China's gold farming ban not really a ban
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 2nd 2009 at 11:00AM
That loophole is the fact that their law has no jurisdiction over foreign transactions. While it absolutely can put a stop to these transactions on Chinese soil using Chinese servers and Chinese currency, Chinese goldfarmers can still happily (well, probably not happily) scrounge up gold on American realms and sell it to American players. Most likely, this new law won't have an impact on the gold selling industry whatsoever. The people being impacted are those crafting their games on a model of microtransactions rather than a subscription model. Developers, not gold farmers, will be harmed by this. A game like Free Realms is no longer a feasible option in China.
If you're not familiar with the model, games that are supported by micropayments typically work like this: The base subscription is often free, or at least cheaper than your average MMO. Their revenue is earned by selling things like mounts, vanity items or access to additional levels/zones for a small fee. To put it in a WoW perspective, it would be somewhat like if you could level a Hunter to 80 for free, but if you wanted to go to Ulduar you would pay $20 to allow your account to access it. If you wanted a sweet new mount, they would have a selection of them available for $5. Heirloom items? A few bucks each. Essentially, you decide how much (or how little) content you want to pay for.
In our speed to celebrate the 'end' of gold farming, we largely failed to see the real issue. This doesn't benefit gamers anywhere in the world, it has the potential to harm them and the developers. Of course, it protects those that can't resist temptation and end up spending every penny of every dollar they earn on wacky MMO items, but the gamers that can keep control over their own wallets? You're out of luck if you live in China.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Barinthos Jul 2nd 2009 11:06AM
Hmm...pretty crappy deal it sounds like. The Chinese love MMOs so not being able to have a quasi-F2P MMO over there will hurt devs.
I guess this will either increase the total F2P MMOs on the market or make them P2P. Either way it doesn't sound like it'll impact WoW at all.
Netherscourge Jul 2nd 2009 11:51AM
I knew it sounded too good to be true.
China would not kill one of it's biggest business industries for the sake of American game developers.
Sounds more like they are protecting their OWN country from virtual good trading. China makes a pretty penny on these home-grown "basement businesses" that take advantage of foreign pettiness (aka North Americans/Europeans buying game gold out of pure laziness).
Dolan Jul 2nd 2009 12:47PM
@Netherscourge - you need to get out of your mom's basement more often if you think WOW gold farming is one of China's biggest industries.
The Baron Jul 8th 2009 8:37AM
Not one of the biggest, but it makes sense to not just close down a fairly large industry for people in your nation. A lot of people there rely on this business, and anything that brings in foreign money is good for an economy.
Tim Jul 2nd 2009 11:17AM
Makes you think about how it will affect the Xbox 360 with their Microsoft points... the statement "China's recent ban on trading real currency for virtual goods" makes you wonder if China can one day say paying a subscription to Blizz could be "trading real currency for virtual goods" in some way.
Barinthos Jul 2nd 2009 11:20AM
That's a good point. And in the most literal sense it's totally true. You're paying money to get an unlimited number of "vitual goods", whether it be the games currency, mats for tradeskills, gear, mounts...everything the game world has to offer.
Nick Jul 2nd 2009 11:26AM
Microsoft is basically doing away with the point system here soon. You will still be able to use it, but they are also implementing a "x amount of dollars for x game".
Falcom Jul 2nd 2009 11:48AM
Hope they don't consider the Internet a virtual good
micgillam Jul 2nd 2009 11:55AM
Your interpretation isn't totally wrong, in my view, but there's a really strong argument to be made that you are paying for a service. Plain and simple, it's not virtual goods, it's a service, just like you pay your Internet Service Provider for the use of their infrastructure to access virtual content, you're playing Blizzard for the use of their infrastructure to access the virtual content. The main distinction is that Blizzard owns the content they're providing access to, whereas your ISP doesn't. The argument that you're paying real money for virtual goods is actually easier to apply to internet Domain Registration than to apply to WoW, from where I'm sitting.
Barinthos Jul 2nd 2009 12:06PM
Everything is open to interpretation. I'm with you in saying it's a service, but there are those out there that would, and most likely do, think otherwise. As far as why they would want to go that route, who knows. But It isn't outside the realm of possibilities for it to happen.
Jon Do Jul 2nd 2009 11:20AM
Isn't Free Realms based outside of China?
So they can use the same loophole as WoW gold farmers, amirite?
Barinthos Jul 2nd 2009 11:23AM
If the Free Realms servers are all based in the US then yes. But if they had plans to set up servers IN China then the loophole wouldn't apply.
pandagork Jul 2nd 2009 11:23AM
Stop the gold farmers, and then I won't have to put up with the people advertising gold selling services running into Stormwind on my server, somehow dying and spelling out the address of the gold store in their corpses
Cabcru Jul 2nd 2009 1:33PM
Tsch. All this time and nobody thought to just "Stop the gold farmers". Glad you're on the case, pandagork.
yunkndatwunk Jul 2nd 2009 11:24AM
"In our speed to celebrate the 'end' of gold farming, we largely failed to see the real issue"
Yes you completely did. the REAL issue is here is a GOVERNMENT wanting to get involved and start controling VIDEOGAMES. No matter how much you hate farmers, is that what you want?
Can a game company sue them in civil court? Sure they can and have. They just have to prove damages. Should the government prosecute for hacking accounts? Probably, hacking is a crime! But to prosecute for violating the EULA? Are you sure that's the road you want to go down? How many times have people here violated the EULA of a product they used? Probably every one of us has without even knowing it, I mean has anyone here read the EULA?
EULA and TOS are matters for civil courts, not criminal.
Drob10 Jul 2nd 2009 11:49AM
This is China's gevernment and this is what a government like theirs does often. Worrying about how their laws will affect democratic countries is a waste of time.
Maybe I'll get flamed for this but...
Gold spammers are annoying, but remember this is how some people are able to feed their families. Pulling the plug on gold farmers could hurt a lot of people (a billion dollar industry!).
Mhmm Jul 2nd 2009 12:07PM
@Drob10
I might be slightly more sympathetic towards the side of the argument that you are presenting except for the fact that these days their business model has changed. It is now leaning far more towards trying to secretly place malicious software on a victim's machine, hack their WoW account, and make off with the stolen profits. They are not farmers as much as they are thieves and not the Robin Hood kind of thieves either. I don't have sympathy for a thief losing his "job".
The Hammer Jul 2nd 2009 11:25AM
WoW.com, are you sure you've interpreted this right?
http://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/china-bans-gold-farming-er-but-in-fact-it-hasnt/
Royal Jul 2nd 2009 1:29PM
http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/newsrelease/commonnews/200906/20090606364208.html
That makes 110% more sense. The Chinese government is protecting the value of its own currency; not hurting the gaming industry.
It is like someone is printing and making their own verison of a national circulated currency and the government as would any government wants to only have one currency.
Imagine like the USA having PEPSI dollars and the greenback.
Wow, I am really disappointed in the fact checking here. This whole article is completely wrong and is furthering the spread of misinformation.
orkgashmo Jul 2nd 2009 11:26AM
I think that ban is more focused on DIY currency like QQ Coins than WoW Gold.
http://www.wired.com/dualperspectives/article/news/2009/05/future_of_money_diy_currencies