Diablo 3 awarded official status from S.Korea ratings board, real money auction house removed

Using real money to by imaginary items, no thanks.

as long as its taken to release this game should pay us for staying loyal to it.

People are going to buy and sell items via other sites anyway, its just an inherent part of the game you cant really get past. If this means Blizzard can make their money without having to charge a monthly subscription fee like WOW, then that is a good thing. They just better find a way to control the hacking that is sure to come.

I think the gambling element they are reffering to is buying items at the in game auction and then trying to sell them for a profit, sort of like the stock market.

I'm broke so I guess I'll be one of the weaker characters.... The more money you have to spend, the more powerful.... Sounds like America, the Role Playing Game.

Although I disagree with the option to buy special items for real money, as I prefer to gain my items through quests or through earning fake gold to buy my fake armor and weapons, it will in no way shape or form prevent me from buying the game itself. Do what you like Blizzard, but while your at it, get back to work on Starcraft: Ghost you NOOBS!!!!

I'm a beta tester and I've been so busy playing Skyrim, I haven't put in many hours. The art direction is a bit too bright, not gloomy enough, and the voices are annoying.. your characters sound like pirates. I do think I'll play just to try and find items to sell though, once it goes live.

"those gamers with less disposable income would be at an inherent disadvantage when it comes to weapons, items, and armor in the game."
It's not that...it's the idea that people pay to have an advantage in a GAME

yeah fine , whatever , just release the dang game already but i am not paying $17k in real money for any blessed sword like the chinese guy did though !..ain't happening no way !!

I wonder if Blizzard will be taking a % of the sale of these items....

This article doesn't pertain to the usual gamer, it pertains to the top of the top where they actually compete. Same thing with WoW, if all gear was purchasable with real money, the TOP guilds will buy gear for the entire raid team to down bosses, therefore ruining the game. I'm not talking about you chums that didn't down reg DS when it came out, I'm talking about the top of the raiding guilds.

If you honestly think rejecting this is a bad idea, you're not a gamer.

I played SWGalaxies, and i remember people going off-site to buy credits and the special loot gained from the "trading card game" for several hundreds of dollars per item (namely rare buildings). I think this is where the "gambling" comes in. You pay $15 a month and if you're lucky you can loot a rare item (luck of the draw) that you can sell for $50 to $500. If you consider someone spending money in hopes of getting lucky and making a profit, then yeah i think that qualifies as gambling.

I personally found the act of off-site deals irritating, because the selling/buying of game cash(credits) drove up the prices of in-game items, which encouraged people to buy credits off-site, which further drove up in-game costs, pretty much a form of inflation which made it hard for legitimate players to afford many items. I agree with the idea that if i pay a monthly fee for a game then i don't want to feel dirt poor after putting in an honest effort according to the official game rules. The fact that little to nothing was done to cut down on credit-selling led to much speculation that the game staff members themselves were selling credits off-site.

Really, i don't see why people get excited about the loot systems anyway. What's wrong with giving everyone a fair chance of earning the desired items through quests or missions, instead of a long shot of "hoping" to randomly loot them? Being lucky enough to loot a rare item does not make one skilled in any way, nor does buying a rare item looted by someone else. Let the prestige come from earning it through actual game-play, instead of it being some luck-earned (or cash-bought) symbol of arrogance.

Koreans ain't stupid they can just use a proxy. Such idiotic laws (and pretty much any that pertain to the internet, including pipa and sopa) can be circumvented.

How is it gambling? Gambling is gambling because you risk losing your money. This is more like a supplemental income. If you put in the time needed to earn an item you are rewarded with cash for your effort. I personally wouldn't spend any money on top of what I'm already paying for the game but that's my choice.

I agree with what Korea is thinking. What if a few multi millionaires monopolize the board and buy everything that's good? Us not so rich folks (to put it very very nicely...i'm actually flat broke) won't even have a chance, I've seen some of these guys, they're nutty enough to buy single items for over a hundred dollars and full characters for over a thousand dollars. Wouldn't stand a chance unless you love seeing your house on the foreclosure list and visiting the blood bank (all sense of the word) every few weeks. We have those issues already in real life, don't separate us by class even in an online game.... I vote no for real money items because a lot of us need that money to survive in real life. Let a game be a game. The real question is, will Diablo 3 come out as flawed as StarCraft 2. StarCraft 2 came out with no chatting channels to hang out with buddies, no clan tags, a lame party system every time you want to play a game, a crappy bunch of custom games that continuously litter the available gaming list and for over ten years of development, it was practically the same not to mention it was a third of the campaign. Blizzard, Diablo 3 will be the last chance you'll ever have. If you wreck that, you will never receive business from me again because it'll go to other games like Torchlight 2 and Guild Wars 2. You're ruining our most memorable games. StarCraft 2, I started with 78 active friends out of 120 on my list. Only like three or so months in, I was lucky to find 7 that are active. Sold the game immediately afterwards....

If South Koreans go to college to get a higher paying job, seeking a higher financial gain, wouldn't that be then considered gambling to them?

Having a real money auction house doesn't put those who have less disposable income at a disadvantage. It just makes it easier for those who are well off to purchase their items. Its just cutting the middle man, probably some chinese kid, out of the equation.

I dn't really care much whether 'bout the monetary part, da only thing I wana is to kick sme bad demons & ghouls behinds. DATZ ALL, so let the game out........

Condor games blew it when it allowed itself to be bought by Blizzard, then later
shanked by its corporate masters and the core talent behind Diablo dissolved. That's
when the real game died.

I thought up that idea years ago, people could literally make playing that game and selling stuff for real money theyre job.