Ithaca College

Orc Sweatshops: Gold Farming and the Geopolitics of Trade

"Stop Gold Farming!" is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) developed for 2009 the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival FLEFF Lab initiative. It could be called an experiment in collective storytelling, a radical new media project, or an internet 'hoax' with a social message! Join us and participate---this is a FLEFF Lab not to be missed!

Anyone can play (participants interact with the narrative in real-time using a variety of communication technologies such as email, blogs, SMS, digital video, podcasts, etc.), and therefore anyone can shape the outcome.

The game revolves around a fictional controversy unfolding at Ithaca College related to the issue of gold farming, or the practice of selling virtual goods that can be used in massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy. These goods are often produced under sweatshop conditions in developing countries for the consumption of First World clients.

'Stop Gold Farming!' is the fictional story of a student organization demanding that an IC student engaged in the distribution of virtual goods be expelled from the college (don't worry, this is fiction and theater, not something we are doing in real life!).

As part of the 'Trade' stream of FLEFF, the goal of this ARG is to engage students and festival participants in an exploration of gold farming as an embodied economic practice in a gaming context characterized by virtuality and disembodiment. The ARG also unfolds in the context of globalization and trade as a process that reinforces "unequal human relations rather than merely intensifying connectedness" (Biao, 2008).

By framing the experience as an ARG, this FLEFF LAB involves various communities in analyzing a real-life problem, collectively articulating a multitude of realistic and possible responses to it, and examining the ethical question of what form action should take after the game.

This FLEFF LAB is conceptualized, designed and coordinated by Dr. Ulises Mejias from SUNY Oswego, and produced in collaboration with FLEFF interns.

You can join the experience by visiting stopgoldfarming.wordpress.com.

You can also join us on April 3 from 9:00 to 10:30 AM in the Park soundstage for a discussion that will include a gold farming demo and a live conference call with a team of researchers in China.

Join us!