General Gaming DiscussionUse this section to discuss all things relating to PC gaming, including games that are coming soon, released games & classic gaming and also post here for general mmorpg chat that is not covered by an individual mmorpg section.
It was an hour before midnight, three hours into the night shift with nine more to go. At his workstation in a small, fluorescent-lighted office space in Nanjing, China, Li Qiwen sat shirtless and chain-smoking, gazing purposefully at the online computer game in front of him. The screen showed a lightly wooded mountain terrain, studded with castle ruins and grazing deer, in which warrior monks milled about. Li, or rather his staff-wielding wizard character, had been slaying the enemy monks since 8 p.m., mouse-clicking on one corpse after another, each time gathering a few dozen virtual coins — and maybe a magic weapon or two — into an increasingly laden backpack.
Twelve hours a night, seven nights a week, with only two or three nights off per month, this is what Li does — for a living. On this summer night in 2006, the game on his screen was, as always, World of Warcraft, an online fantasy title in which players, in the guise of self-created avatars — night-elf wizards, warrior orcs and other Tolkienesque characters — battle their way through the mythical realm of Azeroth, earning points for every monster slain and rising, over many months, from the game’s lowest level of death-dealing power (1) to the highest (70). More than eight million people around the world play World of Warcraft — approximately one in every thousand on the planet — and whenever Li is logged on, thousands of other players are, too. They share the game’s vast, virtual world with him, converging in its towns to trade their loot or turning up from time to time in Li’s own wooded corner of it, looking for enemies to kill and coins to gather. Every World of Warcraft player needs those coins, and mostly for one reason: to pay for the virtual gear to fight the monsters to earn the points to reach the next level. And there are only two ways players can get as much of this virtual money as the game requires: they can spend hours collecting it or they can pay someone real money to do it for them.
Players of M.M.O.’s are notoriously obsessive gamers, not infrequently dedicating more time to the make-believe careers of their characters than to their own real jobs.
cant say I fully agree with that statement. Can you?
I think most online games have an element of addiction whether it be addiction to the grind, the role play, the chat system, or wanting to be the best. I was addicted to mir2 because of cybering Harv
Feel sorry for these gold farmers, they are in a way, exploited by rich gamers in developed countries who can't be bothered playing the game properly.
I think most online games have an element of addiction whether it be addiction to the grind, the role play, the chat system, or wanting to be the best. I was addicted to mir2 because of cybering Harv
Feel sorry for these gold farmers, they are in a way, exploited by rich gamers in developed countries who can't be bothered playing the game properly.
Also, let's face it, how many of us while playing an MMO have said to someone in real life, "oh just one minute, i JUST need to finish off this thing, i'll be two secs honestly". 2 hours later and that potential date i hadn was replaced with the band of jin, which actually gave me +8 agil, but wasn't worth it.
Everyone does it, you just want to finish off one thing, which leads on.
Also, this cybering of Harv intrigues me. Elaborate
Also, this cybering of Harv intrigues me. Elaborate
In before, "i take off my wizard robe and hat..."
I would tell you FA hun, but then Harv would have to kill you
I don't actually think I was addicted to the game itself, I was more addicted to talking to Harv thru it. I wanted to talk to him before I went up to school/nursery with the kids and then before we both went to work. First thing I wanted to do when I got in from work was talk to him.
I wonder what exactly these gold farmers get paid for doing this stuff. Surely it can't really be so much that it makes it worthwhile doing it 24/7 ?
Thats what does it for me too. I have formed some really strong friendships from gaming, friendships that have grown into what I consider special. As a group of friends we now all end up playing the same games. The frienships have moved well passed gaming now.... hay sash
Thats what does it for me too. I have formed some really strong friendships from gaming, friendships that have grown into what I consider special. As a group of friends we now all end up playing the same games. The frienships have moved well passed gaming now.... hay sash
Thats very true Drag. I will always consider you and yours friends to our tribe regardless of the games we do/don't play together. Afterall your ole man makes a mean chilli
Last edited by Sash; 20-07-2007 at 20:47..
Reason: cos my spelling sucks
How can you not agree that there is notoriety surrounding the fact that many mmorpg gamers neglect real life etc and jobs. You have the thread with the couple who starved their kids, you have the chinese people who have died farming/playing in games like L2/WoW. That and the majority of game players stay up too late with work the next day, or focus more on the game than real life stuff, because its more fun/pleasant. Thats not to say that you cant play mmorpgs responsibly, but its rediculous to say that they arent associated with such obsession/addiction.
Mir was more a chatroom than a game, so its perhaps a bit different, if youve not really got into any other more progression focussed games.
why cant they make real life more fun like in the games, so you have to go around killing chickens or giant spiders and looking for gold under rocks etc ...
Pura your argument could be added to any aspect of life, gambling, drinking, smoking, playing golf, sports, hobbies, not just online gamers. There are a lot of people that know how to do things in moderation. I remember staying up all night till I had finished one of my girls a dress I was making them..... obsession!!
Meow why would you want to go round kiling chickens? hehe oh and my mum is the best spider killer ever, just ask my dad when he jumps on the sofa and screems for her to come and get it.
why cant they make real life more fun like in the games, so you have to go around killing chickens or giant spiders and looking for gold under rocks etc ...
woohoo! do i get to pk traffic wardens and inland revenue workers?
Meow why would you want to go round kiling chickens? hehe oh and my mum is the best spider killer ever, just ask my dad when he jumps on the sofa and screems for her to come and get it.
to sell the chicken meat to the butcher, and whatever it is they could do with giant spider legs.
Pura your argument could be added to any aspect of life, gambling, drinking, smoking, playing golf, sports, hobbies, not just online gamers. There are a lot of people that know how to do things in moderation. I remember staying up all night till I had finished one of my girls a dress I was making them..... obsession!!
I agree, but i was just referring to...
Quote:
Originally Posted by draganess
Quote:
Players of M.M.O.’s are notoriously obsessive gamers, not infrequently dedicating more time to the make-believe careers of their characters than to their own real jobs
cant say I fully agree with that statement. Can you?
and i dont see how you can disagree with that statement, when it appears to be pretty accurate and in itself doesnt imply that all mmo gamers are irresponsible and dont play in moderation, but that as a group theyre notorious for doing so.
In some ways of course MMOs can be a good form of immersement, if for example youre strapped for cash and for a few quid a month you can play a popular game and chat to loads of other people and saves a lot of money off say going out to a pub or whatever with rl friends. And of course in moderation the games can be fun too, and as much as they make people neglect real life, they probably help people through difficult parts of their life too.
I dont think anyone can really argue that by nature of mmorpgs being a grind, there will always be people who play 24/7, account share or just focus on progression above all else to be the best, so the time invested to achieve things has to take into account these players.
Also to a previous point, there are plenty of games where buying gold is the only option for people wanting to balance real life commitments with their ambition in a game. Previous to the expansion in warcraft, the top guilds would be spending a few hours worth of gold grinding every single day on things they needed for dungeons and those who didnt have daytime to grind gold for the evenings guild raids would simply have to buy it with the real money they earnt from being at work in the day. A lot of people value their time at way more than the requirement to do monotonous tasks in a game and hence pay some chinese guy to do it for them.
Real life and working would be a lot more fun if a man, preferably a midget or a black man looking like the butler from fresh prince of air, infact a posh black midget butler would be the best option. Anyway if said man would come round to you every hour and pay you with a little pouch of coins, and at the end of the day you could take your haul back that would kick ass. Except for the complete mass of change youd always have... hmm.
Real life clearly needs more treasure chests lying around.
Two gold sellers in stormwind this morning shouting thier wares...
I introduced each to the other and said to one...how much do you get paid to do this... do you get paid more that this person...or is he sat next to you...... they both logged off ofc i reported them both.
i play the game, i don't/won't buy gold to enhance my game, nor will i pay for someone else to lvl my char to 70... whats the point in that?
Two gold sellers in stormwind this morning shouting thier wares...
I introduced each to the other and said to one...how much do you get paid to do this... do you get paid more that this person...or is he sat next to you...... they both logged off ofc i reported them both.
i play the game, i don't/won't buy gold to enhance my game, nor will i pay for someone else to lvl my char to 70... whats the point in that?
Nice move on the gold sellers there, wonder if you started a fight in the 'office' because one was poaching the other ones town!
I could never understand why you would pay someone to level for you. It is also my opinion that there are far more online gamers that have their lives under controle than people think. After all if your playing a mmorpg you dont have to wait till you find a save point as such you can just log off! Maybe when the servays are done they should use a wider range of people instead of using young adults that have still yet to learn about balancing out their life.
I could never understand why you would pay someone to level for you. It is also my opinion that there are far more online gamers that have their lives under controle than people think. After all if your playing a mmorpg you dont have to wait till you find a save point as such you can just log off! Maybe when the servays are done they should use a wider range of people instead of using young adults that have still yet to learn about balancing out their life.
There are plenty of people as you say that are doing fine and playing mmorpgs, it just has a reputation brought about by those who play insane amount and injure themselves etc.
I personally have never bought a character, gold, or paid for levelling services or anything else. However it is commonplace in WoW, particularly in serious raiding guilds, and moreso before the recent consumables change. At level 60, raiding Naxxramas when it came out used to cost anywhere upto 150g a raid for me, and we raided 5 hours a night mon-thur and 8-12 hours straight on sundays. Theres no way you can go to work all day, especially if you commute any kind of distance, then return home, have dinner etc and have any time whatsoever outside of raiding for farming gold. So instead they buy it, which enables them to play the game in the way that suits them while still holding down their career and real life. The only alternative for them would be to join some average guild that takes 2-3 years to progress through the first tier of instances, or to join half the raids and grind like crazy the rest of the time.
In WoW at least buying gold doesnt really affect anyone else, you cant buy the best items with it, it just allows people to cut out the grinding part of the game that is dull and not enjoyable to anyone. Equally i dont really class it as cheating... using a hack on a game is cheating, bug exploiting is cheating, but getting someone else to do a skilless dull part of the game that your real life prevents i dont think is cheating. Levelling to 70 on a new character isnt difficult, or fun. Anyone can grind a char to 70 and grind gold, it doesnt take any skill its just a chore. The skill part of the game is increasing your PvP skills and rating, downing those new raid bosses you couldnt kill before. Progression is way more about dedication, focus and coordination and skill and irrespective of how your characters got to 70 or how much gold you have, how you play endgame is really the actual game, so i dont think its cheating at it.
Reminds me of the old arguements about afk spell levelling, and afk mining. Because really theres a high honour to be held for wasting your real life doing something in a game for hours on end that you dont enjoy.
The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer
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