If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a link I posted about Blizzard's announcement for one of their upcoming, long-awaited games.
Diablo III, which is yet to be released (currently in alpha or beta play as far as I know) is an MMORPG. Whether or not its gameplay or aesthetics will defeat Blizzard's previous ultimate success (World of Warcraft), the developers have recently released a statement that changes their game's economy drastically.
A few days ago, Blizzard announced that Diablo III may contain an in-game auction house that buys and sells items with real money. Naturally, an uproar from much of the player base erupted about how these implementations are unnecessary. There is already a dominance of (illegal) real-money trading in World of Warcraft run by Chinese industries, and the prediction is that the Chinese will do the same for Diablo III.
What intrigues me though is Blizzard's decision to harness the idea of in-game trading rather than attempting to ban it like in World of Warcraft. Shortly after reading the relevant article, I wondered how this would change the status of a gamer in the not too distant future. Soon enough, gamers will be able to earn an income purely from in-game economy engines.
What intrigues me further is the fact that this now blurs the line between work and play. Naturally we would see games to be a tool for play - one we can settle down in a comfortable computer chair and get a kick out of playing. Now with the ability to earn income, it is possible for a gamer to balance both work and play in-game. Suddenly, this changes the field of action. Instead of going out, travelling to our workplace, earning an income then travelling back home to spend the rest of the day relaxing (say, by playing games), one can spend their time acquiring in-game items of value, selling them in-game for real income, then spend the rest of the day on the same game relaxing / having fun.
Whether this is ethically right or wrong, however, is a different story.
Thanks for the read and I'll see you all next week :)
note: sorry nothing had to do with the week's lecture material or readings but I really felt I needed to blog about this. hope you don't mind!
