Virtual "farming" is $500 million gold mine

Becoming a video game hero takes hard work, long hours and a whole lot of gold.

Which might explain why so many gamers outsource it.

A new study by Manchester University estimates that over 400,000 people in developing nations earn wages by making and selling virtual goods in online games like World of Warcraft, reports the BBC. The result is an industry worth a cool half-billion.

Dubbed 'gold farming,' the practice violates the terms of service of most online games, which prohibit players from unduly influencing in-game economies by amassing and selling in-game fortunes. But despite the threat of legal recourse, the profitable nature of gold farming coupled with the enormous growth of the online gaming sector has resulted in something of a boom.

According to the study, the bulk of gold farming (over 80%) takes place in China, with workers earning an average monthly income of about $145.

Study lead Professor Richard Heeks was surprised by the extent of the practice.

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"I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games-playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry," he told the BBC. "In a way that is still true. It's just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands."

And that's just a rough estimate. Heeks believes the actual size of the gold farming industry could be much bigger. To give a sense of scale, he likened the sheer numbers of illegal gold farming to the outsourced workforce of India.

"The Indian software employment figure probably crossed the 400,000 mark in 2004 and is now closer to 900,000," he said. "Nonetheless, the two are still comparable in employment size, yet not at all in terms of profile."

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