Venezuelans Turn to Selling In-Game Gold for Bitcoin

[jamie.redman1]

According to multiple reports, Venezuelan citizens suffering from the country’s horrible economy are now playing massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) to collect in-game items and sell them for bitcoin.

Recently there have been many reports of Venezuelans “Gold Farming” on a MMORPG called Runescape. Recent headlines explain that in-game farmers are selling treasures for bitcoin to make a living. Gold Farming has always been considered a controversial and profitable operation since online gaming became extremely popular. The business model started trending in China where players acquire in-game currencies or items and later sell them for “real money”. In 2009 it was estimated that over 1 million gold farmers were based out of China, but in-game gold farming also happens all around the world. Because of the secrecy, it is hard to get an accurate figure on how much revenue gold farming brings in, but it was estimated to be about USD $300 million in 2008.

Continue reading >>> https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuelan-gol ... r-bitcoin/