Diablo 3 will involve real world money

[Pike]

Articles about it here:

Diablo 3 will let you buy and sell items for real-world cash
Diablo 3 Will Let You Auction Your Loot For Real Money

Hence, the new currency-based auction; a quick rundown of its features below:

• Like you'd expect, it features both an auto-bidding and an instant buyout price. Players are kept anonymous during the process, and there will be one regional auction house per currency type.
• Nearly everything can be sold. Items, gold, and later on, even characters, can be sold through this auction house. Only quest-related or very specific items will be soulbound to players; everything else that drops on the ground can be auctioned.
• The auction house interface can be pulled up anywhere, and items can be sold from either your current character's inventory or from the shared stash. Transactions happen pretty much instantly (and securely), and if you successfully bid on an item, it then shows up in your shared stash.
• There will be a smart-search mode that can automatically loot for suitable items based on your current equipment and what would work best upgrade-wise. You can also specify certain parameters for your build, or search for items by class (since everything works in and out of your shared stash).
• Blizzard will charge a listing fee and a sale fee. The former you pay no matter what, while the latter only comes up if you make a sale. No specific figures have been given, but Pardo describes these fees as "nominal. He also believes that since there is a listing fee, this will help the auction house self-correct into only listing noteworthy items, as people would be discouraged to pay a listing fee to sell trash or vendor loot.
• On the flipside, to help seed the auction house and to let players get a feel for the auction house without investing too much money, Blizzard plans to let players have a number of free listings per week.
• The auction house is designed to facilitate player trading; Blizzard has no plans to officially post items for sale through the auction house themselves. Nor will the company put up gameplay enhancing additions in the auction house.
• Players have two choices for proceeds from their sales: The default option puts the funds into their Battle.net e-balance. That e-balance can be used for goods/services offered by Blizzard, ranging from purchasing items from the auction house to World of Warcraft subscription time or other paid services (such as character transfers). The other option is to "cash-out" the sale to a third-party payment provider (Pardo comments that the contract hasn't been finalized, so he couldn't name the service just yet -- we're assuming PayPal or somesuch). Though, the cash-out option could be subject to transaction fees from both Blizzard and the third-party provider.
• The currency-based auction house is completely optional. Player-to-player trading still exists, and there will be an auction house that uses in-game gold as well. Also note that the auction house is the only method of using real-world currency (i.e. no using cash for player-to-player trades).
• Hardcore characters (a special difficulty mode that features permadeath for characters) cannot used the currency-based auction house, only the in-game gold one. "We're protecting players from themselves -- we don't want a situation where someone spent a lot of money and then that character --along with the items -- gets deleted due to combat or PVP soon afterwards," notes Pardo.
• Interestingly, Blizzard's official position is that if an item gets altered in a patch down the line, Blizzard will not provide a refund or any other accommodations if this happens. So buyer beware: your new loot could get nerfed.
• Finally, the gold-based auction house will be featured in the D3 beta. The currency-based auction house won't be live until launch. "It'd be mean to have that running since we wipe all the beta characters at the end," quips Pardo.

Does this not sit well with anyone else?

(Meanwhile, nerds everywhere quit their jobs and spend their weeks farming in D3!)

[Caelheim]

I can't say I'm very impressed with the move. Many gamers seem to be under the impression that they might make a bit of cash from it, though for those who don't have the funds to be able to fork out for buying and selling gear...it's going to be pretty unfair and imbalanced.

It also raises a few concerns for me in regards to the future of gaming. The company has proven to be pretty influencial - especially when it comes to MMORPG's - and I worry that if this feature does end up being successful, it'll carry over to other aspects of gaming.

[Flying Mullet]

All this does is encourage more bots to farm items and makes it easier for them to sell items, since they don't have to go through external websites to do it.

[Slothy]

All this does is encourage more bots to farm items and makes it easier for them to sell items, since they don't have to go through external websites to do it.

I think it would be more accurate to say that Blizzard wants to get a cut of something that's already been happening outside of their games. Now on the one hand, I can at least see this protecting those who do want to purchase items from getting scammed, but it also doesn't sit well with me, though I'm not sure I can put my finger on exactly why just yet. Off hand, I think this may do more to encourage some people to waste ungodly amounts of time in search of rare drops to sell for some cash, and I do not think games that are already basically a skinner box should be doing more to encourage addiction.

[Pike]

Yeah, a lot of it has to do with Blizzard wanting to legitimize something that's already happening in the dark.

I think a big reason why it doesn't sit well with me is because video games are my escape from reality and work and having to worry about how on earth I'm going to be able to afford lunch or gas next week. I don't want to be reminded about money while I'm safely ensconced in my escapism. This is possibly getting too personal here, but I'm going to say it anyway: it's often hard enough for me to deal with in-game money without feeling a bit of a panic attack coming on because of the reminder that I can't make money that easily in real life. I certainly don't want to see any references to real-life money in my games!

I keep envisioning some poor schmuck somewhere who starts farming items in this game for a bit of cash on the side, but as is life and human nature, something will come up or his work hours will be cut and soon he'll be farming on top of his day job just to support his kids. Before you know it, video games are work. That thought doesn't sit well with me, either.

I'll be the first to admit I might be super biased due to personal experience, though.

EDIT: They are also requiring an internet connection and prohibiting game mods, it looks like.

[Madame Adequate]

I wrote about it over at TAC. My sentiments are fairly similar to Pike's, but I am MEGA RIPtrout PISSED about the no-mods thing and I don't even know WHAT THE ACTUAL SMURF

[CimminyCricket]

I am now no longer excited for this game. :\

[Pike]

Yeah, I've let this percolate in my brain most of the day and I've come to the conclusion that the whole "banning mods" crap bothers me the most. The real cash thing still doesn't quite sit well with me for largely personal reasons, but I can live with it. Having to be online-- meh, it's annoying, but I'm always online anyway, so again, I can deal. I really, truly do not understand the mod ban though. Maybe I just have a special place in my heart for mods.

TLDR I pretty much agree with Huxley's blog post.

[Araciel]

Wellll trout.

[TrollHunter]

Pretty much my thoughts

[Loony BoB]

Well, there goes what interest I still had in this game. But then, for me, Diablo III is a bit like Starcraft II. They had a great game, they spent ages working on the next one and by the time it comes out most people will have forgotten it was being made and have moved on to other things. Subsequently, it will be "just another game" as opposed to the "eagerly anticipated follow-up" it could have been.

[Madame Adequate]

Erm, I don't know what exactly you've been paying attention to Towns, but SCII was an absolutely massive seller and has become the competitive gaming game of choice (alongside New Thread and other DOtA clones) for the entire planet.

Also as someone pointed out on our blog, the no mods thing is a direct consequence of the RMT AH. They have to try and keep everything 'legit' and if that means less fun for the players, then smurf the players.

[Araciel]

Yes, smurf the players... cause there will be plenty of other people to play the game :P

Seriously though I will still play the hell outta' this game - there's no need for me to spend money on it to enjoy it, and the no mods thing, while disappointing, doesn't mean I won't enjoy it.

[Pike]

Yeah, as Hux said, SCII has a GIGANTIC fanbase. I see it discussed essentially 24/7 on 4chan, Twitter, Facebook, and pretty much anywhere I go online.

I'll tell you something interesting I've noticed, though: A lot of SC players do not play SCII, and a lot of SCII players did not play the orignal SC. For a while I was shocked at how many SCII players I'd talk to on Twitter or whatnot had never played the original, and assumed that was the exception, but no, that's actually the norm.

I think there was a massive changing of the guard in terms of the playerbase of Blizz games, and I think that WoW was sort of the enabler here. Back in the days of Starcraft, Diablo 2, and Warcraft 2/3, Blizzard was... well, I'm not going to say niche, but they weren't exactly mainstream either. It was still considered pretty geeky to be into their games. Fast forward to a couple of years into WoW and suddenly everyone in the gaming world knows who Blizzard is, and that brought a lot of new blood into first WoW and then into SC2 and I think that's going to be the case with Diablo 3.

D3 isn't going to attract most of the old players. It will attract the SC2 and WoW people.

[Araciel]

Just like the new version of Dungeons & Dragons - they marketed or designed it toward that 10million+ base of players.

Good idea.