This long article by Dibbell left me feeling quite uneasy. All I could think about after reading this was, “If I was a Chinamen and had to chose between sewing shirts together or playing a game for 9 hours a day.” What would I choose? Well it’s pretty clear that the labor tied with making shirts will always feel like labor, though playing games for hours as a task could still be considered enjoyable and fun. It amazes me how people are hired to play games and produce virtual goods with real monetary value. If this job opportunity was as openly available in the United States as it is in China, lets just say we would have a lot more “employees” here.
But no matter what, you can never forget that working twelve hour shifts in bad conditions for thirty cents per hour, doesn’t sound too good, no matter how much you love/enjoy the game. It’s very awakening though, This is the life of these player/employees, not necessarily a choice but the way of life they must go with. At the end of their shifts, the logs they submit is not just a summary of their skill, but also their wages.
This reading slightly ties with last class reading on how video games blur the boundaries of work and play. But in this case, the article shows the unblurred line between work and play in the videogame world. Overall, I found this article to be educating and alarming. Still has me unable to answer if farming is good or bad though.
I think that farming is ultimately bad, the workers don’t get nearly the same amount as the sellers and also they are putting in real world time for less than what they would make doing a regular job possibly.
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I agree, although It does seem cool at first. Like wow you get to play a video game for a living but we see the clear issue that it’s nothing like the fun EA competitions or such. These players/employees don’t play for fun or the thrill, but rather produce the gold for sellers to sell. And feed their families.
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