Gold Farming

I just finished reading the Gold farming and gaming outsource articles, and I must say, it was one of the more interesting ones. I say this because I have played MMO games before, although I have never really experienced the game play of WOW. The descriptions of these "Gold farmers" didn't really entirely surprise me, but I did find their wages and daily schedules a little riveting. I never knew the exact details behind the "gold farming," but to see that they live such a repetitive lifestyle was rather shocking. Now gold farming doesn't exactly help reinforce my blog topic, but when given the chance, these individuals want to show their own individuality. An example of this would be when one of the employees is given the opportunity to form a guild with about 40 other farmers to obtain elite items. He cherishes the change in his job, and is devastated when he forced to return to his monotonous job of farming in the same old areas, against the same old monsters. What I am trying to say is that even though these gamers are essentially viewed as pawns, they do relish at the chance of displaying their own uniqueness. The particular individual had the chance to "tank" and blend his skills in with many other employees just like himself. This displays the importance of each individual in accomplishing a greater task than any one man or woman could achieve by his or herself. This only reiterates the fact each person has a purpose and a particular identity. Now I understand the argument that these players soon make these elite tasks monotonous again by achieving them in sheer silence, but I again will point to the shock that overcame these individuals when they were asked to return to their previous duties. The success of these missions is dependent solely on the production
of each individual and what they bring to the table. There are designated healers, tanks, warlocks etc. and each of these characters are essential, which only hammers home the point that even in the MMO media, the personal identity of each individual will show its face.