Gold-farming was my new life line.

Q: Can you tell us about your friend who brought you into this industry?
Gang: He owns a gold-farming team of 100 or so people, a big boss. There are a lot of small gold-farming teams like us. Most of them have less than 10 people, a couple of computers. They are making good money compared to traditional industries.

Q: What does your family think about your job?
Gang: Well, my wife doesn't even know what I'm really working on. It wasn't until last year I taught her how to use a computer.

2.Shenyang, China

Shenyang is located in Liaoning province, Northeastern China. Shenyang is an important industrial center in China, being the transportation and commercial centre of China's northeastern region. Yuanhai Li, 25, runs a team of 20 people. Having being a game enthusiast for more than 10 years, Yuanhai is a professional player. His hobby finally turned into his career and brings him and his workers a good fortune every year.

Q: What is your point of view on RMT industry?
Yuanhai: There is huge discrimination against RMT industry and I want to say that we are awesome game players, like pro gamers of SK Gaming.

Q: How did you start this business?
Yuanhai: I've been playing games since I was a kid. I found myself more skillful playing games than other people. I finish games more quickly. I found a lot of exploits and strategies. At college I was dreaming to be a WC3 pro player. But I found it was too competitive so I started playing World of Warcraft. Some people asked me about the secrets of play WoW and some started buying gold from me. I said to myself I could make a business out of it. So with a little help from my friends I started farming gold.

Q: Does your family support your career?
Yuanhai: No, they thought having a job playing computer games is a joke, and I should never think about such things. But I didn't tell them the truth.

Q: Do you have any secrets playing games? Why does your team farm gold more quickly than others?
Yuanhai: there are 20 people in my team, and each of them is an expert who has been playing World of Warcraft for more than two years. Three people do research and find the most efficient way of gold farming and power leveling, three people who are good at English do marketing and the rest are divided into four groups, the best gold farmer as group leader, farming gold.

We also got the chance to talk to some of the employees for Yuanhai, here's what they had to say.

Jun Liang 21, is a college student. Gold farming is his part-time job. Coming from a low-income family, Jun says he is able to support himself with the money he makes farming gold. The tuition fees and other expenses including food, drinks and clothing cost more than 10, 000 RMB per year, counting for half as much as his parents' annual income. He can learn some computer skills as well as accumulating work experience here farming gold.

Shaohui Yang is only 16 years old. When asked why he does not attend school, his answer surprised me. His father works for a private coal mine, carrying coal out of coal mines only to earn 20 RMB per day. His mother grows crops back home in the remote countryside. His younger sister is the only one who goes to school in his family. This has made Shaohui unable to continue his high school education. "You can't count on the government to give you any support." Shaohui says, "They don't give a damn if you live or die."

Social Meaning of Gold Farming

Gold farming has given the opportunity to these disadvantaged people to start fresh and to have a better future than picking up rocks. Unfortunately in China there is a HUGE economic imbalance. Remember there is over 1 billion people in China. 80% of these people live in the countryside as farmers or laborers while the other 20% enjoy a comfortable life.

The Chinese government is now working on changing this, trying to give these disadvantaged people a chance, giving them education, water and food, but these people still need your help and it's through virtual currencies that give some of these people a chance. What you may take for granted everyday, such as your car, cell phone, running water, even clean clothes, are the things that these people can only dream of!

The people who bring you these services work very hard and are dedicated to their work, with the Olympic games being held in Beijing this year, we hope more people will have a better understanding of China and Chinese people.

The people who we have interviewed work 7 days a week, they don't spend their money on holidays, parties, cars or anything like that, and they use the money to support their families to give them a better life.

So next time you buy gold or purchase any services in the virtual world think of the people behind it all and please help support them. Remember, it's you that are providing these people with a better life.

Thank you for taking your time to read this article. If you want more information on gold farming, please contact us and will be happy to help you.

Thank you everyone that supports these people WoWMine Team