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