Diablo 3's real-money auction house to enable gem and commodity trading in update

Comment

This must be <i>hilarious</i> in a rich man's world.

The real-money auction house has been up and running for three weeks now. In that time we've seen the Horadric Hamburger plummet in value, before clawing back some market confidence to settle at the more respectable average buyout of £23.53. But amid all the burger-drama, Blizzard still aren't allowing Diablo 3 players to purchase gold and certain commodities for real cash. Until now! While gold will remain off limits, commodities like gems and crafting materials are about to become tradeable goods.

Community manage Kaivax revealed the real-money auction house update earlier this week, listing the items that will become available - gems, dyes, crafting materials, blacksmithing plans, jeweler designs and pages of training.

The staffer adds: "The ability to trade gold as a commodity won’t be included in this initial update, but we hope to enable it in the near future" Trading in-game gold for real cash is a slightly contentious issue that requires some careful regulation on Blizzard's part, given that it skirts so closely to the maligned (and now illegal in South Korea) practice of automated gold-farming for profit.

Expect cash-4-gold functionality to be implemented as soon as Blizzard are confident it won't be utterly abused by crooks.

Login to comment

Enter your PCGamesN username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
Forgotten your password?

14.5 million people have played Diablo 3, for an average of 193 hours each

Blizzard considering a 'self-found' mode for Diablo 3

Diablo 3 Auction House back online following full audit

Blizzard pull Diablo 3 auction house offline after gold duping bug shakes in-game economy

Blizzard want to make finding legendary items in Diablo 3 exciting every time

BlizzCon 2013 tickets on sale from April 24