Online Games - Diablo III

Diablo 3 in Hell Mode – Blizzard’s Efforts in Battling Scammers, Hackers and Gold Farmers in the Game

Diablo 3 is considered the newest ace of Blizzard Entertainment, and they are known to produce fun and quality games for any type of gamer. As we all know, its predecessor Diablo 2 has been a favorite game for both casual and hardcore gamers for years. The storyline for Diablo 2 is unique and encourages “replayability,” players go through the game 5 times or even 10 times in a row, in order to satisfy their hunger for unique gears and increasing character attributes.  

When it comes to Diablo 3, anticipation is at all-time high; millions of gamers are expecting a more revolutionary, challenging, solid game. Actually, Diablo 3 has this characteristic but we forgot times are changing - even in the gaming world. We are more connected now than before, no wonder Blizzard made Diablo 3 like any other online dungeon crawler. As they said it before, it needs to be online to prevent gear and character manipulation. 

However, Blizzard hasn’t anticipated the influx of hackers, gold farmers and scammers that is now prevalent in the game. The world of D3 is now a dangerous place for gamers and securing your account will always be your primary concern. For this task, you will need to acquire an “Authenticator” and this is your first line of defence against hackers. 

Basically, gear sellers and gold farmers to name a few are those people who considered online games as their main source of income. They earn a living by selling virtual items for real world money, and a lot of gamers do patronize them; especially those who don’t have much time to spend for their games but has the financial means to buy virtual items for their characters.

For all this shortcomings, Blizzard introduced a new method of addressing this trend. As the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, then join them,” and so they created a built-in real money auction house. All players are now allowed to sell their virtual items (products) on this auction house and they will have an opportunity to sell those items in real world currencies like dollars, pounds, yen, etc.     

The problem with this system can be traced on Korean-type MMO games, where the rich gamers are the ones that are dominating the game. It’s now pay-to-win and that could ruin the whole gaming experience for me, as I’m just another casual gamer who really want to enjoy a game and be competitive enough against other players. I’m not really against Blizzard, but I hope that they change their business model and move towards the needs and wants of the gaming community.

 

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