Usually, we play games, they are an escape from everyday life where you need to work and sweat to earn a living. Sometimes though, the escapism that games provide becomes very much like life and may be more like work than recreation. Crafting in games, mostly MMORPGs, is a recent addition to our RPG lives. For some, it becomes a business. A dirty business.

Why do so many players like crafting? When you first sit your character down to try it out yourself, it becomes rapidly apparent that there is not much fun associated with crafting. It often involves a good book or a good movie, or any other outside distraction. What goes on in the game becomes secondary. You just need to press a button or two every few seconds, and between those few moments you need to do something else to bide your time.

Crafting a life for myself
Not being much of a crafter myself I recently sat down to try out one of those shiny new trade skills in DAoC, namely Spellcrafting and Alchemy. I chose to go with Alchemy since… well lets face it, I'm just too clueless to even begin to understand how Spellcrafting works... About 5 hours of crafting later I had brought up my skill to a respectable level, but the higher you go the harder and longer it gets. Considering that the higher level crafters have scores that are more than twice as high as mine, I guess the time investment needed to get there would be near the 20 to 40 hours or even more, close to what most single-player RPGs last. Yet, those measly 5 hours I spent doing crafting can only be described as pretty boring, and I usually ended up watching a hockey game, or a movie on the side while pressing buttons... It's pretty pathetic when you think about it. So, why am I so hooked?

It's funny how the higher you get the more you want to go on. After all, why not? Is it that bad to get your skill up 50 points while watching Lord of the Rings? Heck no! I get to enjoy a nice movie AND I bring my skill up! Crafting is boring, but then again it leaves me enough freedom to do something else at the same time. I don't have to constantly keep an eye on the screen, there's no real stress involved, no fear of losing my character, or dying in game. Your character is sitting comfortably in some dark corner of the city, and you can choose to ignore all chatting to concentrate on other things outside the game.

I imagine this is the case with many crafting-inclined players out there who just enjoy doing two things at the same time. And then of course when they reach the high honors of being the best at their craft they can collect the money from needy players. It's very rewarding, and it avoids the usual combat tedium that is involved with most online games these days. You still need to hunt though, otherwise the money needed to get your skill high enough will be very hard to get unless you know someone who can do it for you, or a well funded guild that can pay you to get your skill up. Still, it's a welcome change of pace for many players out there.

Business is business
The business of crafting in most MMORPGs is very serious to some. It is a way to gain a lot of money. If you are among the more skilled crafters, there's a good chance that you will be getting orders for the most expensive gear available in the game, the gear that only you and a few others can make. Designers often make player-crafted gear of much better quality than dropped loot too, so these crafters are very much in demand. Of course, the crafter will have to invest a lot of money and time to get to those high levels of crafting, but in the end he will reap the benefits by the tons. At least that's what it says in the manuals...

Now, concerns arise with those few players that take things too seriously though. Players who will charge more than 300% over the cost price of crafted items simply because of the huge time and money investment they made to get to the skill level they have attained. There's no rule book on crafting, there's no real code of conduct for merchants out there. I'll go so far as saying that it's a brutal world of commerce. Greedy crafters are not out to punish other fellow crafters though, on the contrary. They are out to drain the money from other players' pockets, those who did not take the time to do any crafting, and exact revenge on them for letting the crafter fund his own craft.

It's a shame that these few individuals don't understand. Even if it drains my purse to get to higher skills, I should never expect a player to pay me 300% over cost price for a crafted item. The money I invested will get back in my pocket eventually, I am not worried about that. I don't need to charge 300 gold for an item that cost me 50 to make simply because I have spent 20 hours to get to the needed skill level to make the said item. It's all bad business, and it will catch up to you in the long term.

Role Playing crafters
Crafters are hooked, most of them enjoy their craft, and most of them are proud to be at the skill level they are. None of them should penalize other non-crafting players for that though. Crafters should be mindful of their customers, and they should remember that although we are playing a game, crafting is still a very important business. These games have economies, and, as such, care must be taken about how we go about our business. There is a fine line between playing the role of a merchant, and screwing people around for the sake of Role Playing.