Via a Clickable Culture entry I just read a New York Times article carried over on the International Herald Tribune called “Boring game? Hire a player“. For anyone who hasn’t read some of my past posts concerning virtual “gold farmers” (people who make a living playing videogames and selling the virtual items they win on sites like eBay) it’s a good read. What struck me however is that this whole set-up is ripe to be gamed by these hired players. I fully expect that we’ll soon be reading stories relating how some of them set up their own accounts on the side and funnel some of their in-game winnings to those accounts.

And if you know about this activity, it’s still worth the read if only for the one quote near the end: “They all know how to play online games, but they’re not willing to do hard labor.” Refreshing to know that Chinese and Americans aren’t really so different.

{Updated – WorldChanging has added an entry on this story and the comments there are usually worth reading. Here’s the Link.}