Chinese prisoners forced to "farm gold"

Chinese prisoners forced to "farm gold"

In an interview published on guardian.co.uk site, a former Chinese prisoner describes how he and others convicted were forced by guards to "farm gold" in various online games.

At age 54, Dali Liu had served a sentence of three years in forced labor camp Jixi. Some 300 inmates were forced there by the guards to play MMOs for 12 hours and gather resources that were then sold to other players. If that failed to make their rule, they were forced to stand with their hands raised as they were beaten with plastic pipes.

Dali Liu says virtual goods that day were obtained with a value between 750 and 1,000 dollars, money that obviously went to prison chiefs.