Online game players began to barter items during the 1980s. At some point in the late 1980s, in-game items began to be sold for money. Full commercialisation began in 1997 due to two factors: the launch of Ultima Online as the first true MMORPG, and the launch of eBay. Gold farming was still a relatively small activity: a cottage industry undertaken by players in the US and Europe who saw a way to make extra money.
From 2001/2002, entrepreneurs in the US and South Korea saw the opportunity to make more money from gold farming by hiring players working on low-cost locations; especially China. One brokerage in particular, IGE, was massively successful, earning millions of dollars per month, and dominating the market.
From 2005/2006, gold farming faced a series of challenges: game companies began to ban accounts and take legal action; eBay was persuaded to stop listing online game currency and items; games were redesigned to make gold farming and trading much harder; and entry of lots of new firms led online currencies to devalue heavily against real currencies. Lots of new brokerages, each with their own web portals and customer relations teams, were set up. Gold farms began to shift to lower-cost locations.
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