Diablo III given go ahead for South Korean Sales

[CrazyKooK]

Diablo III officially accepted in S. Korea Without Auction House​

For those that are unaware, Blizzard will be launching a new system for in-game trading in its soon to launch Diablo 3 game. This in-game trading system will allow for many items to be traded for REAL money. The system, which Blizzard will take a cut of sales from, is official meant to deter "unsafe" third party dealers and sketchy 10 year olds that don't deliver.

South Korea has prevented Diablo III from entering its country as-is due to this system. The ability to profit from playing a game falls into the country's gambling definition, strictly prohibited under their law. While battling it out, Blizzard initially refused to change the next installment of Diablo for the country, yet after no budging from South Korea Blizzard has removed this feature and the Country has just officially given permissions for its release. (Diablo is huge in Korea, so an Auction market there would pose the potential for exceptional profits, likely the reason for Blizzard's initial refusal to remove it).

While the Pay-for-Gear Auction house does pose a true threat to many players and may take away from enjoyment of the game, Blizzard has been met with criticism on two fronts:

• Excessive greed with their cash-cow subscription games
• An unfair advantage to those that simply buy gear

While both criticisms hold merit I would propose that there is a gray middle. To control the full customer experience of the game the developer has to control the market where characters and items are being bought and sold. There are simply too many users out there that are buying gold for WoW, etc. that then drop due to poor experiences outside of Blizzard's control. Secondly while there is an unfair advantage give to those that can simply buy the gear, there is a rarely talked about advantage that is given to those with TOO MUCH TIME... As a very buys individual I grow irritated with titles that give huge advantage to the 12 year old with nothing to do after class but playing WoW for 6 hours with an occasional break to eat a Hot Pocket and jerk it to reruns of Xena. With no skill necessarily involved in gaining better gear, simply the time to grind, that gear then specs the character outside of fair competition. So, while seemingly unfair to gamers, the Auction house may be more of an equalizer than one may think.