Download Teacher's Notes  Download Student's Worksheet Gold mining is an industry that involves hard work. But it is one that people associate with get-rich-quick schemes and wealth. This notion comes from gold rushes in the 19th century in places like California in the US and the Klondike in Canada. Lucky prospectors in those eras made their fortunes often without any real knowledge of how to look for gold.

So whenever news comes up about a new gold rush, it is time to pay attention. The latest gold rush is taking place online. This is all about how people are addicted to taking part in fantasy war games on the internet. Literally millions of people from around the world spend hours every day in an alternate reality on game sites such as EverQuest, Eve Online and World of Warcraft. In these alternate reality worlds, players need credit to function. Their online personas win credits by accomplishing tasks and feats of bravery and daring. Winning credits in this way requires no real life cash.

However, many online gamers are impatient to progress and gain status in their online fantasy world. These gamers are prepared to pay real life cash for online credits. This is where the new gold farming comes in. Gold farmers are people who spend their time exploiting all the opportunities of the online gaming world to earn a lot of credits. They then sell these credits to other gamers. In this way, they make their living. Work trend experts around the world estimate that in 2009, something up to half a million people earned their living as gold farmers.

The main countries in which gold farmers operate are China and Vietnam. As many as 85% of the world’s gold farmers live in these two countries. Gold farmers are typically cash strapped males aged from under 18 to around 25. Many are in education and use gold farming as a way to pay for their studies. But the majority are computer-savvy but out of work migrant workers. For this category, gold farming represents a viable way to earn a very basic living without hard manual labour. However, for migrant works, the cost of gold farming is higher than for college students. These gold farmers need to pay internet café fees and other costs which a college student with access to learning lab computers can often avoid.

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Glossary

Prospector (n)

someone who searches for gold or oil.

Trend (n)

a gradual tendency towards something.

Manual (adj)

something that is done by hand.