Diablo III, auction houses, and online games

X'o'Lore

So, I'm gonna make a thread about Diablo III even though it's not out yet. There's some weird stuff going on with this game. Stuff about which I'm personally bothered by a bit but interesting things nonetheless. I'm certainly upset by the more online nature of it. I like playing games over LAN with a couple friends. Online games in many cases don't work because my internet isn't fast enough to support multiple people. Trying to play a coop rpg with my friends who are sitting next to me on a gigabit LAN and experiencing heavy lag or even dropping connections? Not cool.

On the other hand, if I could get past that gripe and approach D3 as an online game much like the free MMO fare I've been playing as of late, I think it could compare quite favorably. I could play the whole game solo. I don't have to play with strangers or put up with them ever. Yet there is still an auction house. This is easily the most curious part since there will apparently be options to sell things for real money. Sorta of a cash shop like you'd find in a free play MMO, except you can also pay real money for stuff other people are selling too.

This seems like a major experiment. I'm actually kind of curious how it goes.

Anyone else have thoughts?

TheFlameOfHearts

I thought it was a really cool way to both fix the trading system and to make a user driven economy. As far as I see it, it's exactly the same as it was before, but I always need to be on the internet (Which I am anyways). And if I find some awesome loot that I'll never use, I might be able to make some 20 bucks on it.

But I can see it being kinda lame if you've got a slower internet.

Serephel

There is a market for paying cash for Diablo items. Blizzard is just bringing the market out from underground and regulating it. It may be able to work out better for everyone involved. This opinion also has absolutely no parallels to any other major issues in the US right now.