Diablo 3 and its always online auction house

 Originally Published August 31, 2011

So it was a month ago today that the highly anticipated Diablo 3 gave up the last of its secrets. The two big ones that upset quite a few people are the Real Money Auction House and the fact the game expects you to always be online. Both have certainly ruffled quite a few feathers. I have my share of friends that are now refusing to buy the game, saying Blizzard has turned on them for the final time.

The Real Money Auction House (RMAH) allows people to sell items found in game, characters, and gold to other players for real life cash. This is similar to the dozen of black markets that existed in Diablo 2, through shady, underground sites. In fact some of them still exist today so, someone, somewhere is turning a profit on Diablo 2 still.

There are some drawbacks for choosing to use the RMAH versus the In-Game Currency Auction House. For starters, Blizzard takes a flat fee for anything deposited. However, a highly under-reported fact is that Blizzard will be giving players waivers to bypass this upfront deposit fee on regular intervals. Allowing you to start building your Diablo 3 economic empire for no money down. Blizzard then takes a second flat fee if the item actually sold. From there the money is placed in to one of two areas determined in advance, a Battle.net wallet, or a real world bank account.

Cashing out to a real world bank account leads to a third party site that has yet to be determined (like Paypal). There Blizzard and the third party both take an additional piece of the pie before it finally is deposited into the real world. Not to mention I am sure the tax collector would love to hear how you came about this money.

Going the route of putting earned cash into a Battle.net wallet is just like getting store credit or a gift card. It can never be cashed out into the real world but the funds are safely tucked away. Waiting to be used not just for Diablo 3, but all Blizzard games and merchandise. This means World of Warcraft subscriptions and services and, when release Starcraft 2 premium maps from the Starcraft 2 Marketplace. Not to mention, I still believe that one day Battle.net will attempt to take a bite at what Steam and Origin are doing. Does this mean that my Diablo 3 obsession could allow me to buy new PC games for essentially free? Only time will tell but I sure hope so. transaction

Really when it comes down to it the individuals feeling on the RMAH are dependent on how they feel about microtransactions as a whole. There are plenty of games out there that would have died if they had not moved to the microtransaction model. Not to mention this is not like buying power directly from the company, which only the worst microtransaction games do. Rather, a player is paying money for the time others have spent farming these items. The same principle that has always been a part of every auction house in every game.

While hearing all this left me with a momentary fearful and confused I quickly fell in love with the idea. I just hope I can sell Hardcore (read: perma-death) characters to people that have no right playing them. And really there has not been as big a stink about this. Sure some people are threatening a weak boycott but I saw more people foaming at the mouth over Left for Dead 2 than I have for Diablo 3.

As for the people complaining about having to be always online I would like to take the time to say this. I quit Diablo 2 when I realized I had to make a new character to play online. I have not been to a LAN party in nine years. My PC is always connected to the internet. When I am on a trip, I talk to family, play Sudoku, read a book, or pull out my PSP/3DS. As I see it the only people with the right to complain are the ones that are living in areas of the world where being always online is a luxury. Everyone else can just stop complaining.

I am still hyped about Diablo 3 and can't wait for its release. Now here is hoping I get a beta key.