In a move that is sure to pioneer a new facet of gaming focused solely on making money for the gamer, Blizzard has announced that Diablo III will feature an in-game auction house that allows players to sell all of their wares and earn actual cash. There are of course several stipulations that come with selling something in Diablo III, namely that the money earned will be “taxed” in several ways before it actually enters your bank account, but it’s still a pretty exciting new idea.
The auction houses will be region specific and will require that potential vendors pay a flat listing fee and allow for a potential player to buy the item outright without having to go through the bidding war inherent in an auction, or, if they so desire, bid at certain levels before eventually going with the buyout price.
Once an item is sold, Blizzard will first collect a fixed amount from the sale, and then it is up to the gamer to decide if they want to transfer those funds into their Battle.net account or gain immediate access to the funds via a payment processor. The latter route will require a few more fees, but that comes with the territory.
Blizzard anticipates that items sold in the Diablo III auction house will sell for no more than $10 on average, so don’t expect to turn Diablo III sales into a full time job. Really this is just a chance for players to get rid of their superfluous wares and profit at the same time. You can’t sell the revamped runestones, but you can net yourselves a little walking around money by selling rare weapons and armor.
The only other stipulation to auction house use is that hardcore players who run the risk of deletion upon death are not permitted to participate — and any trades with friends that involve money changing hands must be done through the auction house with other gamers having the potential to bid. You can still trade items for free, or exchange cash via a secondary market, but a player-to-player transaction cannot be made in Diablo III.
Most gamers are going to have mixed feelings about this decision by Blizzard, especially since it promotes an activity that many feel has ruined the experience of some of Blizzard’s other titles like World of Warcraft. But really, this is just Blizzard beating gamers to the punch, and crafting a more legitimate means from which to sell your Diablo III items.
It’s certainly going to cause a divide amongst Diablo III players — especially if the title does make the jump to consoles with this feature in tact — but it also might have opened the doors to something entirely new for video games.
What do you think of Diablo III’s in-game auction house? Do you think other games that feature “fat loots” should offer a service like this?
Source: Game Informer
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I think this is a necessary step to the evolution of games and MMOs in particular with user generated content and in game items. It will do two things for a game: increase it’s longevity and make the time invested worthwhile for the player. Games are a huge timesink and there should be a way, other then going to prison in China where prisoners gold farm all day, to make money playing a game.
which means the game has a 0.00000000001% chance drop of raries or boss battles are almost impossible to beat but hey this could something if PC and console players can unite in a particular server ^^
but the again Blizz money making habits ><
Microtransactions in a game that’s not an MMO? I mean yeah now they’re allowing players to reap the benefits of the MT’s by being a middle man and allowing the players that throw the items up to get a small portion of it…but come on, really? I should note that this does not surprise me because Blizzard is owned by Activision, the most seemingly money hungry gaming publisher out there that just loves to go after players wallets. I think when Diablo 3 hits, I’ll just play it old school and find my own unique and rare weapons/items/armor. Nah, I don’t think it’s a fairly good idea.
While I do like the idea of having a built-in AH, I’m unsure if opening it up to real cash sales is such a good idea. I, for one, would find it hard to justify purchasing things such as gear (that will likely be replaced) with real money.
Blizzard is making an effort to curb the issue that exists already. People sell Diablo 2 stuff online still for like a dollar, two dollars etc – very rarely for too much money. They are just empowering all players with the ability instead of letting a shady 3rd party handle the transaction.
It’s a smart move, people are going to do it anyway, but if there is a legit system in place blessed with Blizzard’s approval for the transaction then there is no risk to the customer about being ripped off and allows players to supplement their WoW addicition at the same time. Hah!
If you would rather go your own route, there is no reason not to – but sometimes when you start up again after 6 years you kinda wish you could just buy a Sigon’s set for $1.50 and start making a real character from the start. Know what I mean?
While it may (in some small part) be to help curb the “existing issue”, I’m in no way oblivious to the fact that this is mainly a financial decision, given the fees they’ll be collecting on the transactions.
In any event, I suppose I can see some benefit to people who do now or have in the past purchased items, however I wonder if they’re opening themselves up to a lot of worthless complaints/support tickets due to the cash trading and people regretting their purchases..? I’m aware from reading elsewhere that they basically claim all sales are final/no refunds/etc. and all that, but I have no doubts that some people are still going to QQ-storm support when the item they just purchased drops 10 minutes later.
Time will tell, I guess.
It’ll be interesting to see if the actual prices will be what’s currently being quoted. I really doubt $10 will be the high limit unless they put a hard cap there. I expect to see some prices for ultra rare items go for 5x that much. It’ll only take one idiot to pay a high price for something to drive up future sale value.
This is a dark path in gaming that should be stopped and not supported. This will further blur the lines of gaming and reality for those who stuggle to find a difference, and give credence to the concerns of uppity fox news moms everywhere.