14 DAY TRIAL // The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has taken action, which can probably make most of the gold farming operations taking place in the country illegal. The official line is that there is a high potential for fraud in any exchange involving virtual money and real world objects or services so, from now on, only virtual currency can be acquired for real world money.
The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce sent out a joint statement on Friday, saying that “The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services.”
The same act states that minors are no longer able to buy virtual currency and that gambling with virtual money is not considered to be an offense. The authorities will be instructed to look at the possibility that virtual currency is used to launder real world money.
There are an estimated 300 million Internet users in China and the rule can affect them all. A lot of them might not be engaged in exchanging virtual currency for real world items but those who are gold farming, usually for clients in the developed world, will need to further disguise their transactions.
The Chinese government says that the value of the trade conducted in virtual currency in China is bigger than a few billion yuans and that the increase year on year is about 20%, which is quite an impressive number. The biggest provider of virtual currency, with more than 220 million users, is Tencent.com, a company saying that it is supporting the decision made by the government “100%.”
The ban is likely to drive gold farmers and power levelers even deeper underground and the potential for fraud against MMO players might actually increase, as the risk they are exposed to forces them to get even more money out of their activity.