Chinese Prisoners Forced To Farm Gold?
from the forced-virtual-labor dept
There have been many, many reports over the years about just how much "gold farming" in online games comes from China, but a new report in the Guardian is getting plenty of attention for claiming that real world inmates are being used for gold farming in prisons, where the prisons or their bosses end up with the "spoils." A whole bunch of folks have been submitting the story, and it certainly could be happening, but it does seem pretty weakly sourced. It quotes one guy who was in prison half a decade ago and did the gold farming then. Is there any more contemporary evidence that this is happening?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: china, gold farming, prisons, wow
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
what I dont really understand
I thought it was pretty well known that chinese jails were corrupt labor houses. The jails even have deals with local authorities to keep them at optimal occupancy for the greater profit of both entities.
the fact that one tiny aspect of the corruption is wow gold farming seems completely minute.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
At least this way there is some dis-incentive for gang members to goto jail... you break the law, your gonna be doing hard labor in what I would assume to be horrid conditions.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
In fact I cant think of anyone with better qualifications for cold calling.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Gold Farmers undermine a games player economy
Gold Farmers provide an "easy" way to do well in an MMO
Gold Farmers Suck
But actually ...
The people that buy gold from gold Farmers Suck Worse.
~kjgfkjfi
[ link to this | view in thread ]