Play to earn: An overview of Chinese informal gamer-workers

Abstract

The prosperity of China’s digital gaming ecosystem would be impossible without the contributions of large numbers of informal gamer-workers through their play-to-earn labor practices. We define gamer-workers as individuals who occupy a vast gray area between casual play and formal employment. Though they come from diverse social backgrounds and are driven by varying motivations, gamer-workers closely tie their gaming practices to the pursuit of a livelihood, with socioeconomically disadvantaged groups forming a significant but not exclusive part of this workforce. Drawing on qualitative data from participant observation in game communities, interviews with frontline practitioners, and media narratives from multiple sources, we present a systematic overview of this overlooked—and at times misrepresented—labor landscape. Specifically, we develop a five-part typology that situates informal gamer-workers across the full cycle of game development, circulation, consumption, and iterative optimization. The typology highlights how game-related platforms and companies extract value from five key roles: (1) outsourced and freelance labor in game production, (2) user-end service workers who manually enhance gameplay experiences, (3) streamers who play a central role in game entertainment, (4) coordinators who bridge gaps left by platform infrastructures, and (5) various forms of profiteering—including but not limited to gold farming—that fuel the expansion of in-game economies. Our analysis also examines the intrinsic connections across these labor roles and the structural conditions of devaluation and precarity in which informal play-to-earn practices help proliferate China’s digital gaming ecosystem. The experiences of gamer-workers thus shed light on how digital labor is—and will continue to be—reshaped in a future where the boundaries between work and play are increasingly blurred.