(The following is an exclusive report filed by Prof. Laura Kissel, currently doing research in China. Join us for a live teleconference with her and journalist Remko Tanis this Friday,  April 3, from 9-10:30am at Ithaca College. More details to follow.)

Gold Farmer or Professional Gamer?  打金者 or 职业玩家?

Yesterday in Shanghai journalist Remko Tanis interviewed a 26 year old man, Mr. Wang, who runs a gold farming business in Shanghai called Company 580.  Mr. Wang sees nothing but potential for growth in the gold farming industry. He believes that gold farming should be considered a professional industry and hopes that the Chinese government will legitimize it one day.  His employees prefer not to be called gold farmers, but to be referred to instead as professional gamers.  Mr. Wang insists that his gold farming business fulfills a demand in the marketplace.  He now sells mainly to Chinese customers.  These customers may be middlemen– that is, they may turn around and sell again to westerners, marking up the price of virtual gold.  On Friday when we skype with your FLEFF LAB group, Remko will tell you more about Mr. Wang, his workers, and what he has learned from Mr. Wang about gold farming in Shanghai.

A few things to consider:

– Do Westerners believe that workers involved in gold farming are victims?  Is there another way to understand the work that gold farmers are doing?  Perhaps workers choose this career out of desire to make money at something they are already doing.

– Chinese labor laws are quite strong; Remko indicates that they are almost as strong as labor laws in France.  It is quite common for laborers to strike in China for back wages or increases in pay.  The government supports worker strikes, and there are strikes all the time.  Can we say the same for workers in the U.S. ?

– Young people in China are extremely ambitious.  There is high turnover in the gold farming business.  Workers may work for a few months and then move on to another job.  Workers across industries also commonly work 12 hours a day and give up their one day off a week to earn more money.

– There are now 27 million people unemployed in China (this is the newly released, official Chinese government statistic).

– What role do western businesses play in encouraging the low prices for virtual gold or other products?  If the price quoted by the western company is extremely low, companies here will try to meet the price.  Whose fault is it, then, if workers suffer from low pay?  Is it the fault of businesses here, who are trying to stay in business, or is the fault of western companies who offer an increasingly lower and lower price for the production of goods and services?

We look forward to skyping with you on Friday morning, 9:30 am — Friday night, 9:30 pm Shanghai time.