Despite the best efforts of MMORPG developers like Blizzard, gold farming services continue to rake in serious dough in exchange for virtual currency. There's probably no better example of that than My MMO Shop -- a seller of in-game money that,wow gold shop  Yahoo Finance reports, was just purchased for a cool $10 million.

Acquired by My MMO Inc. -- a company established by a private firm in 2008 for the sole purpose of buying My MMO Shop -- the service reportedly ranks third in overall sales among other gold selling sites. Though the buying and selling of in-game currency is explicitly forbidden in almost every MMORPG out there, My MMO Shop offers their services to players from virtually every popular game in the genre, including World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Warhammer Online, Everquest II, Age of Conan, and many, many others.

Why, in these uncertain times, would anyone invest in a company that basically sells pretend money? My MMO Inc.'s Hunter Crowell reiterates the controversial theory that certain aspects of the gaming industry are recession proof. "This is a risky time for any kind of traditional investing," explains Crowell, adding, wow gold "People are staying home more and choosing less expensive forms of entertainment, like playing video games."

Just keep that $10 million price tag in mind the next time you're inundated with gold farmer spam. Somebody paid damn good money for that guy to stand in Stormwind and repeatedly shout advertisements in your face.