China outlaws Gold Farming!!! (Maybe)

[Logan Darklighter]

I would have to say, had I considered it, that this would be in the top ten things I would least have expected to see as a news story. But nevertheless, there it is -

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce policy aims to limit the impact of game currencies on real-world markets.

In the future, any cash earned by Chinese gamers can only be spent to acquire items or equipment in that particular game.

The move is widely seen as a crackdown on so-called "gold farming" in which players amass virtual money and then sell it to other
players for real cash.

Here are some other sources on this story:

Massively

The Mirror

Worth Playing

Ars Technica

Information Week

Now, the gamer in me is going "SQUEE!!" in anticipation of dancing a jig on the grave of the Chinese Gold Farmer. But the cynic and realist in me
quickly clamps down on that by reminding me that although the majority of Gold Farming is done in China, not all of it is. And - even if you assume that the
Chinese government is actually serious about enforcing this (and they may not be) - all the gold farmers have to do is pick up their operations and move them
to some other country like the Phillipines or Mexico.

Nevertheless, this is bound to have some consequences, even if only temporarily, to City of Heroes and World of Warcraft.

And Acyl? What's your take on this? This is much more in your backyard than mine, really.