To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Diablo III's auction house, which let players trade in-game gold or real money for items, isn't long for this world. In a post on Battle. The reasoning, explained by Hight and game director Josh Mosquiera , isn't hard to predict: Blizzard was worried that the game was less engaging when people could just buy loot instead of fighting for it.
At this year's GDC, Wilson said that it was supposed to reduce fraud by not making players resort to outside services to trade goods. It's possible that happened, but Wilson said the houses still ended up cheapening the game's basic elements and "really hurt" it. Even if you believe the auction house was a good idea, there were concrete practical problems as well.
The game suffered a brief but dramatic shutdown earlier this year, after a gold-duplicating bug caused hyperinflation in the game's economy. Now, Blizzard hopes it can improve the game substantially with "Loot 2. And while we still don't know exactly when that expansion will come out, it seems Blizzard is taking the opportunity to take care of one of its long-standing regrets. Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week.
This meant that gamers could spend less time killing monsters to get the loot that they wanted. The game became more about the trading in the Auction House than actually playing. Force , a former Diablo gamer who used to stream his matches on YouTube, put it this way :. That killed my desire to play the game. On a Blizzard gamer forum discussing why the Auction Houses were taken down, one poster explains :.
All you have to do is level to 70 and you can slap on anything you want. Pretty pathetic requirements to be honest. This is why good game design is so important. Game designers know that every decision that they make about a game — every action enabled, every rule imposed, every feature introduced — has an impact on how it is enjoyed by gamers.
This is why we are not ignorant of the fact that enabling true ownership in a video game, as the Hoard platform aims to facilitate, can have a substantial effect on gameplay. However, it can also provide new opportunities for unique game design and create a more rewarding experience for both gamers and game developers.
If true ownership of game items becomes the standard, then gameplay mechanisms will have to adapt for the following inevitabilities:. Free trade of game items between players Game developers have to be prepared for a new economy to emerge when gamers can freely trade their assets.
Gamers who create value will be rewarded by those who are looking to consume that value. Only trust had been broken. This is game that is largely dictated by the players, not a collective of scriptwriters.
According to a Guardian article :. Its victories come slowly. They require long-view investment, even leadership skills. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamers have been given six months to prepare for the closure of the auction houses. The auctions made it easier for gamers to pursue their quest to defeat Diablo. The game's auction houses allow players to buy or sell items for real-world money.
Published 12 July Published 13 June Published 15 May
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