Quote Originally Posted by 'Rin',index.php?page=Thread&postID=158780#post1587 80
What, you think the people running those things don't have overhead costs either?
These companies are NOT based in the US. I'd even argue that the companies that have shells here are sub'd out to other countries. Economics 101: Outsourcing (in the case of leveling characters) = cheaper costs, hence why you see the cheap leveling methods available.
Actually, outsourcing is more of a topic for an International Economics class, and is generally motivated by cheaper wages and lower working standards. It doesn't mean operations in foreign countries don't pay for rent and capital.

You think people can only speak one language? Did I state that? In my argument, I posed that he wouldn't find workers here (in the US, hence my $20/hr comment) to provide those services without exceeding the value of the services
Yes, actually you did state that when you listed language as a barrier to entry, which it isn't necesarily.

You think low-skill work provides insurance? McDonalds has a healthcare plan for it's full-time non-salaried employees, as does Wal-Mart for it's fulltime employees. I don't think we can get much more cutthroat in the US low-skilled/low wage legal labor market.
You've never seen many migrant workers, have you? Or, for that matter, taken an indepth look at the "insurance" "offered" by Wal-mart and McDonalds. Namely, being such large corporations, they are legally required to, and all that legislation really did was screw over the low skilled workers who had their hours cut so they wouldn't qualify as "full time".

Not to mention the Illicit Minor fallacy.

Do you even know what a no-skill and/or illegal labor market looks like? Again, your argument fails on the premises that if Sam wanted to succeed in his leveling by using a service, he would have to do it in house (US based), which means US based leveling, US based workers, US based internet company. Don't forget that we're combating time in this as well, because clearly the point of using a service would be to level as fast as possible. But, since I've only built two corporations, clearly I know nothing about business and labor markets...perhaps you can enlighten me: Where is it that I can find US based workers to work at $5/hr (minimum was higher at last glance), that have computers, don't need insurance, and have the internet available for usage? I mean really, if you have these people available, shoot me a PM, I'd honestly like to talk with you.
The capital is easy to come by, and honestly quite minimal compared to most small businesses. The labor is a matter of knowing where to look. Plenty of people out there willing to work for less than minimum wage, if you don't mind running things off the books, and plenty of people perfectly willing to work AT minimum wage if you want to be a stickler for that. Teenagers, migrant workers, the entire low-skill labor market who already work more strenous jobs for the exact same pay. All of them would JUMP at the opportunity if someone told them they could get PAYED to play a game.