FSU: Reaction to Industry News - China used prisoners in lucrative Online Game Gold Farming

As incredible as it sounds, a Chinese ex-prisoner claims that the prison guards where he was incarcerated forced him to play online games, such as World of Warcraft, to farm them for in-game gold and items. The guards then sold the in-game gold and items to other players making a small fortune in the process. The ex-prisoner then went on to state that if he didn’t meet a certain quota of gold and items per day he was punished with beatings and worse. He claims that it was a thriving business in the prison system raking in quite a bit of money.


I’ve been in games that are choked with gold sellers. Lineage II is one of the worst. You can’t swing a sword in that game without hitting a gold seller either farming or spamming chat trying to make a sale. The inflation due to the excess gold is incredible. An item that would normally go for 1,000 Adena now costs 1,000,000. No, I’m not exaggerating. This doesn’t even take into consideration the fact that for a little cash anyone can have top end armor. No need to grind out the gold or gear yourself. So, the only ones actually out in the world playing are the gold farmers. It’s pretty much killed the game considering its mostly gold sellers competing for resources with, and selling to, other gold sellers. I doubt there are any actual players left in the game anymore.

NCSoft has tried to address the problem by banning gold farming and botting accounts but it’s a case of too little too late. If the ex-prisoner’s story above is true then there really isn’t any way to combat it except to try to stay on top of the bannings. This is difficult because the gold sellers simply make another character and continue on as if nothing happened.

China issued a statement saying the story was untrue because they would never allow their prisoners to play a game that gave them contact with the outside world. I believe they would allow the prisoners to play the game. I also believe they wouldn’t give the prisoners a way to contact the outside world. All of these games are easily modded. So, I believe that it’s possible they are using prisoners to farm gold but with a modified interface that doesn’t allow them to chat.

Credit where credit is due:
Rose, Mike. (2011, May 27). Report: inmates 'gold farming' in chinese prisons. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34861/Report_Inmates_Gold_Farming_In_Chinese_Prisons.php (Link no longer valid as of January 2023.) 

Vincent, Danny. (2011, May 25). China used prisoners in lucrative internet gaming work. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam