I Want The Gold -- Gimme The Gold: Chinese Prisoners Forced To Farm Warcraft Gold
So apparently Chinese prisoners are being used by prison bosses and guards as free labor to mine the shit out of World of Warcraft gold and other virtual commodities and aren't even allowed to level up their characters. Now that's harsh.
"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] (~$770-935) a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."
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.
Prison farming aside, there's over a hundred-thousand full-time Warcraft gold farmers in China?! That's f***in' nuts! I can't even imagine numbers that high. Or, okay, anything past the hundreds. "Not even 1,000?" Whoa whoa whoa -- cool it with all the zeros, homey!
China used prisoners in lucrative internet gaming work [guardian]
Thanks to AverageGeekGirl, who collects gold the old fashioned way: chasing leprechauns.
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