The problem I chose for EM-203 Learning in 280 Characters or Less was to analyze Poverty, more specifically, the Venezuela Crisis. When analyzing political unrest, it is extremely hard to present a “solution” as there are a lot of factors leading to why this crisis happened (see timeline above). Although, I wanted to elaborate on current solutions that the Venezuelan public have resorted to as a last resort.
As of May 9, 2018, the Venezuelan Bolivar is worth seven times less than the virtual gold in an online video game called “World of Warcraft”. With this shocking comparison it isn’t a surprise that Venezuelan’s are leveraging this value to create the highest possible income by playing video games.
What was once the wealthiest major economy in Latin America due to Venezuela having the world’s largest oil reserves. Oil accounts for 95% of exports and a quarter of GDP. When the world price of oil plummeted in 2014, the government has not been able to pay off its debt, to counteract this they printed more Bolivars. The end result being hyperinflation of 1.3 million percent in 2018. Venezuela has exhausted currency reserves to pay for food and medicine leading to starvation, spikes in crime, and unemployment. These desperate times to acquire food are causing Venezuelans to turn to unconventional jobs. The most common being “gold farming” in an MMO video game from 2001.
RuneScape is the MMO Venezuelans are using to “gold farm” to provide a stable income for themselves. The average player can make an average of 500,000 in game gold coins an hour which equals to about $0.50 USD. While more experienced players can use more challenging methods to earn about $2-3 USD an hour. In the regime of strongman Nicolás Maduro where the monthly minimum wage was increased by 300 percent —to roughly $6.70 on January 14, 2019, it is clear what will provide more money as a “job” in Venezuela.
The exact number of Venezuelans’ informally ‘working’ for RuneScape’s black market is extremely hard to calculate. The only known number to date is when RuneScape partnered with Twitch Prime and offered a free month of RuneScape membership which unlocked the premium content within the game for free. With this promotion in 2018, just over three hundred thousand accounts were created originating in Venezuela. A reddit user named IIogaI and resides in Venezuela mentioned that each RuneScape player supports between two and ten friends and family members. This means that roughly 1.8 million Venezuelans may depend on virtual gold for their daily calories.
There is no clear solution for this issue until the current political situation in Venezuela changes and the economy stabilizes. Some argue that RuneScape’s developer, Jagex, should acknowledge this issue and provide support. Jagex cannot do this as it will jeopardize the game as a whole since gold farming violates the game’s terms of service and can get players banned if caught. Venezuelans understand this and will continue to break the game’s rules as the risk of getting banned outweighs the risk of going into public.
EM203 - Final Assignment 