China: Chinese Prisoners forced to farm gold in MMOs

[CptStern]

As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay demons, battle goblins and cast spells.

Liu says he was one of scores of prisoners forced to play online games to build up credits that prison guards would then trade for real money. The 54-year-old, a former prison guard who was jailed for three years in 2004 for "illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown, reckons the operation was even more lucrative than the physical labour that prisoners were also forced to do.

"Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour," Liu told the Guardian. "There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam

I guess it's better than beatings

 

[StarBob]

What surprises me the most about all of this is that... all of these companies... have to be selling gold.... which means people buy it... and at rarely any point in the game was gold all that difficult to get. It just amazes me there are people out there that buy it. I mean there aren't even that many things in the game that you can BUY with gold. Good things anyways. I guess if you were obsessed with consumables or something. Regardless, it never seems like it should be that lucrative relative to the number of people that are farming.

 

[alehm]

Communism, the latest purchase by capitalists.

 

[Warped]

Everything has a price, even those new shiny Leggings with +40 armor and 20 Fire Resistance

 

[15357]

Ah, now I feel bad for killing all those farmers with Chinese-esque names, like Xinyang and stuff like that.


But then again, I needed my ore.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

This is why WoW needs Free for All servers.

(not referencing cost, just ability to kill anyone, even members of your own faction)

 

[Vegeta897]

China: Chinese Prisoners in a Chinese Prison forced to farm gold in MMOs in China

 

[Sulkdodds]

Is a 'Chinese Prison' some kind of thought experiment?

 

[GreatEmperor]

They farm exp then sell the accounts also right?

 

[morgs]

What surprises me the most about all of this is that... all of these companies... have to be selling gold.... which means people buy it... and at rarely any point in the game was gold all that difficult to get. It just amazes me there are people out there that buy it. I mean there aren't even that many things in the game that you can BUY with gold. Good things anyways. I guess if you were obsessed with consumables or something. Regardless, it never seems like it should be that lucrative relative to the number of people that are farming.

People that don't give two shits about the game itself, and just want to get ahead of everyone else to flaunt their epeen would happily buy gold.

 

[Tyguy]

This kind of exploitation used to at least force a guy to do hard labor in hopes he might feel the breeze on his back. Now I suppose they just bring you to a smaller room. Cruel and unusual.

 

[Bad^Hat]

What surprises me the most about all of this is that... all of these companies... have to be selling gold.... which means people buy it... and at rarely any point in the game was gold all that difficult to get. It just amazes me there are people out there that buy it. I mean there aren't even that many things in the game that you can BUY with gold. Good things anyways. I guess if you were obsessed with consumables or something. Regardless, it never seems like it should be that lucrative relative to the number of people that are farming.

Mostly people who want raid epics without actually doing the raiding that entails. Ironically (sort of), this is usually so they can meet the gear requirements to raid with people who have more item levels than skill and demand you've completed an encounter before you're allowed to partake in it. WoW pubbies are ****ing stupid.

That or vanity items like mounts, heh.

 

[StarBob]

I guess it's just the same principle of people buying water when they can get it for virtually nothing from their sink... but I'm one of those people that stopped buying bottled water long ago and got a filter.