Blizzard vs. Real Money Trading (RMT)

[Concillian]

Hi,

I don't like RMT because, as Bolty said, it conflicts with the suspension of disbelief and the immersion that makes gaming fun for me. However, I don't think the real problem with game economies in general is RMT or the lack of an AH. The real problem with game economies is saturation. Once a character has a certain level of gear, he no longer wants anything at a lower level. Once the level of gear has maxed, there is no desire or need to replace it. In WoW, the big items in the AH were twinking gear, vanity items (white kittens, etc.), and consumables (or the materials for them). I don't think any game will have a good economy unless it incorporates durability reduction and eventual destruction of gear.

A big part of Diablo II was building new characters, and gear that was good at low to mid level always had some value didn't it? Twinking items, I guess.

Items that were good, but still reasonably common. They weren't useless, but they weren't unobtainable either. Twitchthroe, for example, had it's uses, and was something you had a reasonable chance of getting ahold of, unlike something like Windforce or even an SoJ. While it wasn't coveted like the other two, it's wasn't completely worthless either, was it?

I guess I may as well be talking out my ass, since I didn't really do much item trading in Diablo II. I mostly used what I found, farmed, or gambled myself.