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→Guardian report
====''Guardian'' report====
====''Guardian'' report====
In a 2011 story published by ''[[The Guardian]]'' a former prisoner claimed he was sentenced to three years of Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) camp for “illegally petitioning” central government officials about corruption in his local area. In addition to performing work digging in open-trench coal mines, carving chopsticks, and assembling automotive seat covers for export, he described a system in which prisoners were forced to spend 12-hour shifts in the evenings playing online video games to build up virtual credits that were then sold online by camp officials.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam?CMP=twt_gu</ref> Prison officials made approximately $785–$940 per day from the “gold farming” services performed by prisoners, which made the work more profitable than the prison’s more traditional manufacturing enterprises. Gold farming (also termed “powerleveling”) is a practice associated with many online role-playing games, in which a player pays someone else to play their character for them – thereby building up points that make their characters more powerful or acquiring possessions (e.g., wealth, weapons) that similarly make them stronger. Online vendors may also offer for sale existing characters whose power and wealth have already been built up through extended periods of game play, or virtual goods that can be transferred to other characters.<ref>http://www.infodev.org/infodev-files/resource/InfodevDocuments_1076.pdf</ref> Websites acting as brokers for such
In a 2011 story published by ''[[The Guardian]]'' a former prisoner claimed he was sentenced to three years of Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) camp for “illegally petitioning” central government officials about corruption in his local area. In addition to performing work digging in open-trench coal mines, carving chopsticks, and assembling automotive seat covers for export, he described a system in which prisoners were forced to spend 12-hour shifts in the evenings playing online video games to build up virtual credits that were then sold online by camp officials.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam?CMP=twt_gu</ref> Prison officials made approximately $785–$940 per day from the “gold farming” services performed by prisoners, which made the work more profitable than the prison’s more traditional manufacturing enterprises. Gold farming (also termed “powerleveling”) is a practice associated with many online role-playing games, in which a player pays someone else to play their character for them – thereby building up points that make their characters more powerful or acquiring possessions (e.g., wealth, weapons) that similarly make them stronger. Online vendors may also offer for sale existing characters whose power and wealth have already been built up through extended periods of game play, or virtual goods that can be transferred to other characters.<ref>http://www.infodev.org/infodev-files/resource/InfodevDocuments_1076.pdf</ref> Websites acting as brokers for such
trades are easily locatable online. On August 6, 2012, Commission staff located, with a single [[Google search]], the website www.ogdeal.com, which claims the title of “The Leading MMORPG (‘massively multiplayer online roleplaying game’) Services Company.” The site offered credit exchanges for over 40 popular online games (to include Anarchy, Age of Conan, Diablo 3, Final Fantasy, Warhammer, Star Wars: The Old Republic, etc.), with payments “via Paypal, Moneybookers, Libertyreserve and Westernunion within 10mins after the trade.” “Sell Anarchy Online Credits,” www.ogdeal.com.<ref>http://www.ogdeal.com/sell-anarchy-online.html</ref>
trades are easily locatable online. On August 6, 2012, Commission staff located, with a single [[Google]] search, the website www.ogdeal.com, which claims the title of “The Leading MMORPG (‘massively multiplayer online roleplaying game’) Services Company.” The site offered credit exchanges for over 40 popular online games (to include Anarchy, Age of Conan, Diablo 3, Final Fantasy, Warhammer, Star Wars: The Old Republic, etc.), with payments “via Paypal, Moneybookers, Libertyreserve and Westernunion within 10mins after the trade.” “Sell Anarchy Online Credits,” www.ogdeal.com.<ref>http://www.ogdeal.com/sell-anarchy-online.html</ref>
No compensation was provided to the prisoners themselves. Prisoners who failed to earn the required numbers of virtual credits would be beaten by prison guards: “If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things.”
No compensation was provided to the prisoners themselves. Prisoners who failed to earn the required numbers of virtual credits would be beaten by prison guards: “If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things.”