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Chinese prisoners have been forced by the guards in their prison to play World of Warcraft on top of their prison sentence. This practice is known as "gold farming"
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This game is bad enough to be a prison sentence
Gold Farming is to play a MMO to gain in-game currency and exchange it to real world cash,
in this case the prisoners had to do repetitive routine moves to rack up points. These guards have earned to $900 a day from their prisoners doing this practice. Sometimes this practice earns more then the physical labor they are forced to do.
An inmate named Lui Dali said he worked in the Jixi labor camp in North Eastern China, where after a long day's work in the brutal coal mines he would spend up to 12 hours playing WoW, his performance and contribution were monitored with a sharp eye.
Lui said
Originally posted by another user
"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."
Gold farming is seen as a negative by gamers and game makers alike and China had gained a notorious reputation in their lack of regulation in gaming practices.
Its been 2 years since Lui has been released from prison, since then, the Chinese government has stated that only companies with licenses to trade can deal with virtual currency. Lui said he doubts it and its still being practiced.
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