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A gold farmer, that is - it's another Sunday, and that means yet another issue of The Escapist, and this week's is all about MMOGs. And what is a discussion about MMOGs without at least a little bit about that topic that just won't go away, gold farming? Darius Kazemi explains what goes into catching gold farmers, namely a lot of analyzing data and looking for anomalies in patterns (you mean 'Abcdef' isn't a popular name choice for 'normal' players? Who knew?).
Kazemi points out that gold farming isn't just a phenomenon that pisses off players and designers, but involves a whole host of people:
In the end, it comes down to a cost-benefit analysis: Is banning a suspected farmer worth the $15 per month subscription fee you lose that the farmer is paying, and on the chance that it's not a farmer, is it worth the bad word of mouth to insinuate you don't trust the people who play your game? It's a delicate balance that involves the marketing and customer service departments of a company every bit as much as it involves the designers.
To Catch A Farmer [The Escapist]
