On the Diablo III Auction House Model: Mixing Currencies

Posted October 8, 2011 by Fredrik Karlström

Given the vast popularity of World of Warcraft, few developers have more insight in MMORPG-related topics than Blizzard. The Auction House functionality in World of Warcraft is and has always been a heavily utilized feature, and it would be foolish to claim that real-world currency has not been involved in this environment since the earliest days of the game.

Spoils artwork shamelessly stolen from Blizzard's homepage

“Real Money Trading” has always been one of the murkier swamps in multiplayer gaming, in which some people harvest gold and other in-game resources on a “professional” basis, which they then auction off to players who find their services compelling.

In general, selling in-game resources tends to constitute a breach of licence agreements and policies, and it is advised against by most producers. An authority making up rules hardly makes any difference when there’s such a vast market though, and this is the reason I believe that the new take on Auction Houses that Blizzard introduces in Diablo 3 will be truly beneficial to the gaming community at large.

How It Will Work

According to Blizzard’s fairly recent statements, there will be two separate albeit functionally equal versions of the auction house available in Diablo III. One will be based on in-game currency, and the other one will be based on real-world money, through a partnership with PayPal. It will also be possible to trade in-game currency for real money in the same fashion, so there will be a “real” exchange rate.

Auctioning will ~~most surely~~ incur a per-transaction fee, although no specifics are known as to how much or what limits will exist in order to “cash out.” There will also be a listing fee, but with a number of free listings available per week. Transactions will also be isolated between geographical regions (continents), and currency.

It is important to note that Blizzard will not sell items to increase profits, it is merely a manner to facilitate player-to-player trading – addressing the issues listed below.

The Reasoning Behind It All

“If you outlaw guns, only criminals will have them!” a famous gun-advocate slogan chirps.

Although I by no means agree with that specific agenda (I say we’d be much better off without firearms at all; if we absolutely must do war, let’s be honorable about it and use blades instead. ;]), the quote certainly has some sense to it.

If As real currency trading become an option incorporated in the game itself, the market will be balanced in regard to the in-game currency (i.e. “gold”). The players who prefer to keep their credit-cards out of their gaming experience – a group including yours truly – will most likely see that 5,000 gold gathered as spoils from slain monsters more or less equals the five dollars the seller asks for when looking to buy a new, fancy item of unparalleled marvel.

Given the chance, I’m also fairly sure that many players will enjoy the opportunity to earn back a few cents of the time invested in playing the game.

There is another very important aspect to the whole debate too, namely the elimination of scamming-sites and similar plagues that cause much unnecessary grief and bad PR.

Naturally, there will be many quirks to work out as the system is launched, and fierce debate will surely ensue. I’m looking very much forward to seeing how this new and exciting feature will be received when the actual game becomes available, and I hope it serves its purpose in putting an end to unfortunate by-effects of success such as scamming.

There is a video review of the Auction House available on YouTube.

What do you think? Is bringing real currency into the game a flash of genius, or a nail in the coffin?