The Chinese

[Iq75]

There was an interesting article on sundays Helsingin Sanomat (the biggest newspaper of Finland) about the Chinese "goldfarmers".

It says that in China there are tens of thousands of firms that hire people to play World of Warcraft, Lineage etc. The workes play to get virtual coldcoins and after that the firms sell those things (or stuff purchased with them) to players for real money in rich countries. It also says that in the biggest of these firms there are over hundred workers. The owners of these companies are complaining that competition is gettting tough, and that's why the profits are declining. A couple of years ago you could get 9 yuns out of a million virtual goldcoins (at Voyage Century), but now you can only get 1,5 yuans.

There has been some discussion here about the potential of the Chinese markets as a saviour of online poker. But after reading that article i'm declined to think that it's going to be the other way around.

There is allready a market for playmoney chips of poker sites. I think it's only a matter of time before some of those companies will try out poker. And when they see all of their workers beat play money tables, they start moving them to 0.01/0.02 and then 0.02/0.04 and so on. The best on them can advance in stakes very very fast, cause they work long hours. It will also be relatively easy to educate the workers when they can make the whole firm to read available books, give lectures.... And if they give the workers a piece of the profits, they will be highly motivated to beat the games to get out of poverty.

I hope that in the near future the games are not going to be full of chinese pro's even at the small/micro/nano stakes, but that most certainly is one possibility.

[asb165]

I cannot believe that there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese dudes hoarding virtual coins to sell.

If this is true, then my worldview is very skewed.

However, I do think that the Asian market for online poker has interesting implications.

[Gregg777]

All you have to do is be better than the majority and you're golden [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[viper930]

This is not possible because the Chinese government regulates online propaganda, gambling, and sex materials much tighter than you could ever imagine. I see no sites getting even remotely close to legally operating within Chinese borders (except in Macau) for a long time.

[kyleb]

[ QUOTE ]
I cannot believe that there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese dudes hoarding virtual coins to sell.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know someone who runs such a site.

[Jeff_B]

sweet so we will tons of players trying their ass off working trying to get better at poker to get out of poverty to play against ? sweeeeeet games will get even tougher..

[MarkGreb]

[ QUOTE ]
This is not possible because the Chinese government regulates online propaganda, gambling, and sex materials much tighter than you could ever imagine. I see no sites getting even remotely close to legally operating within Chinese borders (except in Macau) for a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Legal or not I've seen several players from China at the tables on a few sites.

Just goes to show that when people want to play online poker they will play.

Regardless of the oppression of governments.

[RGL]

I have also seen Chinese players, particularly on WPEX.

[mungpo]

OMG THE POKER WORLD WILL BE OVERRUN BY CHINESE POKER PLAYERS. NOTHING GOOD CAN COME OUT OF THIS!!

[whangarei]

[ QUOTE ]
I have also seen Chinese players, particularly on WPEX.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen several on Stars, too.