gold farming

English

Noun

gold farming (uncountable)

1. (online gaming) The business of farming/grinding for in-game currency (gold in many games) and items in massively multiplayer online games for for-profit resale outside of the game.
   • 2007 October 23, Ge Jin, “Chinese Gold Farmers: Immigrant Workers in the Game Land”, in Friedrich Von Borries, Steffen Peter Walz, Matthias Böttger, editors, Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level, Birkhäuser Basel, page 463:

     The gold farming industry turns one man's play into another's work, but most gaming workers see a clear difference between work and play.

   • 2010 October 26, Greg Lastowka, Virtual Justice: The New Laws of Online Worlds, Yale University Press, →ISBN, →OL:

     While some companies seem largely indifferent to gold farming, others see gold farmers as unfairly extracting value from property that they do not own. Gold farming is often described as a parasitic business practice that undermines the stability of virtual economics.

   • 2012 November 15, “Critical”, in Person of Interest, season 2, episode 7, spoken by Leon Tao (Ken Leung):

     You heard of gold farming? Selling multiplayer online game currency for real cash?

Translations

farming/grinding for in-game currency for for-profit resale outside of the game

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 打钱 (zh) (dǎqián) 打錢／打钱 (zh) (dǎqián)

• French: farming (fr)

Verb

gold farming

1. present participle and gerund of gold farm