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News Briefs 06-12-2005

By Gregon

Anybody in the mood for a little Sub Rosa this week?

Thanks Kat.

Quote of the Day:

I’ve got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel!

Blackadder

Greg
Editor
Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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7 Comments

  1. Virtual Gold
    I started playing World Of Warcraft a few months ago, but recently quit due to racism against Asians, particularly Chinese.

    “Gold Farming” is the act of selling game gold and items for real world cash, and most “Gold Farmers” are Chinese, purely because the gold-shops are located in China. These gold-shops are sweatshops, where “employees” are paid as little as 56 cents per day to spend 12 hours online, making as much game-gold as they can to sell for real cash (which goes to their bosses).

    Players dislike gold-farmers for various reasons, but disturbingly, most people focus on their ethnicity, and constantly refer to them as “Chinese Farmers”. People attack and abuse their ethnicity, rather than their behaviour. Racism, and racial stereotyping, is rampant in WoW.

    I tried to get Blizzard, the company who owns WoW, to deal with this issue, but I received silence. They simply aren’t willing to deal with the racism.

    As I pointed out to the racists, most of the gold-shops are run by Americans, Canadians and Brits. One major gold-farmer is an Indonesian, known as Smooth Criminal. Gold-shops exist in China — as well as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico and several other countries — because sweat-shops are allowed to thrive there and labour is cheap. Yet the racists, and most players, ignore these facts, and continue their racism against Chinese. Gold-farmers are also in Western countries, America, Australia, New Zealand, selling gold and items privately or through message boards online. You only hear about the “Chinese” gold-farmers because they’re obvious about their dealings, and make no attempt to hide, whereas Western gold-farmers are sneakier and don’t want to be known publicly.

    As an experiment, I made a character with a Mandarin name, from Wuxia mythology. I was abused throughout my time in-game, usually by personal “tells” and “whispers” to me only, but I also saw many comments on the public chat channel. I constantly received abuse in Cantonese (nevermind that my name was Mandarin!), the usual swearing and insults that most kids learn in the schoolyard from the Cantonese friends.

    I refered this to Blizzard, and again, no response. I am now in the process of writing a letter, and contacting people higher up in the company. It’s just not good enough.

    At the end of the day, it’s the players who pay real cash for virtual gold who are creating the market, and allowing gold-farmers to exist. The demand existed before the supply, and it’s this demand that keeps the supply running.

    Why do people pay real cash? Some are just power-hungry, and want to be the best player with the best equipment without having to work for it. Others are just lazy. Some just want to keep up with their opponents and peers. Again, there are various reasons for this. WoW is like a schoolyard: there is rampant bullying, elitism, peer group cliques, and competition. Bullies and elitists thrive in this anonymous environment, and it creates a problem for those with low self-esteem, or a need to keep up with the others. It’s quite sad really, knowing what goes on in-game. The bullies and elitists must be pathetic people in real life.

    Gamers need to look at why people pay real cash for virtual gold. If they examine these issues, and begin to address them, only then can gold-farming be reduced, or even eradicated.

    I’m quite disturbed to be honest by my experiences playing WoW. Most of all, I’m disgusted by the majority of bullies and elitists. It really is like a schoolyard, and the sad thing is, most players are in their 20s and older!

  2. Borneo mystery mammal
    Here’s the other photo of this mystery mammal.

    The above article also says these photos were taken in 2003, but were just made available to coincide with the release of a book about Borneo.

    Unfortunately the article also says:
    Researchers hope to confirm the discovery by setting cage traps to catch a live specimen, but warn that Indonesian government plans to clear the rainforest to create the world’s largest palm oil plantation may interfere with plans, WWF said. The proposed plantation scheme, funded by the China Development Bank, is expected to cover an area of 1.8 million hectares, equivalent to about half the size of The Netherlands, said the WWF, formerly known as the World Wide Fund for Nature.

    Kat

    1. Worse than Brazil
      Pretty sad, isn’t it?

      Deforestation and environmental damage is worse in Indonesia than it is in Brazil.

      I remember 15+ years ago, when Australia had a Labour Government (left/worker’s union). The then Prime Minister Paul Keating (and Bob Hawke before him) gave billions of dollars in “aid” to the Indonesian Government (lead by the infamous Suharto and his family). When Suharto’s regime collapsed, it became apparent that the billions of foreign aid went to his family and their mates, most of whom had interests in logging companies. Remember the enormous forest fires from a decade ago Indonesia suffered? Deliberately lit by these same logging companies to clear land for plantations. They caused irreversible environmental damage.

      Suharto fell, but his friends-in-high-places didn’t, and continue their paths of greed and destruction today.

      1. the same thing…..
        happened in the Philipines, then the monsoons came and great mud floods never before exsperienced killed thousands of people and washed away many villiages as well as a large city…tch..tch…when will they learn!!! after we are all dead….oooooopppppssssss.

        DISCLAIMER: the opinions and veiws in this post are mine only and are not those of others or of TDG. Any similarities are by chance only.

      2. greed and destruction
        >>When Suharto’s regime collapsed, it became apparent that the billions of foreign aid went to his family and their mates, most of whom had interests in logging companies.

        Recently, when my neighbor, who’s a conservative, and I were discussing politics, he said foreign aid is a waste of the taxpayers’ money because most of it just goes into the pockets of those in power. Interestingly, when I suggested that foreign aid wouldn’t be a waste if it was given to individuals rather than governments, he agreed with me. Many charitable people and organizations don’t believe in ‘direct charity’, i.e. giving to individuals. They think it’s better to exclusively give to organizations which do things like drill water wells. While water wells may be sorely needed, going about it in this way means part of the charitable funds also go toward the generous salaries of the executives in the aid organization, and the individuals in the area where the wells are drilled are still left with little or no way to make a living. To my mind, it also makes sense to, for instance, give a few hundred dollars to an individual so they can buy a couple of goats. Then they’d be able to feed themselves, sell part of the milk, and raise and sell the goats’ offspring – which would mean the local economy would be stimulated, they wouldn’t need to sell their children into slavery in an attempt to prevent them from starving to death, their children might be able to attend school rather than having to work 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, etc.

        >>Suharto fell, but his friends-in-high-places didn’t, and continue their paths of greed and destruction today.

        It’s not just Suharto’s friends-in-high-places who are behind all the greed and destruction. I highly recommend that anyone who’s concerned about greed and environmental destruction see the movie, The Corporation. The DVD 2-disc Special Edition of The Corporation is now available at both Amazon US & UK. Amazon US reader-comments have rated it at 4 1/2 stars. I’d rate it at 5 stars, myself, and think viewing it could well be one of the best things you’ve ever done for both yourself and the world.

        Kat

        1. You still on about that
          You still on about that Corporation DVD Kat? 😉

          Nah, I saw it last year. Very very good, I recommend it to everyone. However, I have to make a point that not all greedy capitalists are American. We just hear about them more than others thanks to documentaries like The Corporation. 😉

          It’s a worry. We all know about American corporations, but Asian ones … nothing. China, Indonesia, Malaysia — they’re getting up to all sorts of bad stuff environmentally. Wish someone’d make a documentary about that. Instead, we all focus on America, like Narcissus staring at his own reflection ….

          Um, by the way, I agree with Kat! Watch the Corporation, you’ll love it (but in a bad way). I’m off to take a nap now ,.,..

        2. institutional psychopaths
          Hi Kat,

          How about synchronicity, tonight i watched part 1 of the corporation on national tv overhere (netherlands). Amoral and immortal madness spawned by legal fudging.

          ” do unto others as you would have them do unto you “

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