Levelling and riches the easy way
No doubt you’re aware of MMORPGs and the basic mechanic of levelling up? If not, here’s a quick run-down. You start off with a weak character and little money and, through completing tasks, killing monsters and selling loot, you gradually increase your character’s abilities and strength at the same time as earning more cash. The higher the level you are, the more cash you earn from killing the harder baddies. But these games take a lot of input and time from the player and unless you really know some tricks to level up quickly you’ll find it takes along time to get the really good stuff.
With broadband access now being fast, reliable and within the reach of most pockets, online gaming and more specifically, online role-playing games, are becoming more and more popular. The problem is that new players see all the cool kit those long term players have and want it right now… not in 20-40 hours of playing time. The solution? Buy a better character, get someone to level up for you or buy some in-game gold to spend on your character. Where there’s a buck to be made, someone will make it and that’s just what’s happened with MMORPGs, creating a whole new industry geared towards earning real cash from virtual cash.
According to an article in International Herald Tribune, there are now roughly 100,000 young people working in factories in China, working 12 hour shifts, earning roughly $250 a month playing MMORPGs focused purely on levelling up characters. Some might be playing purely to earn gold which is then sold in the real world for online gamers to buy better items whilst others will be logged in as another player’s character, ‘buffing’ up that character’s stats, level and abilities.
Many companies that run the MMORPGs keep a very close eye on this trade, with Blizzard famously sweeping their servers, investigating players with unusually high levels for the length of time the characters had been created. Nearly all MMORPGs forbid the real world sale of virtual items or cash, threatening a permanent ban for any player caught selling or receiving such items. The problem is tracking down the miscreants and proving there was a dodgy deal.
The popularity of these levelling companies isn’t dented any by just how dull the lower levels of most MMORPGs are compared with the higher levels. Although some games try to keep low level characters in areas within their abilities, the rewards are relatively meagre, making the levelling companies a tempting option. Being able to pay out between $50-$100 and receive a levelled up hard-ass character 2 days later makes the option very attractive for the casual, infrequent player. Regular gamers, those prepared to hack on through and play the game properly, claim that players taking the easy route through to the higher levels are harming the game world. Some items dropped by defeated monsters only appear once or twice per month and fetch massive amounts both in the game and in the real world. With the real cash to be made players can find themselves battling several gold-mining characters who are intent only on defending their chance to kill the monster and claim the lot, rather than kill the monster for the sense of achievement.
Whatever your views, it can’t be denied that this is big business, so much so that many of the companies running the games are now opening up their own virtual shops for items to be used within the game world. It has to be said that these are a lot safer than the independents with no risk of you either losing your account or having items removed by the software company and, more importantly, you don’t run the risk of getting fleeced or having your account abused. What can’t be denied is that these MMOPRGs as well as deliberately simulating an online economy within the game have at the same time created an online economy as vibrant and competitive as anything the real world has to offer…
