Ben-DutkaThere's nothing new about buying and selling items in role-playing games. Hell, it's a staple of the genre.
But when we enter the realm of real honest-to-goodness money, the whole complexion of the buying and selling changes. Blizzard Entertainment has revealed its Battle.net service, which features cool stuff like friends lists, cross-game chat, full matchmaking services, etc. But as Joystiq elaborated upon, we'll also get an auction system.
For use in Diablo III , players will be able to spend real money on in-game items. Players will actually buy items from each other; you can try to sell stuff you don't want and buy other stuff you need…all with real dollars that reside in your real wallet. For the service, Blizzard will take "fixed fees" and although we don't have any pricing details just yet, they said these fees would be "nominal." Any money you earn can be kept in your Battle.net account for spending on Blizzard products and services.
Vice President of game design Rob Pardo talked about this idea (click the link above for more) and explained:
"Ultimately, players want it. If Blizzard doesn't do this system, I'm not so naive to think that it's not going to happen. In the past we've really taken this hardline stance of, we will just try to stamp it down in every place that we can. And we could take that approach. But I actually think that with Diablo, it actually will end up being a good thing, at least something that players will be excited about. It really is something that a lot of players are already looking to do."
He's referring to Diablo II players unofficially buying and selling in-game items, by the way. So if the hardcore would do it before, why wouldn't they do it again? Might as well have the publisher sanction it, right?
Related Game(s): Diablo III
I really pity anyone who does this… seriously, its a digital item. It's just as pathetic as them poeple using real money to buy items on PS Home. This is an all new low for the gaming industry…
Last edited by Vivi_Gamer on 8/1/2011 10:22:56 AM
As with almost everything, it's not being forced on you.
No need to have such an elitist attitude!
Oh I will. I still stand by saying that if you pay full retail price already for the game, you should get everything included, of course nowadays that never happens. Instead of being rewarded for you time in the game by unlocking extras you have to buy them as DLC. It's just not how the indusrty should be..but of course people will buy anything so it sells…
Did you not read Ben's article? It states the reason Blizzard is doing it, and that's because the players WANT it.
Take note that this isn't some evil corporate scheme that take money from it's oh-so-gullible clientele. It's a feature that the players (IE customers) desire.
Your argument is invalid. These aren't items to unlock with real money, they are items that are in the game that people can get with patience and hours of work. The part about actually paying for the items instead of working to get the being pathetic is dead on though. But, then again some people want to play and have the best stuff but don't have the time to invest in getting it
In other words: You can cheat to be at the top of the players scores if you have the money to do so.
A good dlc now and then its good if the price is fair (and it was not taken out of the game to be sold separatedly). But having cheats from day 1 like power ups, all best weapons unlocked, and anything else that affects the balance of players, I'm against it.
Coverton341 –
Invalid? How? It's an option for people who either do not have the time or the desire to invest the time required. Plus, it's going to be done anyways regardless of Blizzards involvement.
TheOldOne –
You have to hand it Blizzard though. EA does it with Madden, NCAA and some of the NFS titles. It's a model that seems to work. I don't blame them one bit.
Max I wasn't talking to you, you never even brought up that the items were not in the game in the first place.
ETA: If you actually read my comments then you will realise I said the exact same thing you just did.
Last edited by coverton341 on 8/1/2011 1:28:11 PM
I'm not into Home, but I think it's fair to run a free service by charging people a couple bucks to dress up like a Big Daddy if they want to. They gotta fund it somehow.
My bad Coverton341.
It seems like some people are confused about this. Maybe not. But unless I'm mistaken, you get the game with the same ability to gain items as everyone else. The thing about paying is that players can now buy items that others have gained in the game. This means that every item still has to be found in-game by someone, and then that someone can turn around and sell that item that they found to another player.
Will it mean that beginning players with money will have an advantage over other new players without money? Yes. But it happens anyway. And I'm sure it will happen still by players who want to avoid these little fees Blizzard wants to impose on others.
Personally, I will not use my own money to buy these items, but I will definitely be into selling items I don't need to earn a bit of money. There is just one thing I'm confused on. Does the money you make HAVE to stay in your Battle.net account, or can you take it out and use it on, say, groceries?
Correct me if I'm wrong but this went on even in Diablo 2. So this is nothing new. I remember friends talking about the latest charcter they would buy for Diablo.
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 8/1/2011 5:16:32 PM
Big, its definitely new. With Diablo 2, you could buy items or characters already leveled up for you for real money but it was never anything official by blizzard. This was done by players themselves, even though often times the items that were sold were dupes and were suspect to disappearing due to blizzard's random checks. What they are doing is making it in game so they cut the middle man out.
Why pay for a character thats leveled up and included with good gear? because people were so into pvp, and often it was a drag to level up a new character just for pvp, and in some cases that character would turn out to be a bust for pvp.
I use to level up characters for a clan i was in, the clan leader would then sell them on some of the sites. In return, id get paid in high runes ( the currency players valued on diablo 2 and the expansion, lord of destruction ) or extremely rare items, since the actually currency on the game is as valuable as dirt. Actually built quite a collection
With the inclusion of this, i can only assume there is gonna be loot extremely rare, like Diablo 2.
Last edited by aaronisbla on 8/1/2011 10:29:13 PM
NiteCrawler they said that it most likely won't be available/there will be limitations for new players considering there is no need to buy items when you're just starting out.
I am actually a fan of using real currency for in game items. I believe while some may not, it's a nice option for those who would like to use that feature.
As much money that is still being made off of Diablo 1 and 2 items, this is really nothing new for the players as they've been doing this since the beginning. Blizzard is just giving them an easier way of doing it, instead of going to Ebay and other websites to make the purchases.
Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em
People go nuts doing this sort of thing in WoW.
Like the Blizzard dude pointed out, they worked hard trying to stamp out all ofthis activity. It would seem that just can't be done.
I, for one, will pay publishers to BUY the game. I get all the weapons at that point. I just have to actually play the game to get them =p
Last edited by Temjin001 on 8/1/2011 10:41:17 AM
The only problem I can foresee is that Blizzard already got hacked once in the last couple of months, so having an online wallet full of real money might just be too much of a temptation for hackers not go after it too.
I was thinking the same thing.
Sony got hacked (as we all know) and a few (as in maybe 100k?) got there information stolen. Everything can get hacked it just takes time, and the right people to do so. Im excited to see how it turns out, good or bad.
I've been waiting for DIII since…god 8 years ago?? Im not into the whole "let me spend my hard earned money on these shiny items that make me cool in game" Im about the…"oh dang, rare items i can sell and make some cash!" Guess its all in how you look at it.
@Stabs88
I believe it was in the 90k's if I remember correctly.
Indeed, we already know about what happened to Sony. Of course, no one is saying anything can't be hacked it can be, Biker is just saying this could tempt the hackers to strike again.
I also agree with Biker, it could possibly tempt them.
Stabbs88
^ What Clamedeus just said!
What happened to "playing the game"…
Not necessary. They only play it for the story anyway =p
Still waging war on people who play for story alone?
I value both story and gameplay, but it's unlikely I will play this game so it doesn't affect me directly. If you will, by all means, have fun. It seems to me, however, this is the kind of stuff that affects gameplay, so maybe some other people have reasons to be concerned about.
Haha, hey I was just razzing you.
Anytime I put this =p
It should be taken as sarcasm or a jovial remark
Diablo had a story? heh
actually world, it did. better than ff13's story
This kind of thing already happened in spades with Diablo II, it was just done on private websites. Heck, just google "diablo II items for sale" and look at all the hits.
For the people saying, and that will inevitably say that Blizzard are ripping people off buy selling items that should have come standard with the game, they are doing no such thing. What they are doing is setting up a market for LAZY people who don't want to go out and find these items. This is a player to player type of market that people trade on with real money, again something that has been happening for years.
Example: I play the game and do specific runs for one certain item (let's just say an SOJ, which is super rare) and accumulate a large amount, then I go and sell it to lazy people or people with no time to do runs that still want the item. It's that simple.
The big problem is when people start running bots to farm these items to in turn sell and make a profit off of them.
too right mate…
But given the fact that Blizz will officialy support that, I don't think they will allow for bots farming. Personally I think buying items for real money is hopeless. It destroys what's best in games like these – satisfaction of finding items by yourself.
I just so cannot wait for this game. Every of their title was a masterpiece, polished to the very limit. I just hope my laptop will be able to run it…
@Jackie
I was kind of thinking the same thing. Since Blizzard will be supporting this they may be able to keep a better handle on duped items, farming, and the like. It will be interesting to see how this affects third party sites selling items and full builds, and especially the effect this has on pricing.
I personally don't buy items through this kind of thing but I know a few people who recently got back into Diablo II that built full characters just to not have to invest the time they did back in the day.
Sorry to get off the article topic, but has anyone here ever had to return their 1st gen 60GB PS3 (the backwards compatible version) for service (after they were discontinued) and got it back in working order with no problems??? Mine gave out on me the other night, and I'm just a bit worried about sending it in and not getting it back….
I did, with the exception of getting mine back in working order. I was sent a refurbished unit that functioned perfectly and still does to this day.
ETA: if you are worried about not getting yours back because you will lose your data, it doesn't matter. You will lose your data anyway even if you receive the exact same unit back because everything gets reset and wiped. Sorry.
Last edited by coverton341 on 8/1/2011 11:51:43 AM
Ok. Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.
Yes you get a 60gb back.
I replaced mine 4 months ago, the replaced one broke 1 month ago, 2 days out of their 3 month warranty. They are lenient, so they let me off and sent me another one for free….it's still working.
I lost a lot of data…twice.
Back up your data on a Sandisk or cloud file it often. I do it eveytime i finish a gaming session now.
Keep it cool and dust the vents a lot. 60gigs get a lot hotter than later models.
Also, remove discs when not playing! I had lbp2 in my 1st broke machine, didn't get it back for 6 weeks, and i'm still waiting for my DVD that got stuck in my last one.
Such a stressful event.
My Dualshock 3 broke a week ago too lol. That was my fault, i dropped it a lot.
I got my own 60-gigger back (twice). The first time, it died again within the 90-day warranty.
Both times, it was reset to factory settings and would not allow a Restore from my Backup, so you will almost certainly lose any data currently on it.
Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I'll try to make a backup and hope the restore works…
This is fine by me, its nothing new, there's so many sites that offer items to buy for your diablo 1 and 2 character. I'm glad that there doing this it helps alot. I'm just wondering will there be a limit on how much a person can sell the items for or is it auto price for what ever item your buying?
No limit. Players set the prices.
Just remember that Blizz is gonna take a cut from whatever you sell. Its how they are gonna make a decent % of their yearly earnings for at least the first year or 2 its out…but thats just my take on it
But there's also a gold based auction house in the game as well for those that don't want to use real money.
I think this is a tremendous idea and I hope blizzard pull it off big time and it brings in more cash for them.
This is less of a rip off than say having to buy dlc to get a storage chest !
OMG people with the most money will have the best itemz !!!!111one … erm yes that has always been the case if you wanted to pay for items in a game where you trade, this just makes it less dangerous so more people mght do it now than before.
Could you purchase Gil in FFXI? Anyway, I guess it had to happen. Now people just need to figure out a way to make real money off of it instead of store credit.
Hey does this mean D3 will be coming to PS3?
I really doubt it. :_(
I thought there were rumblings about a console port of D3, then again there were rumblings about Starcraft: Ghost and we all know how that turned out.
"Could you purchase Gil in FFXI?"
Yes you could. And still can.
Diablo 3 on PC will also include DRM requiring a persistent online connection, even to play single player.
Really? Like that crap they pulled with the PC version of Assassin's Creed?
Shameful.
Blizzard did the same thing with Starcraft 2 and it still sold like hotcakes, 3 million in just it's first month and over 7 million last I looked, so this is no surprise.
Thanks for taken a look at this Ben! = ) Interesting to see others views on it