Skip to main content

Only in China: Prisoners used in online gaming ring

online-gamingWe’re 100 percent certain that at least some of you have purposefully locked yourself in a small room filled with nothing but a computer just to submit yourselves to tortuously long gaming binges. Come to think of it, some of you are probably doing that right now. (Haven’t we all?) But there’s a big difference between a self-imposed gaming marathon, and one forced upon you by greedy prison guards at a Chinese “reeducation-through-labor” camp. One man, who goes by Liu Dali, found that out the hard way.

Sent to the Jixi labour camp in north-east China, Liu spent his days slaving away in the camp’s coal mines doing back breaking labor, whittling “chopsticks and toothpicks out of planks of wood until his hands were raw,” and other such soul-crushing activities, reports the Guardian. That was the first part of the day. The next 12 hours Liu and his fellow inmates were forced to play online video games on behalf of the prison guards in order to earn money and points.

“Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour,” Liu, who was imprisoned for “illegally petitioning” the central government about corruption in his hometown, told the Guardian. “There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [$670-930] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.”

If Liu or other inmates failed to satisfy the demands of the prison bosses, they would be savagely beaten. “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,” he said.

The practice of building up online credits through repetitive tasks in online games, like World of Warcraft, is known as “gold farming.” Gamers are willing to pay big bucks for these online credits, which help them progress in the games. This virtual black market has become a problem in China, where roughly $2 billion digitally exchanged hands in 2008, and has presumably only risen since that time.

Approximately 80 percent of all gold farmers reside in China, and the country is thought to have about 100,000 full-time gold farmers. China’s government has issued new laws to make it illegal for businesses to trade fictional currencies, but Liu guesses that the problem in the prisons continues still.

LAN party, anyone?

(Image via)

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Get 15% off this extremely comfortable Razer gaming chair
Razer - Iskur Gaming Chair.

If you want an extremely comfortable experience while you're playing your favorite video games, you should set aside some cash to invest in a quality gaming chair. Here's a premium option that you wouldn't regret buying -- the Razer Iskur gaming chair, which is on sale from Razer with a 15% discount that pulls its price down to just $510 from $600. There's no telling how much time is remaining before the savings of $90 get taken down though, so if you're interested in this bargain, you're going to have to complete your purchase right away.

Why you should buy the Razer Iskur gaming chair
The Razer Iskur V2 gaming chair is now available, but the first model, the Razer Iskur gaming chair, remains a worthwhile purchase today. Its ergonomic design features a built-in, fully adjustable lumbar curve that supports your spine, instead of other gaming chairs' lumbar pillows that shift over time, as well as a memory foam head cushion. The Razer Iskur gaming chair is also wrapped in multi-layered synthetic leather that's not only tougher than the standard PU leather, but also more comfortable, and its high-density foam cushions that mold to your body shape while still providing the proper support.

Read more
This bundle deal saves you $1,000 on an Alienware PC and monitor
An Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop alongside a gaming monitor on a desk.

You don't have to go through gaming PC deals and monitor deals yourself because there are bundles like this one from Dell -- the Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop and the Alienware 34-inch curved QD-OLED gaming monitor for a package price of $2,900, which is $1,000 less the original price of $3,900. It's still not cheap, but you'll be getting a top-of-the-line gaming rig with just one purchase. You'll have to hurry with the transaction though, as we're not sure if the bundle will still cost cheaper than usual by tomorrow.

Why you should buy the Alienware Aurora R15 gaming PC and 34-inch curved QD-OLED gaming monitor
It's the Alienware Aurora R16 that sits on top of our list of the best gaming PCs, but its predecessor, the Alienware Aurora R15, remains a worthwhile purchase because of the power that it packs. It's equipped with the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor, AMD Radeon RX 7900 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM that's the sweet spot for high-end gamers, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. These specifications make it more than enough to run the best PC games without any issues. The gaming desktop also features a 1TB SSD for ample storage space, and it comes with Windows 11 Home pre-installed.

Read more
Marvel Rivals turns Overwatch into the Earth’s mightiest superhero shooter
A lot of heroes fight in Marvel Rivals

The “hero shooter” is a popular competitive multiplayer game subgenre where players control characters with powerful preset abilities rather than a customizable loadout. Although "hero" is right there in the subgenre name, and Overwatch proved how well superheroes could work with the concept, we haven't gotten a true attempt at this style of game from Marvel or DC.

Marvel Rivals is out to change that, starting with its first open alpha this May.

Read more