# Diablo 3 revelations cause a stir



## SFF Chronicles News (Oct 20, 2013)

*1st August 2011 07:12 PM*

Darren Allan







 Diablo 3 is the hugely awaited next instalment of the classic action RPG from Blizzard.

 But the latest revelations regarding the game haven’t gone down well with many sections of the community.

 So what’s causing all the hoo-hah? First of all, Diablo 3 will require players to be online to play. There’ll be no offline mode, which has caused many a giant bee to settle in some player’s bonnets of rage +6.

 The reason for the online stipulation is to monitor the game and safeguard against cheating, and the importance of this is tied into a second fact which has caused even more of an outcry.

 Players will be able to sell stuff at the game’s auction house not just for gold pieces, but for real money. Hence why it’s so important to stop cheats, as if they could generate a super weapon for themselves, they could flog it for a pile of cash. And you could bet there’d be a whole lot of that going on.

 Certainly introducing the ability to sell loot for real world cash is the most controversial move Diablo 3 is making. Blizzard, while not selling equipment directly, will get a small percentage of player-to-player trades.

 The argument is that gold farming and folks buying equipment and money from farmers will happen anyway, on the “black” in-game market, so why not make it official, and ensure people aren’t ripped off by dodgy websites too.

 And that’s a fair point, but still the whole idea leaves us feeling a little uneasy somehow.

 We can’t say this will stop us playing Diablo 3 – if people want to buy big swords for real life money instead of getting the satisfaction of earning them in-game, that’s their problem. But we worry about where this is heading.

 The increase in micro-transactions as monetisation, and moves like Call of Duty bringing in Elite subscriptions, seem to point towards gaming inevitably becoming a more expensive habit (but via a more insidious, incremental spending nature).

 Finally, Diablo 3 becoming a closed non-cheaty system also means that Blizzard has outlawed modding from the game. Doubtless they will have lost some of their hardcore player base with these moves.

 Although any fiscal pain from lack of sales there is likely to very much be made up for by taking a cut of those pieces of shiny mithril armour and scythes of death dealing which are flying around at dollars a pop.


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