Monday, August 1, 2011

Diablo 3 RMT

After reading a few blogs on the announced D3 RMT I feel .. empty.

You might think that I hate it, but actually, no. Diablo 3 is not a virtual world. It is just a game. And apparently I can play solo and I can ignore the RMT. So .. I don't really care. Perhaps I can make a bit of money by selling stuff - probably I won't play D3 long enough for that to happen.

What's bad about this is the influence it does have on virtual worlds. But I can't imagine at that point that Titan is supposed to be a virtual world, anyway. It, too, will be just a game.

I could care less about the requirement to always be online. For me that is a holy war some people fight there. I am always online anyway. And I don't usually play games when I travel or have no access to internet.

I generally am skeptical of player-made mods. A few Elder Scrolls mods were good, but mostly I don't get much fun out of these things. To be able to change the rules of a game by downloading a mod feels wrong and arbitrary.

One last thing about the RMT AH: One big problem game companies are faced with when it comes to MT is how much each thing should cost. By having a player-run market pin-point optimal prices, they not only get the revenue-maximizing price, but also save the work to determine a good price themselves. Taking some percentage off that market-price feels better, too. And it doesn't disrupt the in-game economy.

Of course, I won't play together with anonymous players in D3, as I couldn't respect their equipment or avatar. But I never planned to play D3 multiplayer, anyway. It is just a game.

6 comments:

  1. Diablo is not a single player game if it requires an always on internet connection.

    Blizz might get their arse handed to them in court.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Detailed take on it here:
    http://stabbedup.blogspot.com/2011/08/diablo-3-who-wants-to-be-professional.html

    Regarding your feeling of deflation can I point you towards my old D2 guild the Amazon Basin?
    http://www.theamazonbasin.com/

    The AB originated from amazon players discovering that in the grab it fast loot system Diablo 2 had being the ranged guy or gal in a group really sucked. It is all about consideration for other people, ethical play and aversion to cheating. In Diablo 2 after a while most players had traded for duped high end runes but we never saw these in our private passworded AB games (or if someone did have one they could say where each rune dropped and usually had witnesses too). It was and I'm sure still is an exceedingly honest generous and friendly community.

    Unlike a MMO you can wall off communities in an online game and ignore how the rest of the world plays. Try it when D3 comes out, it sounds just the experience you want. I'm known there as Brista and I'll be turning up for D3 too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the invitation, Stabs. I don't know how much I will play D3.

    If, unlike in D1 and D2, I suddenly like killing enemies in the hundreds enough to continue playing after I played through the story, I'll think of you :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I found the no add-on policy interesting as I think add-on were part of WoWs success. And, to be honest, Blizzard really sucks in interface design. I can't imagine WoW being still alive without all those interface add-ons.

    And for the always online part I think the important point is what impact a lost connection has. In WoW it doesn't have any impact as you can login and continue. But other games might immediately kill your current mission which is unacceptable to me, especially if you play over WLAN.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And especially if you play hardcore mode, Kring. I agree ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Shannara

    Single player/multiplayer is not defined by internet connection. If you play the campaign mode by yourself, it's single player.

    The fact that you mention Blizzard going to court over this issue displays how far humans have come with their "I want it my way" mentality.

    Diablo is a video game. You don't have to buy it and play it. You are not entitled to play it offline. Blizzard made the game - it belongs to them.

    ReplyDelete