Gold Farming in Ready Player One, Job or Game?

In Ready Player One the Novel, nearly everyone if not everyone plays an online game called the Oasis. Oasis is a virtual reality video game haven to the people in the book since the real world is pretty much a dystopia and the game is a sharp contrast to the real world. In the book, the currency is one of the more stable currencies available. Players can earn money through the game, that being said, if players are somehow killed, they are subject to losing everything. This being said, is gold farming, the act of making money in games, a job or a game?

Personally, if a person is playing on an account of their own with their own agenda/goals, I think this aspect of the game could make games more interesting. The feeling that you could stand to lose a lot while having a chance to gain even more is very appealing to gamers, even if its equipment that they have ground a long time for makes gamers feel like they have given a part of themselves to said character and losing it, while would make you sad, also would ignite a passion to play the game, even more, kind of like gambling. In Julian Dibbell’s article, in page 458, he clarifies that though unpaid players do technically coincide with existing case law’s, “most courts will undoubtedly be reluctant to extend employment law so sweepingly to an activity as ostensibly dedicated to the principle of play.”(J. Dibbell, Invisible Labor, Invisible Play: Online Gold Farming and the Boundary Between Jobs and Games). Even if unpaid players do in fact farm for money, it still is under their own agenda, therefore as stated before, I strongly believe that they are considered as gamers and not workers.

However on the flip side of the coin, if players are like the Sixers from IOI, I would consider that a job. They use company accounts to achieve their companies agenda so that the companies can profit while under the companies paycheck. While this is a big gray area currently, Dibbell does mention that if companies do in fact employ gold farmers, they will be the ones that pay them real money wages. Though legally gold farmers may not currently be considered workers, by definition, a job is a post of employment be it full or part-time, if they are paid, have hours and is holding a post of employment in the company currently, they should be considered workers.

In conclusion, currently the labor laws do not thoroughly cover gold farmers under the companies, therefore they should all be considered gamers and not workers. However, I still stand by my belief that gold farmers not employed by a company are a player and players holding paid positions in a company are considered as workers.

References:
Dibbell, J. (2016). Invisible Labor, Invisible Play: Online Gold Farming and the Boundary Between Jobs and Games. Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law, 18(3), 419–465. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.gl.iit.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=116432143&site=ehost-live

Cline, E. (2011). Ready player one. New York: Crown Publishers.

Image From:
‘Ready Player One’ Trailer Breakdown: Let the Easter Egg Hunt Begin. (2017, July 25). Retrieved from https://www.slashfilm.com/ready-player-one-trailer-breakdown/