The impacts of farming and crafting on MMO economies

This paper examines the phenomena of “gold farming”, player responses to “gold farming ” and crafting, and the economic impact of “gold farming ” and crafting in Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games (MMOs). With one MMO, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, having recently broken 8 million accounts these games are becoming very popular and very profitable. On top of that, outside companies are trading in game currency and items for real world currency. Often these transactions are discouraged by the MMO creators. The author conducted in-depth interviews and questionnaires with players to determine the perceived economic impact of these “illegal ” transactions as well as the impact of a legitimate in game economic factor, known as crafting. The players also expressed their opinion of farming and crafting as it influences their everyday game play. While there is some disagreement among players on the economic impacts of these activities, overall players disagree strongly about the effects of farming and crafting