I just sold my first virtual item for real cash in Diablo III

reply to post by Zaanny


Those 250$ item can they be found in the game ?

Originally posted by homeslice
reply to post by darkbake

 

Those many, many hours of time you spent "earning" that 10 bucks were pretty "real" weren't they?

Yes, they were. I totally earned way less than minimum wage on this.

But most of the time I've put in has been spent setting up the "business," I think after another month or so I should be able to consistently make a lot more... I was honestly surprised that I made anything because I'm not anywhere near setup yet.

Those many, many hours of time you spent "earning" that 10 bucks were pretty "real" weren't they?

It just blows my mind that people are willing to spend real cash on thin air.

These people are all WRONG. Items in games are the same thing as real decorations in your house. Or a diamond ring. Sure you can touch it, but it has no practical purpose besides "Just looking nice".

Not only does my Demon Blood Sage Armor look nice, but it has a practical purpose by raising my stats as well.

Originally posted by Ben81
reply to post by Zaanny

 

Those 250$ item can they be found in the game ?

edit on 6/15/2012 by Ben81 because: (no reason given)

Yeah, if you are able to equip yourself with high enough gear to make it to the most dangerous zones, you can find those $250.00 drops. It is really hard to do. I mean so hard that at times I'm not sure how I can even begin to improve my character anymore, but he is still getting owned in Act II, and the good drops are in Act III and Act IV. But once you get there, I think they will drop like at least once every few hours.

There is, in fact, an industry in China where people play these games and the company they works for sells their gold and items on the black market. You send them money through PayPal, and then meet up with one of their agents in a discrete location in-game to get the goods. I am suspicious about this, I suspect that as a previous poster mentioned, they are either prisoners or earning very little money. This is a problem with China though, not Blizzard - Blizzard has been banning those accounts. Also, this is how China has always operated, even in the real world.

I think it is natural for people to be skeptical, but if things continue to run their current course, things in the virtual world will be worth money just like the real world.

Originally posted by TsukiLunar

Those many, many hours of time you spent "earning" that 10 bucks were pretty "real" weren't they?

It just blows my mind that people are willing to spend real cash on thin air.

These people are all WRONG. Items in games are the same thing as real decorations in your house. Or a diamond ring. Sure you can touch it, but it has no practical purpose besides "Just looking nice".

Not only does my Demon Blood Sage Armor look nice, but it has a practical purpose by raising my stats as well.

edit on 15-6-2012 by TsukiLunar because: (no reason given)

You are right. These people just can't see it. It doesn't matter, though, because that is the way things are, and it will definitely become more apparent as the years progress. It is a big concept to grasp for someone who doesn't get it for one reason or another - and I don't blame them for that, either.

It is somewhat ridiculous if you think about it. But I think the bottom line is utility - how can this item help me accomplish my goals and shape the universe to my liking. For example, the jello offered earlier has very little utility, even in the virtual world. It was a great example though, genius.

And anyway, there has always been a realm of ideas that has been separate from the physical realm. We communicate all the time in that realm, and it is able to affect the physical realm through its application. I think some people have trouble identifying this, as well.

There is one last thing I would like to say - things in the physical world have a very hard time being "hacked" or "blinking out of existence for no reason" or "modified from a distance" etc. What I mean is, there is an advantage to physical objects, in that they are much more permanent. It isn't too hard to imagine a scenario in which the internet gets wiped out for some reason or another.

Originally posted by jiggerj
reply to post by darkbake

 

Don't remember where I heard this, but a woman designs shoes for female avatars and sells them for either $600 or $60 bucks (can't remember which price either). I think it was in a documentary with Michu Kaku on futuristic stuff.

In case anyone's interested, I made some cyber lime green Jell-o I can email to ya for just $3.99. Anyone? Anyone?

edit on 6/15/2012 by jiggerj because: (no reason given)

What a rip off!!! I just bought that same Jell-o for 99 cents!

As for Diablo III... bought it because I played the first Diablo in college and then D2 years later, but now 15 years later I feel like they weren't even able to build on the success of the previous games. The game is boring and cannot keep me motivated enough to log in. Wish I could get a refund, but Blizzard's customer service will derail any ticket in order to not answer questions about refunds.

Done with Blizzard for this lifetime.


Khar

To detractors, if you don't want to do it, or don't want your kids doing it, DON'T DO IT.

I myself used to design for a gaming company, and made pretty good money doing it. My images even graced their pre-paid cards for a while, which made me MORE money, because the contract I had allowed me to negotiate for more money when my images were transposed from virtual to print.

Everyone should be making money, and if you aren't interest in paying to play, then don't.

Congrats on your first virtual sale, My first one was 2 Everquest 2 accounts, Made $400 for the 2. After that i made a few of them to sell as the game it self was easy and fast to gather gear and levels.

reply to post by Unity_99


Sue them for what? Making a product you dont agree with? No one is forcing anyone into buying Diablo Why is you kid playing a MA game anyway?

Originally posted by g146541
Cool story! Good job!
Auction sales = $10
Monthly subscriptions = -$30
Net profit = -$20 not including credit card costs for mats bought on the auction house.

One could have taken up a real world trade and made much more and got a tan in the process.
Listen, those games are fun but they are truly life suckers, please stop.

That's not how it works. Diablo III does not require a monthly subscription, it is solely a $60 game. If you wanted to be technical, you can reduce costs such as bandwidth and electricity, and this is only assuming ONE item is sold throughout the entire month.

However, there are some people who grind religiously for materials in say, World of Warcraft, Blizzard's MMO (and the most popular out there), which they use to craft Epic items that are sold for in-game gold. Some people rake in hundreds of thousands of gold in the game using methods like this, and with real world currency involve, if the same people are able to put equal amount of hours and and make a similarly vast income, the profits made with the Diablo Auction House would completely pay for the $60 game cost and possibly cover the electricity bill and other bills for that month.

Kept up on a daily basis, this game has the potential to be a low-paying job. At least, while the market is still up, which might be quite awhile as Diablo is quite popular.

reply to post by darkbake


That's way cool, it really adds another layer to gaming.

Congratulations on your accomplishment(s) and enjoy the cash, well done..

reply to post by darkbake


Thats nothing bro. I play a game called Wurm Online, and its pretty much just a survival/crafting games, survival and grinding skills at low levels, but the people who have played for atleast a year, and get their skills ridiculously high, are able to craft high level items, which can sell for up to 100 silver in game, which is equal to 100 Euros, which they can then sell to other players at a lower rate than the game websites prices, but its still really profitable. Heck, i needed some money a few weeks ago in game, and spent 50 USD on 70s from a friend whos in the currency trading business, and he makes upwards of 200 AUD a week, just from selling chunks of his huge in game fortune. Last week, the guy left for Poland to attend the Euro 2012 football championship, using money he made from the game.

But anyways, best of luck to you and your money making

Playing Diablo 3 also at the moment. Will not get into the Real Money Auctions at all. The Diablo series (Blizzard games for that matter) seems to have the reputation (earned or not) as one of the most hacked/exploited games in existence. In no way would I willingly give any financial account information to Blizzard. Not sure I would even ever advertise gear to anyone, as I'd hate to log in one day and have everything gone and selling on the Auction House.

Hey can anyone U2U me a demo guest pass to mess around with?

I ordered a copy over a week ago and just got a message saying it's back ordered suddenly and I have to wait until between June29th and July 18th for my copy to arrive. I would get it somewhere else but I'm using a giftcard I was given so I have no choice but to wait really.

If anyone could please have mercy on me and u2u that code I would be so grateful and indebted!

I don't want to wait a month to play...

Ok now I guess I have to wait. Since everyone got 3 guest passes for their friends I'm bound to land one of them somewhere.

I will have faith and try to be patient (even though it's hard).

Originally posted by Unity_99
My son wanted this game, and there are now several level 60's and I am furious with Blizzard, for their evil in their real house auction. And think people should sue their bottoms off.

I will never allow my son to use real money for anything.

edit on 15-6-2012 by Unity_99 because: (no reason given)

Sueing anyone would be inappropriate and self-righteous.

The game wasn't made for your son, and it's a free market. You don't have to use real money to get anything in the game. I don't like the real-money concept either, but you might as well be the person who sues McDonald's because he's fat - which is entirely his own fault for being irresponsible - but thanks to our entire flawed justice system, succeeded.

reply to post by croweboy


One of my friend's accounts got hacked, and he lost everything... luckily Blizzard got him back his stuff the next day. Also, we both ordered authenticators, which are physical devices that you press a button on to get a random number that you use to login to Diablo 3. It prevents hacking pretty handily.

Besides the initial sale, I haven't done anything in the real-money auction house - I have been more in need of gold to upgrade equipment since the final difficulty levels are a bit insane.

There are a few issues I've come to realize about Diablo 3 - for one thing, the equipment you find in a certain act is the equipment needed for the act before it, not the act after it. In other words, the whole system is set up so that the auction house is necessary to progress. However, it is still possible to earn enough gold to get to higher acts by purchasing equipment with in-game funds, and this does make the game more fun.

One thing that worries me is, what happens if video games get to the point where it is virtually required to spend real money to progress? There are some really annoying competitive empire-building flash games like that.... the empires in the lead have spent well over $500.00 to get there, and the rest of us can't progress.

LOL I do this on a regular basis on Second Life, I sell virtual land for an estate company, and when I get paid, I can convert this to real world cash. There've been times I made upwards to $200.00/week selling land.
Amazing what people spend money on to keep up with the 'virtual world Jonses'