Diablo 3: Auction house to accept real cash

[Chiropteran]

I'm honestly bothered less by the online-only play than the cash for items thing. This is a FANTASY game, where you play to get away from the real world; we already think about money waaaay too much... Now, instead of getting all excited when that awesome item you've been drooling over for so long finally drops (unless you've already bought it...) because of the power boost it would give your character, you will instead be excited because of the item's value in US American Dollars. How anti-fantasy, and anti game-like is that?

If you don't like it, don't buy anything.

People already do it under the table for games such as World of Warcraft, diablo 2, etc. Making it legit is just good business sense.

Edit: you claim to have played diablo 1 & 2. The duping and item sale in those games didn't bother you at all but this does?

 

[BergeLSU]

If you don't like it, don't buy anything.

People already do it under the table for games such as World of Warcraft, diablo 2, etc. Making it legit is just good business sense.

Edit: you claim to have played diablo 1 & 2. The duping and item sale in those games didn't bother you at all but this does?

Remember when a Stone of Jordan was a rare item?

 

[OCNewbie]

If you don't like it, don't buy anything.

People already do it under the table for games such as World of Warcraft, diablo 2, etc. Making it legit is just good business sense.

Edit: you claim to have played diablo 1 & 2. The duping and item sale in those games didn't bother you at all but this does?

No, making it legit is full on embracing the idea, which I've stated is completely contrary to what a fantasy game is all about (IMO, of course). What value is in-game gold going to have now? What percentage of players who find highly desirable items are going to choose game gold over real money, when given that choice? So people actually playing in the game world only (like I would, in this hypothetical scenario) are going to have a significantly reduced experience while using the AH.

When did I say I wasn't bothered by D1 or D2 duping, etc.? I lost interest in D1 shortly after I got all the uber awesome duped gear. Everything was too easy, and I already had the best gear, so there was no longer a reason to play. With Diablo 2, I rarely traded for gear, and usually played solo, though online. Once in a while I would do group games, mostly for leveling up. I stopped playing about 2 years after the game came out, and at that point, the item selling wasn't as rampant as it ended up becoming.

Edit: I'm wondering if you won't be able to drop items on the ground in this game. IIRC, each player will get their own drops from mobs and bosses, so it won't be a click-fest like it used to be (or at least this was the case some time ago). They have also said that you won't need to go to town to sell your unwanted items. This makes me think that it's possible you won't be able to avoid the AH for trading. As in there won't be a way to just trade item for item with another player? Though as I say that, I can't imagine that happening. Of course, I wouldn't have imagined these other things happening either =P

 

[Chiropteran]

I lost interest in D1 shortly after I got all the uber awesome duped gear. Everything was too easy, and I already had the best gear, so there was no longer a reason to play. With Diablo 2, I rarely traded for gear, and usually played solo, though online. Once in a while I would do group games, mostly for leveling up. I stopped playing about 2 years after the game came out, and at that point, the item selling wasn't as rampant as it ended up becoming.

It just sounds like you are writing one thing and doing another. You don't like the ability to buy items for gold, yet you took advantage of duping in diablo 1?

If you don't want to participate in the cash auction house, nobody is holding a gun to your head. You can play the game as normal and never use it. Item selling is only as "rampant" as you want it to be.

It sounds almost like you are more concerned with other people being able to buy and sell items. As I see it, people will buy and sell items for real money as long as there is any way to trade items in game. It can't be prevented. However, by creating this in-game convenient way to do so, the system can be monitored and controlled to an extent, and policed.

I wonder how much money blizzard spends on cases where idiotplayer231123 send 50k gold to scammer342134 for a superduperflyingmount and never got it. By creating a legitimate outlet for item sales, the clueless will be less easily taken advantage of and these things and investigation time will be reduced.

 

[BD2003]

If you don't like it, don't buy anything.

People already do it under the table for games such as World of Warcraft, diablo 2, etc. Making it legit is just good business sense.

Edit: you claim to have played diablo 1 & 2. The duping and item sale in those games didn't bother you at all but this does?

It might be good business sense but it undermines the quality of the game.

It use to be the devs made the game, and the players paid for the game. What defined a good game for players was how much fun they had, for the devs how much money they made. A simple, honest transaction.

Now the players get paid to play the game. How long before the equation changes, where for some players as well as the devs, the worth of the game is how much money it makes them. And the players that make the most money for themselves make the most money for the devs. Becomes pretty obvious who they'll start catering to before long. Then they'll have a virtual sweatshop of players just churning out virtual goods. Probably making well below minimum wage but who cares since they're supposedly just playing a game anyways.

It's disgusting and exploitative.

 

[JamesV]

If you don't like it, don't buy anything.

People already do it under the table for games such as World of Warcraft, diablo 2, etc. Making it legit is just good business sense.

Edit: you claim to have played diablo 1 & 2. The duping and item sale in those games didn't bother you at all but this does?

In Diablo 2 the item sales bothered me alot. Not so much people were doing it, but the constant spam from sellers and bots which made games unplayable sometimes - drop in drop out bots that spammed a full screen of text, one after another.

Are we now going to have the same sellers along with players spamming our screens with sales? Are we going to see games with "Legendary Item for trade", only to go in and find out they wan't $10 or something? Will this mean the rarest of items will only be attainable via thousands of hours of grinding or by paying cash, because nobody will trade them with the lure of being able to seel them for cash? Will this mean the best items will be tweaked by Blizzard to have insanely low drop rates, and the only real possibility of gaining one is a cash purchase?

Adding the ability to buy and sell with cash opens up a boatload of problems. I have faith in Blizzard, but still worried.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

this. is. awesome.

extra kudos to blizz for not taking a percentage or spamming it with exclusive purchase-only items.

farming and buying your toon/gear is an ugly side of online gaming, mmos in particular. but NOT having it integrated into the game doesn't make it go away, just makes it riskier and more inconvenient. like drugs and prostitution!

 

[Anubis]

In Diablo 2 the item sales bothered me alot. Not so much people were doing it, but the constant spam from sellers and bots which made games unplayable sometimes - drop in drop out bots that spammed a full screen of text, one after another.

.

privite lobbies killed that

 

[Chiropteran]

It might be good business sense but it undermines the quality of the game.

It use to be the devs made the game, and the players paid for the game. What defined a good game for players was how much fun they had, for the devs how much money they made. A simple, honest transaction.

Now the players get paid to play the game. How long before the equation changes, where for some players as well as the devs, the worth of the game is how much money it makes them. And the players that make the most money for themselves make the most money for the devs. Becomes pretty obvious who they'll start catering to before long. Then they'll have a virtual sweatshop of players just churning out virtual goods. Probably making well below minimum wage but who cares since they're supposedly just playing a game anyways.

It's disgusting and exploitative.

The situation you describe actually sounds awesome, I wish I could also find it believable.

In reality, I doubt that even the most efficient farmers of diablo 3 will see income of even minimum wage. There is really no danger in the game becoming a virtual sweatshop as long as there are real alternative options for "work" that are vastly more efficient.

At best it might be like "oh cool, I can sell this extra sword for $3" that you see drop once a week or so as little bonus, not as the ultimate reason to play the game.

 

[darkxshade]

Not too sure what to think about this. On the one hand, I'd rather Blizzard be the middleman and regulator of cash transactions between players instead of gold sellers and have no problem with them taking a cut in exchange for securing said transactions. On the other hand, this essentially makes Diablo III a farm for Blizzard. We farm the game, Blizzard farms us. The label "game" is just a disguise at this point. Now it's just all a gray area between entertainment and a side job.

 

[BD2003]

The situation you describe actually sounds awesome, I wish I could also find it believable.

In reality, I doubt that even the most efficient farmers of diablo 3 will see income of even minimum wage. There is really no danger in the game becoming a virtual sweatshop as long as there are real alternative options for "work" that are vastly more efficient.

At best it might be like "oh cool, I can sell this extra sword for $3" that you see drop once a week or so as little bonus, not as the ultimate reason to play the game.

The problem is that they're already masters at getting people to do menial tasks for virtual rewards. Their only upside there is that as long as people keep doing it, people keep paying a monthly fee. So they have to at least shoulder the burden of making something engaging.

At worst they're exploiting people with their virtual goods farming. At best they turned a fun game into something approaching work.

Either way it sucks. I just hope there's a realm or server they put up that's free of this bullshit.

 

[skace]

I'll see all the people saying they "probably won't play / don't care" in the game when it launches. Your words mean nothing.

 

[Chiropteran]

Either way it sucks. I just hope there's a realm or server they put up that's free of this bullshit.

Hardcore mode is for you

But seriously. There is an easy solution: DON'T BUY STUFF FOR REAL MONEY. Nobody is forcing you to do it. You can still obtain items through drops, you can still buy items for gold. If you don't want to buy or sell your stuff for real money, don't.

 

[BD2003]

Hardcore mode is for you

But seriously. There is an easy solution: DON'T BUY STUFF FOR REAL MONEY. Nobody is forcing you to do it. You can still obtain items through drops, you can still buy items for gold. If you don't want to buy or sell your stuff for real money, don't.

You don't seem to understand how this subverts the entire game. The game design itself will be changed and influenced in order to maximize that revenue. Even if I dont personally transact in that marketplace, I'm still stuck playing a game that is designed for it. Players I play with or interact with will also be tainted. The virtual prices for virtual goods paid for with virtual gold are going to be heavily influenced by the "real" market activity. Once you mix real money into the virtual economy, you can't take it out or just stand outside of it.

 

[KaOTiK]

Hardcore mode is for you

But seriously. There is an easy solution: DON'T BUY STUFF FOR REAL MONEY. Nobody is forcing you to do it. You can still obtain items through drops, you can still buy items for gold. If you don't want to buy or sell your stuff for real money, don't.

It is easier said then done. More then likely if you want really high end gear that is rare you will either need to get lucky on drops farming for it or buy it with real cash. No one in their right mind is going to sell a high end rare item for in game currency when the alternative is real money. So the person who would farm up gold to afford the item they want if they couldn't get it to drop is now faced with instead of farming gold to acquire the item has to either sell items they get for money and buy the item they want with that money.

It is a shitty situation and I can see the hardcore servers being popular for this alone.

 

[nyker96]

if this is true, they'll make so much money, give this game out for free!

 

[Dumac]

Diablo is going to have arenas. There will definitely be player competition.

Sure there will be, but I don't think it will be that integral to the game. I probably won't ever bother with it. I couldn't care less if classes in Diablo were balanced. Diablo PvP will always be silly. PvE is a much more integral part of the game.

 

[Dumac]

I'll see all the people saying "they probably won't play / don't care" in the game when it launches. Your words mean nothing.

Anyone gamer isn't gonna play D3 isn't someone I would want to know

This is DIABLO man.

 

[Chiropteran]

Once you mix real money into the virtual economy, you can't take it out or just stand outside of it.

Well, that started back in the days of diablo 1 when accounts were sold on ebay. This is nothing new and nothing blizzard can do to prevent it fully. They can either embrace it and at least have some control and policing, or they can leave it to the grey market. Diablo 1&2 were IMO ruined by dupes and outside selling, so I see this as a vastly superior situation

 

[Dumac]

With this system, the market may become flooded with people trying to make $$$, diluting prices down to very small numbers. 20 cents for SoJ

 

[BD2003]

It is easier said then done. More then likely if you want really high end gear that is rare you will either need to get lucky on drops farming for it or buy it with real cash. No one in their right mind is going to sell a high end rare item for in game currency when the alternative is real money. So the person who would farm up gold to afford the item they want if they couldn't get it to drop is now faced with instead of farming gold to acquire the item has to either sell items they get for money and buy the item they want with that money.

It is a shitty situation and I can see the hardcore servers being popular for this alone.

And for all those items which the player had to sell to afford that rare item, activision gets a cut. But if the player succeeds in acquiring that item, they can presumably tackle greater challenges, with greater potential rare item and thus money awards. And the cycle starts again. The more you play, the more money you potentially make in the future. A built in incentive to keep you playing, farming and paying those fixed fees the whole while.

Who's the person with the potential to make the most money in these gear and loot driven games? Never the most skilled, but the ones with the best gear. And now that's gonna cost you.

It's disgusting.

 

[Powermoloch]

lol I'm glad i'm off from blizzcrack.

 

[Chiropteran]

It is easier said then done. More then likely if you want really high end gear that is rare you will either need to get lucky on drops farming for it or buy it with real cash. No one in their right mind is going to sell a high end rare item for in game currency when the alternative is real money. So the person who would farm up gold to afford the item they want if they couldn't get it to drop is now faced with instead of farming gold to acquire the item has to either sell items they get for money and buy the item they want with that money.

It is a shitty situation and I can see the hardcore servers being popular for this alone.

Why would you need to get lucky on drops? If all the high end gear is so rare and good, you could sell whatever high end drop you get for $x, and than use that $x to buy the equivalent item for your class spec. It's basically zero sum if you buy and sell equally, you only end up paying out real cash if you want something for nothing.

It seems like you will complain either way.

1- You don't get your lucky drop after 2 runs. The game has no in game AH. You cry and complain because there is "no way" to get your drop.

2- You don't get your lucky drop after 2 runs. The game has an in game AH that uses gold only. You don't have enough gold to buy your drop, unless you spend $40 on gold from some shady Asian gold farming company. You cry and complain because there is "no way" to get your drop.

3- You don't get your lucky drop after 2 runs. The game has an in game AH for gold or cash. Your item costs $5, or more gold than you have. You cry and complain because there is "no way" to get your drop.

 

[BD2003]

Well, that started back in the days of diablo 1 when accounts were sold on ebay. This is nothing new and nothing blizzard can do to prevent it fully. They can either embrace it and at least have some control and policing, or they can leave it to the grey market. Diablo 1&2 were IMO ruined by dupes and outside selling, so I see this as a vastly superior situation

The inherent conflict of interest so far outweighs any potential damage by the black market it's not even funny. Police it? Give me a break. This is the fox guarding the henhouse.

I don't have too much of a problem with players buying and selling items with real money. I have a SERIOUS problem with activision being the beneficiary of that activity.

 

[KaOTiK]

Why would you need to get lucky on drops? If all the high end gear is so rare and good, you could sell whatever high end drop you get for $x, and than use that $x to buy the equivalent item for your class spec. It's basically zero sum if you buy and sell equally, you only end up paying out real cash if you want something for nothing.

It seems like you will complain either way.

1- You don't get your lucky drop after 2 runs. The game has no in game AH. You cry and complain because there is "no way" to get your drop.

2- You don't get your lucky drop after 2 runs. The game has an in game AH that uses gold only. You don't have enough gold to buy your drop, unless you spend $40 on gold from some shady Asian gold farming company. You cry and complain because there is "no way" to get your drop.

3- You don't get your lucky drop after 2 runs. The game has an in game AH for gold or cash. Your item costs $5, or more gold than you have. You cry and complain because there is "no way" to get your drop.

It seems like you don't understand either way.

I have no problems farming for a damn long time for things I want and will not pay cash for the stuff (in fact in many MMO's I have sold lots of currency/items and made some fair cash doing that).

While what you say is true, you can sell the items you get farming for an item for cash and then just buy that item with the cash from those items you sold, it simply is not the same even if the end result is. This is either something you get or you don't and leaves us both at a crossroads.