Ding-Dong the RMAH is Dead!

Often cited as the single most disruptive feature to Diablo III, the auction house, both the gold one and the real-money version, will officially be shutting down, to be replaced with the console version of the loot system, which gives more appropriate loot to those characters who find it, but with far less trash in between.

As I've often said, the Auction House in Diablo highlighted several problems with both the concept of microtransactions and also the notion of buying power in games.

On the Real-Money side of things, the real money auction house, or RMAH, was a manner in which real dollars could be turned into power. The problems here should be obvious, but the primary one is simply the way that this dilutes the fun of the game. If a cool weapon is available instantly, it cheapens the hard work of slaying monsters or gathering crafting ingredients. It also means that those with more disposable income are actually at an advantage in game. Guys, one of the reasons we play games (not the only one, but one of them) is to escape that kind of world. You might be making 20k a year and living in a tiny apartment, but in a video game, you can stand atop your hoard of treasures.

But more fundamentally, getting a huge boost in power for no true effort in-game feels cheap. It's like cheat codes. Sure, it was a lot of fun the first time around getting invincibility, infinite ammo, and all one-hit kills, but the whole point of a game like this is to see your power grow, allowing you to blast away enemies that were once a real danger to you because of your own tenacity and skill.

In the dawning free-to-play/pay-to-win era, I think video games are in grave danger of having their fun sucked out in the name of profit-maximization. I heartily applaud Blizzard for taking a step back and really focusing on making the game more fun.

While the RMAH was theoretically designed as a way for players to sell items to one another, I have to imagine that Blizzard either took a cut or generated some items to be sold there as well (or both.) So taking down the RMAH will actually hurt Blizzard a bit financially, but that just makes me respect them more.

I wish that all game-makers were primarily concerned about creating a fun and engrossing experience first, and maximizing revenue after that. I realize that these are businesses, and a business must make a profit. But Blizzard has earned a great deal of good will over the years by focusing on constant tweaking and iteration to make their games as enjoyable as they can. A move like this, that improves the fun of the game at Blizzard's expense, is a laudable move that cements my respect for them as a company.