http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/26/chinese-prisoners-used-as-gold-farmers/

The link explains it all. Whoa.

£500/day? I could come up with a far more profitable get rich quick scheme if only I had that much manpower to abuse.

So not much different than the average MMO player then?

In china? You're in the middle of BFE, there's actually not a lot you can do with them, I suppose you could use them to manually fill out CATCHPAS.

Has anyone attempted to do a study to estimate how many players must be buying gold to keep these gold selling "farms" running?

I'm betting the outcome of such a study would be quite shocking.

It's China.

After living in China for a bit (currently in America), I realize what a lot of Americans (and other nations) don't about the Chinese economy.

A player might spend 50 USD on gold.

50 USD is around 350-400 RMB. My apartment in China (average living conditions) cost 300 RMB for a month of rent. Fathom that, 50 USD for your rent a month. I probably spent around 20 RMB a day on food eating out, just as an American might spend 20 USD a day if he were to eat out a few meals.

This is the reason why Chinese gold farmers exist, while American gold farmers don't. It is _easy_ for them to stay in business with US players spending USD on virtual money. It might seem cheap for us, but for them its a lot of money, and easy cash. Especially with their gold farming sweatshops.

There really isn't any way to stop it unless the Chinese RMB catches up to the value of the USD. But as China thrives on exports to America, selling to American corporations for "cheap" while it actually ends up being a lot of money in China...then it probably wont happen.

I'm not anti-Chinese or anti-communist etc. I'm just saying they have a better grasp of their economy than we do. We are in debt, and spend, while they own countries' debt, and continue to sell.

P.S. People generally still live in much higher quality conditions in US than in China, though China is catching up in that as well.

I've heard you can't get cheap living deals in the big cities though. Is this true?

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with the probable amount of players there are buying gold. :p

My suspicion is most of them, all the while harping how they hate those damn chinese gold farmers!

The comments are far more interesting than the article itself.

sucks to be Chinese.

What would you do to change the fact? Instead of sitting and saying "oh dear... yeah... it's bad... it's wrong... they shouldn't do it..."

In U.S. Bradley Manning is kept in humiliating conditions, he sleeps naked without any bed, they are searching him every 3-4 hours, etc etc.

Look for regime all around you, not only in China.

If he did what he is accused of He is a flat out Traitor and I could care less how he is treated. Just for your info however, he has been moved to a medium security facility and can interact with other.

It used to be. My teacher from last term had just gotten back from China and they're experiencing significant inflation.

EDIT: Got that backwards, now didn't I. It's definitely better living in the US for overall conditions.
As for the notion of the Chinese people living under higher quality conditions in the US, that's not factually correct. Air quality in the big cities is a serious health hazard and the food isn't necessarily safe to eat. Think recycled rolls. And the water quality is in a dubious condition. That's for folks living in the major cities.

God help you if you're unfortunate enough to live in more rural areas. The air is probably cleaner but most of the other problems are still there.

Not that I have a particular hatred of China, but a bit of honesty is in order.