"魔兽世界"的各种角色

　　When it began it was just a computer game. Now it is seen as a cultural force that sparks love affairs, breaks marriages and creates "sweat shops" to satisfy a black market in virtual goods。

　　开始，它还只是一款电脑游戏。现在，它则被视为一股文化力量，既可以点燃爱的火花，也可以破坏婚姻，甚至催生“血汗工厂”，以满足虚拟物品的黑市交易需求。

　　World of Warcraft marks its fifth birthday as something more than just an online role-playing game where users become wizards, warriors, orcs and elfs。

　　“魔兽世界”游戏迎来了第五个生日，而它已经不仅仅只是一个让玩家在其中化身为术士、战士、兽人和精灵的角色扮演类网络游戏了。

　　An estimated 12 million people play the game. They spend many hours taking on quests and doing battle with each another, building up their character-- or "levelling up" as it is known in the game--to gain powers and abilities。

　　这款游戏的玩家估计有1200万。这些人把大量时间花在完成任务和彼此打斗上，增强人物能力——游戏里称作是“升级”——以获取天赋和技能。

　　But it has a dark side. A thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game, such as swords and animals, has emerged. Some top-level goods take thousands of hours to earn, and impatient players are willing to pay up to $5,000 on eBay to get them。

　　但是，它也有黑暗的一面。专门买卖游戏中所使用的虚拟物品——如刀剑好动物等——的黑市应运而生，而且生意兴隆。有些顶级物品需要花上数千小时才能获取，而一些急不可耐的玩家宁愿在eBay上花高达5000美元予以购买。

　　The real financial rewards on offer have created an underground industry, where players play in slave-like conditions to obtain the items and sell them on. "You effectively have sweat shops in China," Mr Chatfield said. "If you were to visit one of these gold-farming things, you'd find a building with maybe 20-40 people in it, playing in shifts on banks of computers. They do it because they can earn more money doing that than producing garments in factories."

　　既然有人能提供真金白银的回报，于是一个地下产业就诞生了。玩家们像奴隶一样玩游戏以获得物品装备，然后再卖出去。查特菲尔德说：“实际上中国就有这样的血汗工厂。要是你想去参观这样一个打金之处，会看到一个房间，里面大约有20到40人轮流在一排排电脑上玩游戏。他们这样做是因为他们靠这个赚的钱要比在工厂里做衣服更多。”