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Diablo 3’s Auction House to Use Real Money?!

How often does Blizzard receive a backlash of angry remarks due to one of their announcements? Well, today wasn’t an ordinary day for Blizzard, nor was it for gaming. Blizzard opened the doors today to a selection of press to showcase the new Diablo 3 Beta that’s on the way (don’t know when..), but what people weren’t expecting to see is that Diablo 3’s auction house is also going to feature transactions that involve real money.

When I take a step back this isn’t really too surprising. If you played WoW you saw how much that game was exploited as a means for turning in-game loot and gold into real cash by several different means. Of course you had the gold farmers from the far corners of the Earth. I was able to catch a documentary on the men and women who worked 10 hours a day in sweaty computer rooms farming gold so that we could buy it at dirt cheap prices. We also have the sites where you can buy accounts that are already decked out with max level, fully geared characters with all the gold you need already thrown in, or the guy stealing your money through Paypal when he was supposed to hand over that sword you just paid $100 for. WoW really brought out the ugliness in people when it came to taking the easy way out with fortune, or just exploiting the game for their own selfish advances. All of this happened in WoW without them even touching on the brilliant idea that they’re implementing in Diablo 3.

So why does Blizzard go through all of the legalities, and risk the integrity of a game they’ve worked so hard on? Well, I’ll explain how the system is supposed to work with a little more detail.

Diablo 3 will use the same auction model that was used in WoW, but players will now have the option to put their items up for cold, hard cash. Now, Blizzard is actually the first company to try something as specific as auctioning items in-game for real money, so they’re expecting to meet some hurdles along the way with this business plan.

So, the plan right now is that whenever you receive money for an auction in-game, you are going to have to decide right then and there if you want to cash that money out, or leave it in-game so you may use it yourself for other in-game transactions. So why would anyone opt to not immediately cash in their funds? Blizzard plans to take a portion from every transaction in-game, as well as charge you for cashing your money out of the game.

I have a huge problem with this system. If you are going to design a game that is loot and gear driven, you can’t have this type of auction house. How do you preserve the integrity of the game? Players who work really hard to deck their characters out will feel like their efforts are in vain when the jerk who took the easy way out and bought all of his gear with his six-digit salary owns them in PvP. I’ve always enjoyed the aspect of videogames that removes you from your everyday self and allows you to be put on an even playing ground to have your own successes in the game world. You may not be a hot shot in real life, but at least some people were allowed to feel good about themselves in WoW because they weren’t judged for the way they look, the car they drive, or what they did for a living. There is no social pyramid in WoW, you are judged based off of your gear and your skill. People were able to buy gold and items, but it was always risky and never endorsed by Blizzard. Auctioning items for cash in-game creates a huge issue because now it’s integrated into the game and will almost become necessary if you want to remain competitive. People are no longer on an even playing field and Robin Hood turns in his grave as the rich benefit and the poor get shafted.     

Here is an interview on the subject that G4 was able to conduct earlier. You’ll see that Blizzard has no shame in admitting that this is indeed a brilliant business plan, in which I won’t contest.

So I’m dying to know how you guys feel about all of this?