From all accounts that have been put forth so far (whether factual or not), the "chinese sweatshop gil farmers" have quotas of currency to earn per shift in order to guarantee job security.
I am pretty sure that nobody is going to pay their gil farmers by the hour. What incentive would there be for them to crank out the product?
That said, by far the most "hurtful" element for average players is not the undercutting of staple items, but the inflated prices set by those farmers who have attempted to monopolize rare, but highly sought after, drops.
Aneue (or however his name is spelled) is a prime example of one of the most notorious Stoper Chyme campers on Lakshmi.
I recall once looking at Archer's Ring price history in Jeuno and seeing his name as the seller for every ring but one in the list.
Items such as this, and the upgraded version, the Sniper's Ring, used to be sold for a fraction of what they now cost, despite being in even shorter supply because they were not being religiously camped for commercial profit.
For all the minor thousands we lose because stacks of crystals and clothcraft materials get undercut, we suffer much more as necessary items get jacked up by hundreds of thousands.
The real "enemy", if you will, are not the ones who undercut, but those who price gouge.
Edited, Fri Oct 29 04:09:24 2004 by Tenmiles