RPGWatch Forums - MMORPG News - China bans Goldfarming

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MMORPG News - China bans Goldfarming

Goldfarmers packing bags and moving shop.

Quote:

Virtual currency, as defined by Chinese authorities, includes "prepaid cards of cyber-games," according to a joint release issued by China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce on Friday.
"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," the Ministries said.The Chinese government estimates that trade in virtual currency exceeded several billion yuan last year, a figure that it claims has been growing at a rate of 20% annually. One billion yuan is currently equal to about $146 million.

The ruling is likely to affect many of the more than 300 million Internet users in China, as well as those in other countries involved in virtual currency trading. In the context of online role playing games like World of Warcraft, virtual currency trading is often called gold farming.

More information.

Come to the United States. Currency farming is big business here and it is not regulated.

They got it all wrong anyway.

An authority on the trade in virtual items and currencies has discredited claims earlier this week that the Chinese government had banned gold farming.

On his ICTs for Development blog, Professor Richard Heeks of Manchester University interprets the move as an attempt to restrict the use of virtual currencies - used widely in Chinese internet portals - to buy real goods and services, particularly gambling. In fact, that's the opposite of gold trading, which is the use of real currency to buy virtual goods and services.

I was gonna say, there goes their GNP… = ]