Chinese Prison Population Forced To Gold Farm In MMOs

firefly2003

Prison guards in China have found a way to profit off their inmates – by forcing them to farm gold in MMOs in exchange for real-world currency. While they're busy doing manual labor during the day, these prisoners are forced to earn virtual cash by night. A 54 year-old man referred to as Liu Dali (not his actual name) is in prison for petitioning about government corruption, and he described the conditions to UK newspaper The Guardian:

"Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," he explained. "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 (Renminbi, the Chinese currency) a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."

He makes it clear that this isn't some optional prison activity, elaborating: "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."

[Source: The Guardian via Game Politics]

VenDyne

Ouch! So THAT's where those pesky Gold Spammers come from! Forced labor from prisoners!