Power leveling becoming more prominent in Vietnam
by James Egan 
Jul 6th 2008 at 4:00PM
Filed under: MMO industry, Leveling, News items
When you hear the words "power leveling," which country do you usually think of? The term almost always conjures images of digital content factories in China, where teams of workers grind around the clock for the legions of gamers out there who are willing to pay to get ahead.
Power leveling and gold farming are by no means limited to China though. Other countries in Asia are seeing a marked increase in these activities as internet access becomes more ubiquitous, and of course as broadband speeds increase. PlayNoEvil points out an article from Vietnam News, which reports "game addicts with talent can now indulge in their favourite pastime and be paid up to VND 2.7 million (US$ 160) a month for doing it." PlayNoEvil notes that the salary of a power-leveler is greater than that of a teacher, who only earns between US$ 60 and US$ 100 per month.
Via PlayNoEvil
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian! said on 4:29PM 7-06-2008
Wow. How sad that the average salary is so low.
As an American, I worry that globalization will kill this country as... well... we can be pretty lazy.
Yet on the other hand, I really hope to see the day when everyone makes a wage equivalent to one another and it is your skill that dictates how high you can go, not where you live. As I am not an economist, I have no idea if that even can happen.
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hayt3r said on 5:25PM 7-06-2008
You needn't be sad. More than likely, the goods and services there are actually much cheaper than here in the absolute sense. So they may still be living decently, relatively.
The day when everyone makes equivalent wages influenced by skill is the day when globalization dominates. It'll be truly one global economy.
What's more interesting is these power levelers making more than teachers. It seems EULA breaking services are beneficial in some sense.
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Vort said on 6:08PM 7-06-2008
I don't get it. Why don't the gaming companies have select servers where for a extra fee you can have you character leveled.
The advantages:
There is no waiting for your character to be leveled it happens the minuet you pay for it.
The company hosting the game can roll that extra money back into their company to improve the game.
Finally, no more market for illegal power leveling.
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Tulinh said on 12:43PM 7-07-2008
What I find more incredible (I mean c'mon, lots of workers in the States make more money than teachers) is the fact that 2.7 million VND (vietnamese dong) equals $160! Vietnam has greater problems than maintaining class balances between power levelers and teachers.
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