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Sometime in the ninetimes, gold farming started as a small industry that was done in either cybercafes or in household offices. Of course, it was a small industry at the time.
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During this time, gold farming became noticably more profitable to different countries for MMORPGs. This is when gold farming became more locally known as the "Second Market".
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During 2001, there were reports of Korean cybercafes having operations of gold farming businesses occuring. People who worked in these businesses, worked hours and hours a day to gold farm.
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During this time, gold farming started to grow more and more in China
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New York Times stated that there were 100,000 full-time gold farmers in China alone.
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Around 2005/2006, it was estimated that gold farming resulted in making no less than 200 million USD a year and 80% of gold farmers were from China, creating the prejudice towards Chinese players.
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Sales for these virtual products were thought to be around 200 to 900 million in USD.
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The Chinese government banned using virtual currency to buy real-world items, however, they can still sell in game items for real money.
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In a high court, it was ruled legal for people to exchange virtual currency for real money with taxation.
