Gold-Farming

Nearly 500,000 people in developing nations earn a wage making virtual goods in online games to sell to players, a study has found. Research by Manchester University shows that the practice, known as gold-farming, is growing rapidly. The industry, about 80% based in China, employs about 400,000 people who earn £77 per month on average.

In many online games virtual cash remains rare and many people turn to suppliers such as gold farmers to get money to outfit avatars with better gear, weapons or a mount. Some gold-farming operations offer other services such as "power leveling" in which they assume control of a player's character and turn it into a high-powered hero far faster than the original owner could manage themselves...
(more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7575902.stm)

Now that's creative thinking!