Chinese Prisoners Forced To Farm Gold?

from the forced-virtual-labor dept

There have been many, many reports over the years about just how much “gold farming” in online games comes from China, but a new report in the Guardian is getting plenty of attention for claiming that real world inmates are being used for gold farming in prisons, where the prisons or their bosses end up with the “spoils.” A whole bunch of folks have been submitting the story, and it certainly could be happening, but it does seem pretty weakly sourced. It quotes one guy who was in prison half a decade ago and did the gold farming then. Is there any more contemporary evidence that this is happening?

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Comments on “Chinese Prisoners Forced To Farm Gold?”

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10 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

what I dont really understand

what I don’t really understand is why anyone is surprised by this, and why its a big deal.

I thought it was pretty well known that chinese jails were corrupt labor houses. The jails even have deals with local authorities to keep them at optimal occupancy for the greater profit of both entities.

the fact that one tiny aspect of the corruption is wow gold farming seems completely minute.

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