New legislation in China outlaws gold farming

by James Egan Jun 29th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Economy, MMO industry, News items, Legal

Gold farmers. We know you hate them... We know. And we've mentioned the associated gold spam as being the bane of many MMO players' existence a number of times in the past. But is the situation ever going to change?

Perhaps, given the new legislation coming out of China this week. Of course while all gold farmers certainly aren't based in China, a substantial percentage of gold farming operations are in fact run from the country. Such operations may now find themselves under greater scrutiny by the Chinese authorities; the government has now established its first official rule on the use of virtual currency in China.

Essentially, it states that virtual currency cannot leave the sphere of influence of its issuer. (Exact wording: "The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services.") If the law is actually obeyed and enforced, it would curb all manner of black market activities in China connected with the virtual.

An official statement from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce last week announced China's aim to reduce the impact of virtual economics on real world financial systems. While the new rule doesn't target gold farming per se -- rather it focuses on virtual currency being exchanged for real world currency -- it stands to reason that there could be a significant impact on the "akfjdalfaslkjfs"s of your favorite MMO.

Take all of this with a huge grain of salt, though. As someone who has spent nearly a quarter of his life living in China, I can attest that simply because laws exist in the country doesn't mean they're enforced. It's too soon to say what impact the new rule will have on gold farming specifically, and the virtual goods and currency black market in general, but it's an interesting development nonetheless.

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: asia, black-market, breaking, china, economy, gold, gold-farmer, gold-farming, law, legal, ministry-of-commerce, ministry-of-culture, mmo-industry, rules, virtual-currency, virtual-goods

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Kidun said on 6:10PM 6-29-2009

O SNAP!

MrGutts said on 6:18PM 6-29-2009

I wish them luck with enforcing it.

Infexion said on 6:32PM 6-29-2009

That's crazy talk!

It might shut down alot of the bigger companies that do it, but yes It will still continue for sure.

NT_ said on 6:57PM 6-29-2009

I'll make a stronger statement than James: this will not be enforced until there is massive governmental protest from the international community, and then they will publicly scapegoat one or two minor players for the press. Two seconds later, business will return to normal.

China is very reluctant to restrict *any* sector of the economy, particularly one such as this that does vague, IP-type harm (versus lead contamination in children's toys, melamine in milk products, etc.). They, in my opinion, view this particular job as occupying a lot of individuals who might otherwise cause trouble (idle hands, Devil's toolbox).

The funny thing is that a lot of the gold farmers are double-dippers that are also on government assistance (which is very widespread and abused like a red-headed stepchild).

fester said on 8:34PM 6-29-2009

"We know you hate them... We know."

Really? Then who is buying all this virtual gold? Clearly plenty of people *don't hate them* enough to keep the gold farming companies in business. Like it or not, it's a service that a lot of people want. .And honestly, China is just shooting themselves in the foot over this. Why outlaw when you can heavily tax?

slimj091 said on 11:08PM 6-29-2009

"Really? Then who is buying all this virtual gold?"

13 year olds with their mothers credit card.

"Clearly plenty of people *don't hate them* enough to keep the gold farming companies in business."

these are the same people that bitch about blizzard when their accounts get hacked by the same people they bought their harmless gold from. Clearly they are morons.

"Like it or not, it's a service that a lot of people want."

no one said the world isn't full of lazy mf'ers.

"And honestly, China is just shooting themselves in the foot over this. Why outlaw when you can heavily tax?"

oh i don't know. because it's a black market industry that is nearly impossible to tax.

torak said on 12:48AM 6-30-2009

"13 year olds with their mothers credit card"

More stupid sterotypes.

It's pretty well documented that the vast majority of MMO players are in the 20 - 30 something range.

slimj091 said on 12:28PM 6-30-2009

"More stupid sterotypes.

It's pretty well documented that the vast majority of MMO players are in the 20 - 30 something range."

yes. but the majority of the idiots that buy gold are teenagers with the "i don't care nothing bad ever happens" mentality.

slimj091 said on 12:29PM 6-30-2009

"My feeling is that In many cases these gold farming shops are not selling out of China anymore. They've established pretty legit shops our here in the West and just "outsource" the farming to whoever can make it cheapest."

the point is. for the farming that is taking place in china. that gold that is farmed is turned into real world currency when the farmers are paid, and when the slave drivers that run the farms get paid for the gold they export to to shops based in the rest of the world.

that right there should be enough to shut gold farming sweat shops down. the only question is if regional government officials will enforce it if they are not already taking kickbacks from the gold farming operators.

RogueJedi86 said on 9:17PM 6-29-2009

At least this will make it easier for American MMO companies to shut down gold sites. Just send a report to the Chinese government explaining how they have been selling virtual goods in their game(breaking Chinese law), perhaps give information on where they suspect the gold site is based, and hopefully China will deal with it after that. I have high hopes since I hate gold farmers so much.

SgtBaker said on 12:10AM 6-30-2009

Yeah, this will be interesting to follow.

My feeling is that In many cases these gold farming shops are not selling out of China anymore. They've established pretty legit shops our here in the West and just "outsource" the farming to whoever can make it cheapest.

So the sellers are usually in US or in Europe these days - and our legislation hasn't caught up with the Internet yet. Great to see China making progress though!

RogueJedi86 said on 1:44AM 6-30-2009

Well everytime I see goldspam in wow, I look up the url's registration; they're always registered in China, not the US or anywhere else. Plus even the goldspam itself is in Engrish, so it's not just the farmers who're Chinese. I can't imagine rooms full of goldfarmers in America, even in the current economic times.

Shadowlords said on 9:48PM 6-29-2009

Scum of the earth. I would rather they have some sort of public execution for those people along with outlawing it.

Pedro said on 6:30AM 6-30-2009

Yes, lets kill someone because he or she sells virtual gold in a videogame...
They're clearly destroying people's lifes there.
That's the greatest overreaction to this that i've seen.

swaysaint said on 9:05AM 6-30-2009

means nothing

Lateris said on 11:55PM 6-29-2009

Goooooo commmmmmunists~!!!

Markus Aurelius said on 2:56AM 6-30-2009

Generalizations and hate. That's most of what I see from the replies.

First off - farming gold is NOT ILLEGAL. Not in any way. Farming is just a process of maximizing your time and effort to earn the most amount of gold in the least amount of time. It is in the game design, if anything, it's the game developer's flaw.

Tell me, what is the difference between a guy who farms gold and gives it to his friend AND a guy who farms gold and sells it to someone else?

NOTHING.

It's only those who apply a "MORAL LAYER" and "EMOTIONS" into a game. A game. With set boundaries. Which GOLD FARMING DOES NOT GO OVER.

Think about it.

toni said on 11:48AM 6-30-2009

ok here are my 5 cent:

1. the difference is that most if not all EULAs definitely do not allow to sell ingame values for real money. so everyone doing this violates the terms of service, so its illeagal.

2. professional goldfarmers use bots and exploits to maximise the gold/item gain which massively disturbs the playing expierience of others.

3. the goldsellers spam the ingame channels of many a game via abusing of trial accounts with names like "efwfewrkh". everyone of us has seen bullshit (sorry for the bad language) like this, which is annoying people trying to enjoy the game.

4. if its not clear from the outset, yes i do not like gold sellers as they ruin games and consider any measures against them worth a try. its the same as with crime -> you will never eliminate it, but this does not prevent us from fighting it with all our energy. zero tolerance is the way to go ahead in my opinion.

PS: you dont need to SHOUT, because this does not make any positive impact on your claims.

Cray said on 9:34PM 6-30-2009

Markus,

Regardless what game is being played there are ethics or a spirit of the game's intention which players should respect. It doesn't matter if a player is selling gold or just plain ganking others for kicks. These actions are not part of the game or it's intention. There are many elelements that borne out of playing MMOs but neither of the two I've mention have no positive effects on games.

I can't see this happening in a World of Warcraft boardgame. Only reason players can gank for kicks or gold farm is because there's no one sitting next to you moderating your actions. MMOs are dependent on self-policing and game masters who can't watch everyone.