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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsChina bans gold farming
by Michael Sacco 
Jun 29th 2009 at 7:40PM
Gold farmers! They're everywhere, right? We get spammed by them, we run into them farming Dire Maul, we put them on ignore. Lazy people with too much disposable income buy gold from them in a show of crass consumerism. Blizzard has done their best to stamp out gold-farming services, but litigation is difficult due to the fact that most of the major gold-farming companies are based in China or other parts of Asia. They've instead opted to try to control and stop gold farmers from being able to complete transactions via other methods.
This time, though, it looks like Blizzard may have an unlikely ally in, of all things, the Chinese government. They announced today that the trading of virtual goods for real money is now illegal in China. This ruling reaches farther than just gold farming, though. It also bans the sale of prepaid time cards for MMOs or other online games, as well as numerous technicalities we're sure to hear about in the weeks to come.
To give you an idea of how much an economic impact this will have on China, gold farming alone generates nearly one billion dollars a year worldwide, with China's specific numbers growing at a reported rate of 20% per year. It's estimated that 80 to 85 percent of gold farmers reside in China, so this ruling is massive and, to be frank, pretty troubling.
From a gamer's perspective, yes, it'll be nice to worry about this kind of service a little less, but from a human perspective this places hundreds of thousands of Chinese people in one of two kinds of serious trouble: the first is financial hardship from the "honest" gold-farming companies that will close down after this ban, and the second is legal issues from the companies who don't close down because they can't afford not to do what they've been doing.
It's not my intention to defend gold farming as an industry, because I used to have to deal with its more nefarious effects every day -- compromised accounts stripped of gold and gear, keyloggers, disruptive spam, all of that. But life isn't easy for many Chinese people working jobs like this. Many gold farming centers are much cleaner and safer, in relative terms, than other places in China where one on the bottom rung of the financial ladder might seek work, so while I appreciate the change as only a white first-world male can, I worry about what will happen to the underprivileged working-class Chinese people behind the spam ads and dead gnomes when this law starts getting enforced.
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Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
moomba89 Jun 29th 2009 8:38PM
I personally loved the way that 'atlantica online' handled their gold- selling situation. It's not the greatest game ever, but they really take on their community's ideas. They made it impossible for a character to whisper another player until they had reached lv 20 (or something around there). This seemed appropriate as in game, you're much more likely to just be /saying people that you notice are around, and if you really would like to talk to a particular person, you can party chat with them.
Perhaps a similar idea could be implemented towards general chat, trade and yelling? Even lvl 10 would slow people down. Although I'm sure this would probably impact in some way I haven't though of.
Derigo Jun 29th 2009 8:37PM
Digging further down this rabbit hole of consequences, do you guys believe that in-game prices on items will inflate cause of the decreased amount of gold being purchased and thrown around? Sure it may be slight but it will be noticed i'm sure.
jbodar Jun 29th 2009 11:24PM
The opposite should happen, IMO. Gold farming creates excess gold in the playerbase, devaluing gold in the process, and raising prices. With less gold being generated, gold will be worth more, which should be good for the average player since a daily quest will still get you the same amount of gold, just with more buying power. I think this will hurt people who make the majority of their money through working the AH market though.
Dreadskull Jun 29th 2009 8:43PM
Imo, the whole thing was a "dirty business" anyway. It was a business that thrived off of gullible/lazy players who would rather pay money for gold or leveling than to actually get it in-game themselves. Also, it was a business that would steal accounts and either sell them or strip them of their gold to make a profit by selling the account/gold.
The Chinese government did a bit of an overkill, but it only escalated this far thanks to those who would fall for these scams by either trying to buy gold or fall for a keylogger/phisher.
The main problem with this is if they're also banning prepaid time cards, I wouldn't be surprised if they make it illegal to have companies make RMTs for their own games (like for example buying in-game items with real money via an official game's website for that game). Heck, if pre-paid time cards aren't allowed they might just ban monthly fees on games altogether.
Also, this doesn't mean we'll see a complete end to gold selling companies and whatnot. I wouldn't be surprised if a chunk of the gold selling companies and online scammers and whatnot are in other countries as well. Chances are it'll possibly mean other gold companies will begin to thrive even more now that their competition in China is going to be gone in the future.
Riftheart Jun 29th 2009 8:46PM
This is interesting because no more than a few weeks ago an article was posted here about how much of the gold sold through online vendors is, in fact, duped from other players through scams, keyloggers, and fraudulent emails. Spectral Tiger anyone? This isn't a case of steal from the rich, give to the poor (which still isn't right by the way). This is a case of steal from the rich, sell to the poor, sell it BACK to the rich. Many gold farming sites are based out of China, that's a fact. What isn't a fact though is HOW they get that gold. According to the recent wow.com article, and I have been targeted myself, it's regular players from across the world scamming people out of their gold and then selling it to the gold vendors to make an extra buck.
These vendors willingly and knowingly participate in this criminal activity. What's sad is that if they put all of those people out there running bots and scamming people to work on the AUCTION HOUSE, where profiteering is legitimate and expected, they would make more gold and see higher profit margins too. This makes it impossible for me to feel sorry for them. There IS such a thing as stealing to feed your family while at the same time being conscious of the consequences. Most of what we've seen though are scammed accounts, sharded epics, and destroyed guild banks. So no, not one single tear from me.
Erogroth Jun 29th 2009 8:47PM
Maybe i should feel bad for them but I can't. I pay money to play this game and the farmers, chinese or otherwise, ruin the game for me. I hate the spam. I hate the bots, I hate the ganking of items i try to farm. I hate it all. And having at least 80% of them gone is huge! Yes it sucks for them but they are breaking the rules of the game and deserve to not be allowed to play.
Arcaria Jun 29th 2009 9:14PM
I couldn't care less. I say good riddance and I hope the law actually does remove them. I hope they find real jobs but these companies are responsible for fraud, hacking and stealing from people. Any feelings I had of sympathy went out the door when they stopped farming blood elves and started farming passwords.
Jack Spicer Jun 29th 2009 9:16PM
Okay, so now we can't technically use the term "Chinese Gold Farmer". It will now be "Taiwanese Gold Farmer".
Robert Jun 29th 2009 9:31PM
This shouldn't ban time cards for MMOs, since you are actually buying a physical card.
espercrusader Jun 29th 2009 9:50PM
Wow... China banning gold selling... never thought I would see this day. And you know what China does to people that break laws like this, right? They execute them. Good incentive to stop doing it if you ask me.
pet.peter.p Jun 30th 2009 12:23AM
Your ignorance is showing.
Hiruma (Shadow Council) Jun 29th 2009 9:52PM
I feel that the law is a bit too broad. Yes gold farmers are a bane to legitimate gamers, and most of them use illicit means, but the blanket law also bans the sale of time cards for MMOs also wouldnt just paying your subscription fee be considered exchanging real money for virtual goods if the time cards are covered under that? This could actually hurt MMOs
Radiophonic Jun 29th 2009 10:14PM
And the North American gold farming market rejoices lol
Seriously though, it's not that easy to stop a virtual criminal.
Lyrel Jun 29th 2009 10:30PM
I don't see this as even a news item until china decides to enforce this new law, and how well this works out, For all we know a few well placed payoffs and this law isn't ever enforced,
john doe Jul 7th 2009 6:55AM
As a hardcore wow player *80 or more hours a week* and a sometimes gold buyer i can appreciate that gold farming is here to stay no matter what anyone does. But what i would love to see drop is the number of farmers who spam trade chat / yell channel with there website info!! it's annoying as all hell!! If someone is gonna buy gold google is there friend anyway... right ? and yes there's no way to know where any site gets it'd gold at any time, but if they are honest in the first place they would trade the gold face to face in game so you don't have to worry about theft of your account! Also if the site doesn't offer live customer support then why would you trust them even in a face to face trade ? and lastly i think anyone with half a brain would try buying the smallest ammount of gold from a site first and see if they actually get it then go from there? So i don't feel sad about the law or it's effects if any.
snarkygoldfish Jun 29th 2009 10:40PM
Has anyone contacted Susan? She might wish to Express her opinion.
jbodar Jun 29th 2009 11:26PM
Well played.
Wulftracker Jun 29th 2009 10:59PM
"Nah NaH Nah Nah, Nah Nah Nah Nah, Hey hey hey Goodbye!"
Now if Blizz would enforce the selling of accounts via craigslist, or get Craigs' to follow the.r own rules about the sale on intangible items.
noelkytty Jun 29th 2009 11:41PM
China is controlling the actions of its people for no good reason? Forbidding that which truly does no harm to others? Who could ever have thought actions like could come from a communist country?
bluexxiii Jun 29th 2009 11:50PM
I would feel bad for them. If they were still doing the harmless Farm-in-Tyrs-hand-24/7 stuff. Or even the "exploiting instances" gig. But the second they started literally STEALING people's accounts, and started robbing other players blind in order to make money selling gold to other players? Screw that.
I think it's good the government is getting involved. The simple fact of the matter is that making a profit off of someone else's intellectual property is wrong in the first place. Add stealing from loyal customers to the mix? I don't see how there is any question.
Don't get me wrong. I hope those wonderful people find new jobs, and are able to support their families, and everyone will eat strawberries under the rainbow as butterflies flutter in the sunset. But this is the real world, you're stealing from people, your government recognizes this. You should be thanking your stars that they are giving you a heads up.
Good Riddance.