Gold farmers in China may not be out of business after all as it turns out. In the wake of the news that the government of China has now officially banned the gathering of in-game virtual money comes the clarification that there is no such desire on the part of the government to curb this activity.

According to ICTs for Development,

This is a government restriction on the use of the quasi-Paypal-like currencies (mainly QQ coins) that are used extensively in China to pay for virtual game stuff. As announced they can now only be used to pay for virtual stuff, and you can’t buy real things with them as game companies were allowing to happen, nor can you gamble.

This therefore is not about what gold farming clients do: use real money to buy these virtual currencies; it’s the mirror image. And it’s not about the major trade in gold farming such as World of Warcraft, which relates to other types of virtual currency. And it’s not about buying/selling in-game items. And it’s not about the power-levelling of avatars. Bottom line: it’s not about gold farming.

Whichever it is, I'd have to agree with ICTs when they said that no matter the policy, it will always boil down to the implementation.

For more of analysis on the policy, hit the link below.

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