Rocks by day, gold by night. After a day of grueling
physical labor, inmates in Chinese prisons would be forced
to engage in 12-hour sessions of online gaming to rack up
credits. This was the work cycle for many Chinese
prisoners in years past, the Guardian is reporting.
The virtual work environment proved to be a perplexing
part of daily life for many inmates. The prison guards
invested a lot of time and energy into making sure the
prisoners met quotas for faux currencies, which the guards
later traded for real world money.
The Guardian told the story of Liu Dali (a pseudonym) who
was imprisoned for three years from 2004 to 2007. "If I
couldn't meet my work quota, they would punish me
physically," he said. The trade of gold for cash was
widespread in Chinese prisons because of how lucrative it
is.
"Gold farming" is the moniker for this business. There are
scores of gamers across the globe that would pay real
money for game currency just so they could progress in
the game. World of Warcraft was one of many games the
inmates had to trudge through to accrue certain amounts
of online cash.
Gold farming, however, is not relegated to prison inmates.
This is a job for some people, and there are gamers who
would pay good money for fake money. For Liu Dali and
his comrades in shackles, as the Guardian reported, none
of their virtual labor translated into profit for them.
This, of course, is not what game makers intended. The
practice of gold farming, however, is not an easy thing to
regulate. Virtual currency translating into real world profits
is a relatively recent thing, and since it does not exist in a
physical space, it is very easy to manipulate.
While Liu Dali may no longer be in prison, his fear that this
practice still exists could very well be true. Gold farming
puts policy makers into an integral position as the forced
12-hour sessions can be physically, mentally, and
emotionally taxing.
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread
Facebook
Twitter