Goldfarming

[n64jive]

he may be making very little, but he also get's his housing and food paid for...and i doubt he pays for the internet...i'm sure the company does...and i'm sure the working conditions are very poor...but just think...sure the work may be boring and repetative, but it's no where near as bad for your body as working at a meat factory, lifting heavy boxes and carcusses...

[Artificial_Doom_Flavor]

he may be making very little, but he also get's his housing and food paid for...and i doubt he pays for the internet...i'm sure the company does...and i'm sure the working conditions are very poor...but just think...sure the work may be boring and repetative, but it's no where near as bad for your body as working at a meat factory, lifting heavy boxes and carcusses...

 

 

 

I don't know about that, considering the extreme lack of physical activity from such jobs. On the other hand- He probably may, as you said, be getting free room and board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So do servants.

[hellbellz]

Aw man.. That's pretty sad :( Honostly, he/she should try to just make a better life for him/herself instead of that. Now, I have such a big difference in autoers..

[das1330]

while that was sad, when you think about how cheap food and stuff is in china, in comparison to some chineese they are doing pretty well. I have no idea how many yews you can cut a day, however. one thing people do not understand is that although this person might only make 5$ a day, in these places people have there housing and food paid for by the company they work for, and what they make is pocket money

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

not saying it isnt sad, but not quite as bad as some people think

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~snipersas

[Iv_Green_vI]

Wow dude seriously, I always thought they were doing this on purpose. I thought they were just doing this for a little extra cash, or to gain an advantage in the game. But now after this... It makes me think you know? They actually have to live off of the money That they make off the game.. And they suffer for this, they aren't only dying from starvation. But they're Nearly killing themselves just do to this... This was touching in a way..

[rodl]

They are all bots. What he told you, is not true or it was a misunderstanding. Someone writes a script, launches ~10-15 runescape windows and launches the script. Ta-da!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also 1.5 $ per million is low, they usually go for 5-6$ per million.

[Guest Armagedon46disabled]

yea i know tu

[PhelimReagh]

First off, I don't endorse rule-breaking of any sort. Just wanna get that out of the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, lets just put things in perspective, if we can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese wages are, on average, about 1/6th of what they are in the US. So a fella earning $1.50/hour in China is sort of the equivalent of someone in the US making $9/hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dependent upon where you're living, that's not a bad amount of money, especially for playing a video game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second point, about their evil bosses: most US service industries (accounts, lawyers, consultants, etc.) tend to pay employees anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3rd of the rates they charge clients for their services (i.e., if you're charging the customer $150/hour for my services, that usually means about a $75K salary for me).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With RS Gold going for $6.00/million, paying someone $1.50/million is not quite exploitaitive by common standards. Remember, the companies they work for have to pay all sorts of costs like high speed internet, keeping up websites, advertising on places like tip.it, buying top-of-the line hardware to fool jagex, etc. They also have to absorb losses when their accounts are banned and all is lost, or when a customer gets caught and banned, and they give a refund (even if only partial).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So by all accounts, while we may consider their life sad and pitiful, it seems like any other business, just in a place with an entirely different standard of living, and performing a very unusual service.

[Nabbagad]

I don't see how they make money off it, because they need a computer and internet, and if they sell 1mill gp for $1.50 you'd think they would be losing money due to internet costs.

[Artificial_Doom_Flavor]

Chinese wages are, on average, about 1/6th of what they are in the US. So a fella earning $1.50/hour in China is sort of the equivalent of someone in the US making $9/hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This worker gets $.50 for each 1k yews he makes, not a wage on an hourly basis.

 

 

 

Even at 94 wc (as he has), I seriously doubt he can cut 1k yews in an hour. Even if he does, it is still by your reckoning about three bucks here. Still less than half of the proposed US minimum wage, and that's for probably a quarter of a day's work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He probably gets room and board, so he can live with it- but it's not exactly rosy all the same.

[das1330]

I don't see how they make money off it, because they need a computer and internet, and if they sell 1mill gp for $1.50 you'd think they would be losing money due to internet costs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the computers they use are normally old ones scrapped by people in first world contries i.e the us and europe and running pirated versions of xp so usually it is fairly cheap for them to get computers. in terms of the internet, they get a cable speed internet connection for, say 25$ a month but then have 15 people working off that one connection to make it work.

[goosey134]

I repeat that i doubt this is true, on acount of many points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-using people to ''micro'' isn't microing there is a person behind the computer thus they aren't microers and they aren't breaking the rules until they sell there goods

 

 

 

-if the so called ''master'' were smart, at least internet smart he could do on 2 computers what 30 humans could do on 30 computers and the 2 computers only cost the amount of a good high speed internet and a half decent computer.

 

 

 

-at 1.5$ per mill they leave a very small bit of profit for the ''master'' were talking 50 cents to a dollar profit on each mill and as non members that coming every 3-4 days TOPS (from yews at least) they wold be some of the poorest masters around i know that for sure( talking without an army about 10-12 dollars a week)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No matter how ''sad'' it is you can't ignore those facts, i don't buy the fact that you somehow recorded the intire conversation with the slave ether.

 

 

 

You've probably been fooled by a skiller noob.

[st_shir]

All RuneScape money is a property of Jagex. Selling it is basically thieving because you sell something that isn't yours to sell in the first place. Legally it doesn't matter that it's not physical property. So to start off, however you approach this, it's a crime, not an ethical issue as some referred.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do not know any sure facts about RuneScape sweatshops. However I am familiar with the conditions in some large factories in China. Such as WallMart ones. I won't go deeper into this since it is not the issue at the moment, the point is that if there really is such a thing then it is quite possible that the conditions there are completely below any human standard. But that as I said, I do not know, thus can not prove. I am just saying there's a good possibility of it being so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing with China is that most of you, being americans, can not imagine a life like that. I'm not saying it's all bad. Definately not. But it's surely a very different world. So it's really not appropriate to calculate their wages to dollars and think in the American box. That kind of approach will lead you way off the track. That does not only count for China but for most of the world. So if you do not know the background and can't calculate that in, then it's pointless to start guessing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For goosey - just for future reference: these programs are macros not micros. Micro means very very little. The term macro became more known with the coming of roguelike games where macro meant a shortcut for long commands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for this particular skiller. Yes, I am sure it's sad and makes one think, but no matter if he told the truth or lied - his text was perfect grounds for reporting him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is most important however - we all love this game and play it for fun. One thing is rules - the other is law. We all have emotions and passion and all that but this is just a game. But laws are laws. They are there for a reason. I agree that discussing these things can be really enlightening and so on, but in my eyes, the course of action (not talk) would be 100% sure before even getting into discussing the ethics or morality and all that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe I came off rather harsh - if anyone feels offended or angry, then don't. Now I'm gonna go play and have fun. Have a good playing experience!:)

[Ts_Stormrage]

There was a report on this on the dutch television a few months back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There it showed that youngsters go to the bigger cities and work for someone who has a few dozen internet connections and computers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The people that work for this man (some 50, working 12 hour shifts) would gather resources or train a charachter or what not for the client that paid the person owning these "game-sweatshops".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This person would make on a bad month around $7,000 profit.

 

 

 

The people working for him would do nothing but work in shifts doing what the client asked them to do, and they'd get a small wage, a roof over thier heads, and 2 meals a day. The small wage would come down to about $10 to $15 a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They used WoW in this report, because as I understand it is more or less legal to do such things there, unlike RuneScape...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This small wage is still 2 times more then what their parents ever earned when living in the country growing crops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is illegal for them to do this in RuneScape, but I saw the working conditions and how poor peoople in general are. It's hardbreaking. It's even worse because they are too ashamed to tell their parents what they do for a living (seriously, would you do it? "I play games for a living").

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I generally dont report these people anymore. There I said it.

 

 

 

1: It does not plug the leak, more will come.

 

 

 

2: it keeps certain prices down

 

 

 

3: the reasons stated above

 

 

 

4: I could bve doing more important stuff then standing around reporting for an hour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, I do also not support this. I will not buy anything from in-game in RuneScape itself with real world cash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's up to everyone to decide on which side of this fine line they walk, I think...

[Artificial_Doom_Flavor]

-using people to ''micro'' isn't microing there is a person behind the computer thus they aren't microers and they aren't breaking the rules until they sell there goods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not a macroer- He works among macroers (and probably other goldfarmers).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-if the so called ''master'' were smart, at least internet smart he could do on 2 computers what 30 humans could do on 30 computers and the 2 computers only cost the amount of a good high speed internet and a half decent computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How, pray tell? Don't tell me you think he could run 30 runescape clients off of one computer using Virtual PC and expect to not get caught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-at 1.5$ per mill they leave a very small bit of profit for the ''master'' were talking 50 cents to a dollar profit on each mill and as non members that coming every 3-4 days TOPS (from yews at least) they wold be some of the poorest masters around i know that for sure( talking without an army about 10-12 dollars a week)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FARMER gets $1.5 per million; the OWNER sells for (on average) four times that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some owners will probably use a mix of macroers and farmers, probably asking some farmers to oversee the operation of some of the bots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No matter how ''sad'' it is you can't ignore those facts, i don't buy the fact that you somehow recorded the intire conversation with the slave ether.

 

 

 

You've probably been fooled by a skiller noob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took it down in wordpad. It's easy when you know how to type properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't be 100% sure if this person is really what they say they are, but I seriously doubt anyone who trained to 94 wc would have anything to gain by getting themselves banned after saying outright that they sell their RuneScape goods in the real world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, I posted the conversation because I felt that people should know about it. I'm not trying to rationalize illegal activities.

[Duke_Freedom]

They used WoW in this report, because as I understand it is more or less legal to do such things there, unlike RuneScape...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is just as legal in WoW as it is in RuneScape...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's even worse because they are too ashamed to tell their parents what they do for a living (seriously, would you do it? "I play games for a living").

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half a million chinese people are doing it - it is 'normal' there.