Project 2 Final

-Gold Farming-

By Felix Lau and Andaleeb Rizwan Copyright 2008

Design Statement.

Our topic was Gold Farming. With this project and video we want the viewers to gain awareness of a serious issue that is fairly new. It requires attention due to many reasons, it is growing rapidly especially in China and is spreading worldwide. Gamers are addicted and the governments are still debating about the positive and negative effects of this issue. We wanted to shine some light on the topic in a way that carries the message across without causing any confusion. We did not choose to put forth a debate but a personal account of a gamer. The script was written, then rewritten and then rewritten once again just to get the right flavour across. It gives a personal account of a Chinese gold farmer’s life. He narrates how the environment is and what his hopes were and ultimately how he feels. After a lot of research we brought forth the facts of how unhealthy this ‘job’ is.

After finalizing the storyboard a few times over, we worked on the video. A student actor did the recording. He was able to bring out the emotions of the gold farmer. The audio narrative was strong and needed visuals that conveyed the message without overpowering. We decided to use various elements such as abstract videos, vector illustrations, photography and some special effects. It allowed us to experiment and opened many possibilities. There are some complex sequences and some airy ones. The script was bold and serious. But the softness of the personal story was most important and we tried to convey that thru the visuals.

testing the scenes.

Scene 4 test.

 Scene6 test.

second storyboard.

this was our final storyboard uptil last week. We had to change it since the script was redone. The new storyboard will be up shortly.

first 12 frames.

next four frames

Script 3

Revision/fusion of script 1 and 2. Without any doubt this will be the last revision on the script. Recording pending; also will need to have revised storyboards. Only a fraction of the existing animations can be used.

My eyes burn. I’ve lost all sense of time amidst the lifeless glow of the computer screen. A quick glance to the clock shows that I’ve been playing for the past twelve hours. It’s grueling and repetitive, but I do this to put food on my family’s table. This isn’t my choice.

I had other ideas of what this would be like when I found out a living could be made from professional gaming. “Gold farming”, people call it. How hard could it be? I log on, kill monsters, and pick up the virtual gold that they drop. Then I sell it to other users for real money. Simple.

They want this fool’s gold to gain virtual respect and status. They also want to gain this status the fast way. So I spend the time collecting the gold, and they just buy it off of me. I play, they pay. It’s a dream come true.

…Except it’s not. Sitting and staring at the screen for twelve hours a day, seven days a week, is not my idea of perfect. I’m earning 30 cents an hour. The computer room is completely packed, as with the floor above, where we sleep on the ground. We’re provided a place to eat and sleep for a few pennies every day. And as much as I love gaming, I’m repeating the same actions over and over again for 12 hours. This is not perfect – it’s far from it.

People born into a life of luxury play the game for enjoyment, but it’s a serious business for me. My boss gives me a certain quota of gold I need to collect per day, and there is no excuse for not reaching it. If my character dies too often, I’ll lose my job. Then what will my family eat?

Maybe I should have painted toys or woven cloth. I’m sure it couldn’t be much worse than working here. But I have no regrets. There isn’t much to consider when the only option in my life is working in two types of sweatshops. It seems human inequality in the virtual world has finally caught up to reality.

Test – first 20 seconds

Here are the first twenty-odd seconds of the video so far.

In the face of the extension, we are considering a revised script (once again) that would better deliver the idea of a personal narrative from the gold farmer’s point of view. It would have more irony and the reader would generally sound more… bitter.

The revised/third round script is as follows///////////////////

The pain stops for only an instant. And then it starts again. I shake off the burning sensation and focus my eyes and attention back towards the game. The rainbow colored characters scanter across the screen like some perverted cartoons, chanting their battle cries in some language alien to my ears, yet it all sounds too familiar. I glance at the clock hanging against the fading paint, my eyes take a moment to adjust to the dim lighting of the room, wasting precious seconds. Only 5 more hours to go till my shift is over. Only 5 more hours till I can rest my eyes.

So this is what it all boils down to. A pitiful existence in an overcrowded room. One hours earnings: 10 cents. The foresight to have avoided this: priceless. So much for the promises of fortune and an easy way out of a life of poverty. What was I thinking? Gold-farming? I find it hard to come to terms with the fact that there are people out there that would dedicate their time to gaming for leisure. Maybe I would’ve seen it that way if I too were born with a silver spoon in my mouth. For me, this is my livelihood and this is my curse. The mind-numbing repetition of the same key strokes, to do the same actions and collect the same points over and over again.

Yet who am I to complain, this fool’s gold feeds my family and keeps them warm thanks to those who pay for these virtual treasures in exchange for artificial status and respect. And then they have the nerve to say that I’m “ruining” the experience for them. They forge their alliances to prevent me from doing my bidding but they don’t understand. For them, it’s a game. For me, the battle is real. If I don’t make the cut, I’ll lose my job.

Another glance at the clock. 4 more hours. Maybe I should’ve painted toys or woven cloth. I’m sure the lead couldn’t be much worse than being stuck in the same position for 12 hours at a time. There isn’t much to regret when your only options are bad or worse. It seems human inequality has finally conquered the virtual world.

//////////////////

It is without any question much more interesting and provocative than the working script right now, even just on paper. Additionally we are looking into having someone else record their voice for us, because my monotone voice simply doesn’t cut it if we were to take this project to the next level. So in the next week there will be a lot of restructuring going on – script changes, re-recording of audio (changing the timing of absolutely everything), potentially new storyboards, etc. Or maybe just partial changes, not sure yet.

Story Board

page1 of storyboard

page2 of storyboard

page3 of storyboard

page4 of storyboard

Script!

It’s always been my dream to play video games for a living. Imagine how great it would be, being paid to play my favorite online computer game! Well, that fantasy has become a reality. I’m a “GOLD FARMER”.

I log on to the virtual game world and go about killing monsters, which drop gold after they die. I usually stay in the same area and keep repeating this, because the monsters reappear after a short while. Then, I find other players that are willing to buy what I’ve collected from the monsters and sell it to them for REAL money. It takes a lot of time to gather these coins, so those players are saving their own time by paying me to play for them!

There are millions of players on at a time, but they ALL need these coins for one reason: you need better gear to fight harder monsters, which will let you earn enough points to reach the next level faster. And the more levels you have, the more status and respect your character gets from other players. After all, everyone plays this game so they can succeed in it, right? The virtual game world has truly become a place where I can earn real money, and that’s a dream come true.But… it’s not perfect. I work twelve hours a day for seven days a week, and I’m only earning 30 cents an hour. It’s because my boss takes most of the money made from what is sold. I left my hometown to work at the gold farm, which is the case with a lot of my coworkers. We’re all either cramped up playing the game, or crowded together on the floor above, where we sleep on the floor. And even if I’m playing my favorite game, I’m usually just doing the same thing over and over again for 12 hours. It can get boring, and it’s definitely not good for my eyes or body to be sitting in the same position for that long.

There are people that think I’m ruining the gaming experience for them because I’m not really playing with them, but they just don’t understand. They’re playing the game for enjoyment, but I’m playing this because it’s my work. Sometimes the other players would even gang up on me and kill my character. It may be fun and games to them, but I might lose my job if I die too often. My boss gives me a certain quota of gold I need to collect per day, and it’s not an excuse if other people prevent me from reaching it. So when people say that the Internet is serious business, I think it’s actually true. My livelihood depends on this.I guess I  don’t have much of a future, because I never graduated from high school. I’ll always be at the bottom of this industry, because it’s not like I know how to run my own gold farm. I suppose it’s better than working at the toy or textile factory… or is it?

(text: Chinese ‘Gold Farms’ are thinly veiled sweatshops. Human inequality has moved into the virtual world.)

Creative Brief

Title: Gold Farming. A serious issue in the virtual world

Overview: As seen from our research, Gold farming is a general term for an MMORPG player who attempts to acquire (“farm”) items of value within a game, usually by exploiting repetitive elements of the game’s mechanics. This is usually accomplished by carrying out in-game actions (such as killing an important creature) repeatedly to maximize gains, sometimes by using a program such as a bot or automatic clicker. More broadly, the term could refer to a player of any type of game who repeats mundane actions over and over in order to collect in-game items. An organization which organizes farmers is known as a sweatshop. Chinese gold farmers typically work twelve hour shifts, and sometimes up to eighteen hour shifts. Wages depend heavily on location and the size of the gold-farming company.There are gold farmers or gold farms in other countries as well, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico. However, they do not approach the scope and scale of the Chinese farm industry. China’s abundant labor, availability of high-speed Internet connections, and cheap computers have made it a powerhouse in collecting virtual assets for online games, fueling the market among the 30 million or so online gamers worldwide.

Goals/Objectives: For the video, we hope to put forth the facts of gold farming. That it IS a serious issue that needs attention. The industry is new therefore, there are no government policies regarding gold farming. We will attempt to show the positive side from a gamer’s point of view and the negative side also from a gamer’s point of view. We will also add our final thoughts to the video hopefully encouraging the audience to take a look into this topic that is under international debate presently.

Audience: The audience for this topic is mainly people who are addicted to gaming, people that need to gain awareness about the unhealthy atmosphere of the gaming world. Demographically speaking, people between the ages of 16 to 30 essentially.

Key Message: Awareness

Content Planning: Overall, we have been looking at articles and many many youtube videos on gold farming. All of them have been about awareness and emphasizing on the emotions of the gamers that work 12 hour shifts playing games and when they are off work they play again for fun. The 3 min video narative is in first person where a gamer is telling the audience about his work; the positive side of it, the facts about the industry and then the negative side of it. Leaving the audience to reach their conclusions about whether they take a stand against this new industry or for it.

Schedule: Week1: Researching ideas, Week2: Finalizing concept, researching, working on different approaches, Week 3 & 4: Working on Story Board, Audio Script and visual narative. Week5: Further Developement, Week6: Almost Wrapping up project, working on pacing, Week7: Final touches and presentation.

Bibliography: The Research just below. It was the last two posts. We also looked at Wikipedia definitions.

Visual References: Looking at youtube videos of motion graphics to get ideas for our video. Also looked at gold farming videos on youtube for content and to capture the right message and emotions behind the topic.

Researching!

Here is some of the stuff that I found regarding the topic that Felix and I are working on. Our topic is ‘gold farming’.http://gigaom.com/2006/11/26/world-of-warcraft-gold-farmers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmer_(gaming)

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2006/03/ge-jin-a-phd-st.php

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4

http://www.chinesegoldfarmers.com/Links.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/technology/09gaming.html?ex=1291784400&en=a723d0f8592dff2e&ei=5090 

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/dtcook/www/CCCnewsletter/7-2/jin.htm

the last article is the most useful I think. Here is a glimpse of the article. Very interesting little bits!

Most of the gold farmers I talked to love the job. In the gold farms, you can see they are enthusiastic about their job and they got a sense of achievement from it, which is rare in any other sweatshops. Most of the gold farmers I met do not have better alternatives. All the gold farmers I met are male, usually in their early 20s. They were either unemployed or had worse job before they found this job. Many of them were already game fans before they became “professional”. In some sense, they are making a living off their hobby, which is an unachievable dream for many people. What’s more, the game world can be a space of empowerment and compensation for them. In contrast to their impoverished real lives, their virtual lives give them access to power, status and wealth which they can hardly imagine in real life. This is a reason why they are so addicted to their job. This is a paradox that the term “sweatshop” cannot convey: in the gold farms exploitation is entangled with empowerment and productivity is entangled with pleasure.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/chinese_governm.html

This wired article has a different opinion!

In an effort to curb game addiction, which they see as being the root of all juvenile evil, the Chinese government has decreed that kids under the age of 18 can only play games online for a maximum of five hours a day–preferably three or les.