Mm.
Glancing over the English Language writeup from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, it's pretty clear that they really don't give a shit about people selling gold to foreigners.
(edit: yes, I'm reading the English version. I understand Chinese, but I don't have much technical vocabulary - I don't know the Chinese phrases for things like 'virtual currency' or 'money laundering', etc)
Anyway.
It ain't the practice of standing around and selling gold in American MMOs which is offensive to the Chinese government.
Their primary concern is domestic. The main reasons cited are that trade of real currency for virtual currency can be used for money-laundering. It can facilitate gambling. It also encourages credit-card fraud.
I'm guessing they're also worried about malicious hacking of commercial services for profit - though that isn't mentioned in the article. It's been a problem in the past regarding the QQ coins they mention, however, so I bet it's a consideration.
As for serious they are about enforcing it - well, quite serious, I'd wager. You have to understand that anything concerning money and the economy is of number one importance in China. I mean, other countries worry about healthcare, education, housing, whatever... but China, what's of critical importance is always macroeconomic issues.
Going after cybercrime and so on - well, the Chinese government really likes to keep a tight rein on electronic stuff too. It ain't just for censoring foreign news websites.
It does bear mentioning that this ain't simply Beijing being a bunch of authoritarian autocrats - it reflects the demands of the people these days. Or the relevant people, anyway. The urban intelligentia are influential... so yeah, if they deem this a white-collar crime and go after it, yeah, I figure they'd address it.
But once again their primary concern is domestic. It's not like they're doing this for us.
Consider China and intellectual property, for instance. It should be pretty obvious that enforcement of Western intellectual property concepts and whatnot isn't exactly a huge deal in China, though they make a lot of noises in that regard. But clearly China doesn't have much to gain from enforcing IP stuff... their domestic industries pirate everything from software to automobiles - there was a big stink when a Chinese company just flat-out cloned the Smart last year.
The Chinese do have reasons for getting tough on certain forms of RMT... whether it'd affect the kinds of RMT we have, though, I don't know and can't say.
The other question you have to ask... it's not whether the Chinese government is serious about this. They probably are. The question is if they are serious, will it make any difference?
There may be an effect; on the one hand Chinese people do fear their government. On the other, the Chinese are also the most lawless bare-knuckle 'consequences be damned!' capitalists in the world today. We're talking about a nation of people who will substitute toxic chemicals in food production just to make a quick buck. Yes, people who get caught doing that shit are dealt with harshly by the law.
But people do it anyway. 'cause, y'know. It's a quick buck.
Stamping out illegal activity works in a country like Singapore, where people are freaking scared of the government.
But China isn't really like that, not anymore. Yes, there's a great deal of political repression, but that climate of fear doesn't really persist into other aspects of everyday life. Law enforcement is much weaker than it was in the Communist heyday.
Many folks still see China as a Communist country... it isn't, really, it's more of a cowboy frontier town writ large. Sofa was saying that enforcing stuff like this is hard, 'even in China'. I think that misses the point. You're assuming that the Chinese government will be more efficient at enforcing laws than, say, the US government.
I'd say the reverse is true.
-- Acyl
Glancing over the English Language writeup from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, it's pretty clear that they really don't give a shit about people selling gold to foreigners.
(edit: yes, I'm reading the English version. I understand Chinese, but I don't have much technical vocabulary - I don't know the Chinese phrases for things like 'virtual currency' or 'money laundering', etc)
Anyway.
It ain't the practice of standing around and selling gold in American MMOs which is offensive to the Chinese government.
Their primary concern is domestic. The main reasons cited are that trade of real currency for virtual currency can be used for money-laundering. It can facilitate gambling. It also encourages credit-card fraud.
I'm guessing they're also worried about malicious hacking of commercial services for profit - though that isn't mentioned in the article. It's been a problem in the past regarding the QQ coins they mention, however, so I bet it's a consideration.
As for serious they are about enforcing it - well, quite serious, I'd wager. You have to understand that anything concerning money and the economy is of number one importance in China. I mean, other countries worry about healthcare, education, housing, whatever... but China, what's of critical importance is always macroeconomic issues.
Going after cybercrime and so on - well, the Chinese government really likes to keep a tight rein on electronic stuff too. It ain't just for censoring foreign news websites.
It does bear mentioning that this ain't simply Beijing being a bunch of authoritarian autocrats - it reflects the demands of the people these days. Or the relevant people, anyway. The urban intelligentia are influential... so yeah, if they deem this a white-collar crime and go after it, yeah, I figure they'd address it.
But once again their primary concern is domestic. It's not like they're doing this for us.
Consider China and intellectual property, for instance. It should be pretty obvious that enforcement of Western intellectual property concepts and whatnot isn't exactly a huge deal in China, though they make a lot of noises in that regard. But clearly China doesn't have much to gain from enforcing IP stuff... their domestic industries pirate everything from software to automobiles - there was a big stink when a Chinese company just flat-out cloned the Smart last year.
The Chinese do have reasons for getting tough on certain forms of RMT... whether it'd affect the kinds of RMT we have, though, I don't know and can't say.
The other question you have to ask... it's not whether the Chinese government is serious about this. They probably are. The question is if they are serious, will it make any difference?
There may be an effect; on the one hand Chinese people do fear their government. On the other, the Chinese are also the most lawless bare-knuckle 'consequences be damned!' capitalists in the world today. We're talking about a nation of people who will substitute toxic chemicals in food production just to make a quick buck. Yes, people who get caught doing that shit are dealt with harshly by the law.
But people do it anyway. 'cause, y'know. It's a quick buck.
Stamping out illegal activity works in a country like Singapore, where people are freaking scared of the government.
But China isn't really like that, not anymore. Yes, there's a great deal of political repression, but that climate of fear doesn't really persist into other aspects of everyday life. Law enforcement is much weaker than it was in the Communist heyday.
Many folks still see China as a Communist country... it isn't, really, it's more of a cowboy frontier town writ large. Sofa was saying that enforcing stuff like this is hard, 'even in China'. I think that misses the point. You're assuming that the Chinese government will be more efficient at enforcing laws than, say, the US government.
I'd say the reverse is true.
-- Acyl