Chinese Prisons making inmates farm gold

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."

Memories from his detention at Jixi re-education-through-labour camp in Heilongjiang province from 2004 still haunt Liu. As well as backbreaking mining toil, he carved chopsticks and toothpicks out of planks of wood until his hands were raw and assembled car seat covers that the prison exported to South Korea and Japan. He was also made to memorise communist literature to pay off his debt to society.

But it was the forced online gaming that was the most surreal part of his imprisonment. The hard slog may have been virtual, but the punishment for falling behind was real.

"If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things," he said.

It is known as "gold farming", the practice of building up credits and online value through the monotonous repetition of basic tasks in online games such as World of Warcraft. The trade in virtual assets is very real, and outside the control of the games' makers. Millions of gamers around the world are prepared to pay real money for such online credits, which they can use to progress in the online games.

The trading of virtual currencies in multiplayer games has become so rampant in China that it is increasingly difficult to regulate. In April, the Sichuan provincial government in central China launched a court case against a gamer who stole credits online worth about 3000rmb.

The lack of regulations has meant that even prisoners can be exploited in this virtual world for profit.

According to figures from the China Internet Centre, nearly £1.2bn of make- believe currencies were traded in China in 2008 and the number of gamers who play to earn and trade credits are on the rise.

It is estimated that 80% of all gold farmers are in China and with the largest internet population in the world there are thought to be 100,000 full-time gold farmers in the country.

In 2009 the central government issued a directive defining how fictional currencies could be traded, making it illegal for businesses without licences to trade. But Liu, who was released from prison before 2009 believes that the practice of prisoners being forced to earn online currency in multiplayer games is still widespread.

"Many prisons across the north-east of China also forced inmates to play games. It must still be happening," he said.

"China is the factory of virtual goods," said Jin Ge, a researcher from the University of California San Diego who has been documenting the gold farming phenomenon in China. "You would see some exploitation where employers would make workers play 12 hours a day. They would have no rest through the year. These are not just problems for this industry but they are general social problems. The pay is better than what they would get for working in a factory. It's very different," said Jin.

"The buyers of virtual goods have mixed feelings … it saves them time buying online credits from China," said Jin.

The emergence of gold farming as a business in China – whether in prisons or sweatshops could raise new questions over the exporting of goods real or virtual from the country.

"Prison labour is still very widespread – it's just that goods travel a much more complex route to come to the US these days. And it is not illegal to export prison goods to Europe, said Nicole Kempton from the Laogai foundation, a Washington-based group which opposes the forced labour camp system in China.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may...aming-scam

I'm speechless. I'm not sure how this is legal, though. China is all for free trade but they're breaking the business of other companies (even Chinese companies), and possibly even the law.

This is bull sh'it.


>Let's let prisoners play online games
>We're not ruining the games enough for the young kids that play games, so let's give the power to ruin the day of young kids everywhere to murderers.

This is bull sh'it.


>Let's let prisoners play online games
>We're not ruining the games enough for the young kids that play games, so let's give the power to ruin the day of young kids everywhere to murderers.

Not to mention the government recently was trying to restrict private enterprises of gold farming.

And the fact they're basically in a concentration camp.

What the eff.

I get that the prisons need money to operate, but why this?

/sigh

And people (read: idiots) say America will be taken over by China. pfffft.

That's utterly atrocious. Treating prisoners like slaves has got to be a human rights violation of "hey lets give everyone involved in this life-sentences" caliber.

/sigh

And people (read: idiots) say America will be taken over by China. pfffft.

That's utterly atrocious. Treating prisoners like slaves has got to be a human rights violation of "hey lets give everyone involved in this life-sentences" caliber.

I'd be deathly afraid of what China would do to us if they DID (extremely hypothetical speech here) take over. I mean... if that's what they do to their own people, imagine what they'd do to us...

What the eff.

I get that the prisons need money to operate, but why this?

I guess because they see it as an easy success. I don't see how they make much money, though, since apparently Chinese Gold Farming is a VERY small profit (this is according to things I've read and videos I've watched -- this article is kind of stating the opposite, though).

The pineapple. Lol

/sigh

And people (read: idiots) say America will be taken over by China. pfffft.

That's utterly atrocious. Treating prisoners like slaves has got to be a human rights violation of "hey lets give everyone involved in this life-sentences" caliber.

Ever heard of a little thing called Soviet Russia? Or Nazi Germany? They threatened the world while maintaining little care for their people.

Ever heard of a little thing called Soviet Russia? Or Nazi Germany? They threatened the world while maintaining little care for their people.

Ever hear of the atricles of the geneva convention?

concentration camp.

Giving new meaning to the word

Hopefully the games these prisoners play have a fatigue system. :/

Hopefully the games these prisoners play have a fatigue system. :/

All games in china, as I've been told, cut you off after 5 hours(iiirc) of game play. Or well, you just don't get exp/drops I believe.

The real problem, of course, is that people buy from gold farmers >_>

[video=youtube;W-Ji_ACN65w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Ji_ACN65w[/video]

Seemed appropriate

Damnnn. It's not enough they got kids hacking on MS to make virtual gold. China is hardcore.

Brb sec lemme read LOL.

This is bull sh'it.


>Let's let prisoners play online games
>We're not ruining the games enough for the young kids that play games, so let's give the power to ruin the day of young kids everywhere to murderers.

Except that this is China, where many prisoners probably aren't real convicts. The guy in the topic was imprisoned for '"illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown'. It's a communist country. These could potentially be people who just reported officials powerful enough to jail them instead of actually ceasing their corrupt behaviour.

I have no idea how their imprisonment system works over there, but I doubt that they'd let murderers do this kind of thing. More likely a new way to earn money off of safe but potentially unemployed inmates.

Except that this is China, where many prisoners probably aren't real convicts. The guy in the topic was imprisoned for '"illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown'. It's a communist country. These could potentially be people who just reported officials powerful enough to jail them instead of actually ceasing their corrupt behaviour.

I have no idea how their imprisonment system works over there, but I doubt that they'd let murderers do this kind of thing. More likely a new way to earn money off of safe but potentially unemployed inmates.

Sorry but thats not a communist country, that happens anywhere where few people get so much power, its just common in communist countries due to failing in implementing communism and end up with a huge amount of corruption.

Also as for forced labor, it is bad how they treat the inmates but actually tell me whats better, closing people up in one big house where you give them food, a bed and other things while they do nothing for most of the time or making them do something good for society, just make them work as normal employees (8 hour shifts, break to eat, etc) while the country keeps the money (people would pay less taxes) maybe giving them part of it so when they get out don't go steal the first thing they see, since IMHO keeping someone in jail till his old is as bad as giving him a death sentence.

BTW I would say that the thing with gold farmers is almost like drug dealers, of course they're the one to blame since the make the stuff but they wouldn't make it if people didn't buy it, so its a shared guilt.

They should have a slogan.

"Don't do the crime if you can't handle the grind."

Sorry but thats not a communist country, that happens anywhere where few people get so much power, its just common in communist countries due to failing in implementing communism and end up with a huge amount of corruption.

Corruption does not define communism, but communism tends to attract it. Look at Stalin's Russia.

They should have a slogan.

"Don't do the crime if you can't handle the grind."

When interviewing Chinese inmates...

"Three years ago I hit and killed 3 children while driving, I was intoxicated. Today, I have 3 Level 200 characters on Maplestory."


That would be sad, yet funny at the same time...