Is RMAH ruining the game？

[Reuben]

to start with, I'm a huge fan of diablo, the thing is why blizzard don't let the game to be blizzard-it-run-shop?

[Ayewyn]

Because D2 had a very large black market and Blizzard is trying to protect their customers. People would have sold items with or without the RMAH, so they might as well give them a safe place to do it.

[Azzure]

Why would you want a shop run by Blizzard? That would change the entire game, virtually ruining the entire player-based-economy.

[Neinball]

to start with, I'm a huge fan of diablo, the thing is why blizzard don't let the game to be blizzard-it-run-shop?

Going to to take a guess but did you mean, "What is stopping blizzard from selling items in the RMAH?"

For this one it'd be reputation. It would destroy Blizzard's credibility if they were ever caught selling items in the RMAH and the back lash would be tremendous. They'll make enough money from transactions alone and won't need to supplement it with setting up an item shop.

[Reuben]

tks, got it

[galzohar]

What's stopping them from selling items on the RMAH is the same thing that's stopping Blizzard employees to dupe items and the same thing that is stopping Blizzard from shutting down (or greatly reducing the quality and maintenance of) the b.net servers once they stop selling the game. They have a reputation to keep!

[Reuben]

actually I suppose why not having a Blizzard item-shop is bad for the game: It also opens up some fairly big loopholes in the system. A seller could, for example, use bids from alternate accounts to force prospective buyers into an artificial bidding war and drive the cost up above reasonable market value. A dedicate group could also work to corner the market on some rarer, more valuable items, then use their monopoly to drive up prices. I have the utmost faith that Blizzard will work hard to diminish this sort of behavior, but it seems a bit silly to spend so much time regulating the system when they could save themselves and the players a lot of trouble by simply offering an static alternative to the auction house. I find this site http://www.Allcdkey.com/Diablo-III-1075.html funny!

[jwfcp]

people will only pay what theyre willing to pay, artificial bidding wars trick no one, except the people who use them... into wasting everyones time. the 15% cut blizzard is taking will deter these shenanigans, nuke daytraders as well, something will need to be a pretty dramatically lowballed for it to be scooped up and relisted.

[Ayewyn]

actually I suppose why not having a Blizzard item-shop is bad for the game: It also opens up some fairly big loopholes in the system. A seller could, for example, use bids from alternate accounts to force prospective buyers into an artificial bidding war and drive the cost up above reasonable market value. A dedicate group could also work to corner the market on some rarer, more valuable items, then use their monopoly to drive up prices. I have the utmost faith that Blizzard will work hard to diminish this sort of behavior, but it seems a bit silly to spend so much time regulating the system when they could save themselves and the players a lot of trouble by simply offering an static alternative to the auction house.

Sellers trying to bid up their own auctions will not last very long. First of all, most people use the buy now feature, so bidding won't even be an issue in most cases. 2ndly the fees you would pay from winning your own auction would kill the profit from the few times it did work, not to mention the added cost of an extra account. Cornering the market and price fixing aren't going to happen just due to the size of the diablo system of economy, you're not competing with a few thousand(at best) on a WoW server, you are in there with the millions and millions in the region you play on. WoW tactics won't work on that scale, that's what is so exciting. We have to start from scratch and find all new strategies. So don't worry about prices being too high. If anything I worry about the prices becoming so low that the economy becomes mostly worthless and no one can make any money.

[galzohar]

You mean it'll become so competitive that traders won't be able to make money, only the farmers will. Even though I would love to make some money off of people's stupidity on the RMAH, for the better of the game I hope the market will be competitive enough that such things won't be possible. Then it's only the Chinese (and Taiwanese?) that will actually play this game for a living, and that is if they don't get blocked/banned.

[Ayewyn]

You mean it'll become so competitive that traders won't be able to make money, only the farmers will. Even though I would love to make some money off of people's stupidity on the RMAH, for the better of the game I hope the market will be competitive enough that such things won't be possible. Then it's only the Chinese (and Taiwanese?) that will actually play this game for a living, and that is if they don't get blocked/banned.

I'm not sure it is fair to call buying something from the RMAH "stupidity." It is a matter of value for money. If they can pay $4 for a new sword that lets them beat a boss they are stuck on, getting to new content and hours of enjoyment rather than hours of painful failure and tedious grinding, then for them it is a smart move to make. It all depends on what you find fun, and how much you value time and money. If you think they are just being stupid you aren't seeing things from their point of view, and that is a very important thing to do in a buyer/seller relationship.

[jwfcp]

if by "farmers" you mean "people that actually play the game", then yes, regardless of their nationality.

[galzohar]

I mean people who actually play the game and do it successfully and spend many hours. They tend to have a certain nationality, though I agree it is not set in stone.

As for stupidity, I didn't necessarily mean those having trouble and want to buy gear. It's more that any time you buy something cheap and sell it for more (or use it to make something that will sell for an overall profit) in a way that makes your time bothering with it (including market research, searching etc) worth it - You're taking advantage of some kind of stupidity, as the people you're buying from could just sell it for more and/or the people you sell it to could buy it cheaper.

[gordenwong]

if someone want pay they will pay

[Reuben]

This isn't a big deal, I'm gonna play this game the way I played the second Diablo, co-op with my friends and not play pvp or seriously trade items. More importantly the weapons are level locked so you can buy some sword but you have to be a certain level to use it. The Chinese can bot the **** out of this game because I won't be using the RMAH because to me that's not what Diablo is about.

[semakka]

Reuben, since you are a huge fan of Diablo...why would you want a shop run by Blizzard instead RMAH (both can't be viable in same time) ?

Are you NOT be able to play the game as good as you think, and you will have to use RMAH to get a better gear/weapon or w/e you think, it will be cheaper if it would be a Blizzard store selling that gear/weapon? What about a Diablo 3 shop that sells EVERYTHING in game ?

A RMAH will sell everything in game, BUT, the prices will have their real value , based on free market.A Blizz shop might sell cheaper (losing money) or sell higher (losing money due to less sales).They do NOT want to set a price.They want players to do it, and in the process, BOTH earn money, both are happy, the game lives longer, the players and Blizz are happier for longer time...

This is why any game with in-game shops is not succesfull for years, but only for months.Also, heavily unbalanced or only fe god-like players or losing customers or w/e nasty things that come up with an in-game shop.