Diablo 3 Uses In-Game and Real Life Money

[EaTCarbS]

They need this in WoW. Trading $ for in-game advantages happens whether Blizzard implements it or not, and by doing this Blizzard is taking a crack at all the third party dealers.

[Tonuss]

I can see whey they are doing it ... lots of fees. They must have gotten tired of all these 3rd parties cashing in hehe. I am sure it won't be long before you see this same change in WoW.

I agree with this. If gold seller websites and Blizzard's own store have shown anything, it is that a LOT of people are willing to spend extra real life cash for in-game perks and even for in-game fluff (pets, mounts). Why not give them what they want in a safer medium and make some extra cash? So many third party sites wind up stealing accounts and causing both players and Blizzard grief, may as well turn it in their own favor.

I can see them doing this in WOW at some point as well, for similar reasons. If people are going to risk their accounts by going to third party sites to buy gold and items (which then leads to more work for Blizzard when they need accounts banned or restored) then Blizzard can make money while presumably reducing some of their headaches by offering those items and services themselves. The only question is where to draw the line, because of the effect that it may have on future Blizzard MMOs. There's no guarantee that whatever follows WOW will be as successful.

I believe that we're entering a phase where the future of online gaming is being shaped. People can complain and make noise on blogs and forums, but it's the transactions (or lack of them) that will be what determines the path that companies will take.

[Mercbeast]

They need this in WoW. Trading $ for in-game advantages happens whether Blizzard implements it or not, and by doing this Blizzard is taking a crack at all the third party dealers.

PLEX in EvE is the underlining force that drives that economy.

[Jafula]

An interesting look at how Blizzard see microtransactions; etc.
From: http://www.diablofans.com/topic/2624...s-event-visit/

Q: Do you feel that since people are going to be able to buy items, and therefore essentially power, do you think that will polarize the community based on the top elite, especially in PvP, versus the casual player and what repercussions might there be if that is the case?

A: I think if you look at a lot of games where power gets sold, you run into a lot of different types of games. Take a game like WoW: if we started selling items there, it would pretty much destroy the game. The core of the game is guild/raid progression; that is your top tier and that’s where everyone is focusing on. If you now give me the ability to circumvent that using money, you’ve kind of destroyed the need for having guilds in the first place. Microtransaction games tend to be very successful, but have very short lives because people tend to buy out everything. Essentially, it’s like “what if the government started printing money?” It’d be really awesome for a short time, and then we’d all be screwed. That’s kind of what a microtransaction game is; the key difference between them and this system is that it’s player-driven so we’re not generating items, players are. We’re not doing anything different than what D2 already did. Players could trade items in D2 and buy them using real money. All we’re doing is facilitating it so that it’s a good experience for everyone. We don’t expect that it’s going to feel very different from D2 at all, and to kind of separately address the PvP issue, will people buy power to be more successful in PvP? Yes they will, that’s why our PvP system is very casual and not an e-sport. It’s meant to be a “I wanna go in and see what this build can do against people who are of equivalent power.” The nice thing is with a really good match-making system, you’re going to have a good game regardless because you’re going to get matched with someone who’s roughly equivalent to you and gear’s a part of that.

[Sam DeathWalker]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...tion_House.php

With the Diablo III Auction House, players will have a fully-integrated marketplace that allows them to buy and sell items, gold, and components with real-world currency (tentatively divided into U.S. dollars and euros, among others) in their respective territories. According to him, it's based on the World of Warcraft Auction House, but with refinements. Diablo III's iteration allows for auto-bidding and instant buyouts, smart searches based on class, a shared stash, and secure item transfers.

Pardo was swift to mention that it's not an official "Blizzard Store," but a clearinghouse for players to have an open market to facilitate the trading of in-game items with each other. Players will be anonymous during trades, and there will be restrictions on the buying and selling of goods with real-world currency for those who choose to play in Hardcore mode.

He then outlined initial details of transactions. There will be a fee for both item listings and sales. Should players accept in-game currency, their payment will go toward their Battle.net e-balance, which covers auction items, WoW subscriptions, and pets. Should players decide to cash out their items, a currently-unannounced third-party payment provider will handle the transaction and take a percentage of the sale. There won't be any limits on item trading, but there will be a 24-hour cooling period before players can resell a purchased item.

Pardo intimated that if Blizzard didn't take the steps to bring e-commerce in-house, someone else would step in and profit from it. "Players want this... We could take a harder stance, but with Diablo, we think [the Auction House] will end up being a good thing," he said. The fact that in-game bartering and selling had "become a metagame of its own," in his words, was another motivator for launching the new feature.

When asked if he had any concerns about Diablo III's auctions turning into widespread item speculation, he hinted that the regional breakup of currency would play a factor. "In WoW auctions, you're looking at a few thousand people cornering the market, whereas Diablo's regionalization makes it tougher to speculate. But we'll monitor it closely." He also compared his idea of user-driven item pricing to the iPhone App Store, in which inflated app prices self-corrected as buyers dictated what they would pay for applications.

When asked about the regional breakdown of the shop, Pardo said, "The primary reason why we're doing the Auction House per [real world] currency is for usability, and in some cases, with legality -- it's the easiest way to do it... There are going to be so many items in each auction house in every currency that there shouldn't even be need to shopping around in different currency houses."

He also fielded an inquiry as to how much the implementation of the Diablo III Auction House influenced the design of the game.

[Kicksome]

Hopefully they'll do this in the next Wow x-pac. Unless they run into widespread issues with D3 AH.

[Shodokan]

Hopefully they'll do this in the next Wow x-pac. Unless they run into widespread issues with D3 AH.

Too many items are BoP for it to be viable for wow.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Essentially, it’s like “what if the government started printing money?” It’d be really awesome for a short time, and then we’d all be screwed.

Hey, Obama, you listenin, brah?

[lans83]

Dear sweet Jesus, my days of playing video games is actually going to pay off, and for it self As if video games aren't enough of an addiction for some, people will now have incentive to play for hours on end to actually get paid for it. Even those not of legal age to get jobs, but I hope they do put restrictions on the B.net accounts to combat this. Could see it now, teens dropping out of school more and more just to stay home and play D3 to make real money for gear they sell :/ I for one can't wait to see how this works out and hope they do bring it to WoW eventually.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Dear sweet Jesus, my days of playing video games is actually going to pay off, and for it self As if video games aren't enough of an addiction for some, people will now have incentive to play for hours on end to actually get paid for it. Even those not of legal age to get jobs, but I hope they do put restrictions on the B.net accounts to combat this. Could see it now, teens dropping out of school more and more just to stay home and play D3 to make real money for gear they sell :/ I for one can't wait to see how this works out and hope they do bring it to WoW eventually.

Yeah, this has the potential (probability?) to be massively exploited. If they do bring it to WoW, I'd be very interested to see how this affects their stance on multiboxing.

[edit] And how it affects their relatively lax enforcement of botting.