Gold farmers

As a gamer I am aware of this trend, gold farming, basically the ability to buy a head start in a game when you don’t have the time (or possibly the ability) to build it up for yourself. So basically someone else does the ground work for you and you pay them for the service. This ahs got tob e about as far away from what my mum would call “a proper job” that is is possible to be! The site – www.chinesegoldfarmers.com is a site about a documentary looking into this phenomenon. It is so interesting, purist gamers think you shouldn’t be able to buy your way in like this, others think it is ludicrous to earn a living in such a virtual way. It is certainly far removed from doing a traditional job, linked to your surroundings and for your actual community, such as building, or farming. Bt it does get these workers involved in a virtual community and to meet up with others doing the same thing while playing the games they love, but is this going too far? And is it really any different from buying a “cheat” book like you used to be able to do when I started gaming?