How WoW's free market economy traps players in a work to play schedule

"'What's up?' said a newly logged on pally.
'Farming. Gotta get 4000 rep before the weekend.' said another pally.
'Yeah, same. Need some money to afford pots for Kara on Friday.' said a third pally. Yes, we know, our guild has an abundance of pallies.

But since when did WoW become so much like life in that we actually have to separate our work time from our play time? Intrigued, GamesRadar asked around and discovered that most level 70s spend four to five days grinding and farming to make money in order to be able to afford to buy drinks for themselves and maybe a few buddies on their day off.

Sounds scarily familiar, doesn't it?"

[rusgreim]

...H. Christ... I had no idea that the people who play this crap are this lame.

Get a life, live a real life in the real world, losers.

[PS360WII]

yeah like no other mmo out there requires you to make money... oh they do? crap...

What's the fun in the game if you just get all the great gear from the start of it. No challange what-so-ever... you get a better sense of accomplishment if you farm/craft/sell to make money to get that awesome set of equip.

Not a fan of WoW but I know I have to make money/gil in FFXI to get some sweet stuff. It's what you do though, that's kind of the game. Level up, get some equip, explore some more, and go further in the story.

[fenderputty]

I played FFXI and got sucked in. I managed to have a life outside of the game but, what time I did play in the game was mostly tiresome redundant EXP'ing and Mining for money. Once I reached level 65 I quit. It was just too much.

[nosmok]

Next they will be complaining about cheap labour immigrant pushing the prices down on items and gold (Mudflation!). Opps too late.

[power091999]

When I get home I am going to start a Orc child labor camp.

I am going to go Martha Stewart on Azeroth.

[Weed]

All MMOs are like this and require some type of grinding, It's part of the game and its what keeps people subscribed to them for so long. FFXI was exactly the same way for me, If you want the best gear it requires dedication to get that gear. Nothing is handed to you on a silver platter in MMOs they would lose money if they did that.

[xXbebofisherXx]

i do this all the time on my 70's. but i do it out of bordem. i can only play so much cs:s 1.6 and gh2. but i usually pvp or instances with my buddies. but when no one is on i farm. and i make 100's of g's a day. maybe i should start selling my wow gold. might make a few bucks on the side.