An in-depth look at the first official real money market.
Ahead of my visit to Blizzard's Californian base for a preview of the Diablo III beta, I was told that there was going to be a major announcement. The developer's press office seemed unusually anxious about how it would be received.
Only one thing makes games companies this nervous about messaging: asking players for more money. But when Rob Pardo, Blizzard's vice president of game design, announced Diablo III's real money auction house, all I could do was laugh to myself at the sheer audacity of the move.
Although trading game items for real-world cash is almost as old as online gaming itself, the practice carries a stigma - of cheating, scamming, spam, and the dodgy ethics and inhumane working practices of black-market 'gold farmers'. Diablo III's auction house will be the first major authorised real money trading market in games. As such, it's both historic and controversial.
Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-04-the-how-and-why-of-the-diablo-auction-house-preview
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