A sad thing in most popular MMO’s today is the fact that they are inhabited by so called “Gold farmers”. Now, not all casual gamers out there seem to know exactly what these farmers do, and why the in-game item and gold industry shouldn’t be supported. Hopefully this article will clear things up for you, and if enough players take action also keep Aion Kinah as free from these people as possible

So how do these companies make money by hiring people to farm in-game items for them? Well, because we regular players can collect stuff ourselves, they’d have to offer us some pretty sweet deals for us to even consider buying from them right? That in turn means the farming company needs a lot of characters in the game collecting gold (or in this case, Kinah) and other valuable items to sell in ridiculously huge amounts for a really low price.

That leads to the need for more than just a couple of guys on your team. To be able to afford a large work force, all of the computer equipment needed, and still make a profit from selling at a very low price, the answer becomes quite obvious. I bet you already know what it is, but just in case I’ll type it out anyway: cheap and intensive labor. In other words; sweatshops

Most of these “shops” are located in countries like China and South Korea. The person trying to start up a Gold farm thus goes out on the street and looks for people willing to work for a really low wage (sometimes as low as $50 a month), and/or a meal or two a day and a roof over their head

The people who say yes to the offer are obviously poor to begin with. So you could say; but hey, they’re actually helping these people get off the street, right? Well, sure. But it’s a very temporary solution. And while they do get a roof over their heads, the living conditions aren’t exactly ideal, and the work isn’t easy

It might come as a surprise to you that sitting in front of a computer all day, clicking a character on a screen, can be hard work. Well, guess what: for these people it is. The shifts are often very long, lasting between 10-15 hours, 7 days a week. And they seldom get any breaks during that time either. After that they might get a meal in before they go to bed. Or, as in most cases: a pile of thin madrasses on the floor of a crowded room.

Even in the unlikely event that you’d say “Ok, I’m cool with that”, there are other reasons to avoid it as well. For example, the farmers sell items on the in-game marketplace, flooding it with cheap stuff, making it nearly impossible for your character to make any profit. Or, in some cases a game has been so infested with farmers that a lot of players have begun resorting to buying gold. This leads to the price of items going up so high that there’s no way you could afford anything unless you did too.

And, last but not least, there’s always the risk of your account being banned if you get caught. You could also become the victim of a farming company that uses the shady tactic of hacking other people’s accounts to use for their own gain. So think twice before you consider turning to “the dark side”.