Blizzard Entertainment & Bitcoins

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I was not aiming for World of Warcraft specifically when I talked to them. I was talking more about any payment options they have because generally they use the same payment methods throughout.

Also, blizzard would most likely completely disregard the conversation if I was talking about bitcoins for gold/items.

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[sharky112065]

They wont. First, btc is not stable enough price wise. Second, it would take them ages to cashout at $1k per day limits. Third, it would increase their costs to handle btc.

It would be much wiser to get people in the SL community to accept btc. If you have the skills to write code in SL scripting language you should start there.

Why do people not think things through? Youth?

Well it is my understanding that arrangements can be made with the exchange operator to have a higher withdrawal limit.

Stability in the market, yeah I agree with you there.

No, the cost increase to handle BTC would be offset by eliminating CC fees (Of course there will be exchange fees, but that is no where near what they pay in CC fees).

He might not have thought every thing through, but we need more people/company's accepting BTC or we will never have a higher demand which will stabilize the price a bit. IMO his mindset is right on.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I've been considering asking them to add a "donation" address that is publicly viewed in order for them to gauge the accumulation so that they may have a better idea of the number of users that may be interested in this. Obviously, the number of users supporting this payment option would grow as time goes on, saving them money in the end. I think this may be a good idea if they open an address that we are able to donate even the slightest amount (0.00001 for example) to push them to get on-board.

What helps them, helps bitcoin and vica-verca.

I will add this to my discussions with the link that I've reached so far if it sounds like a good idea to the general bitcoin community. I don't want to speak for the entire bitcoin community, which is why I have created this topic in the first place.

[Nescio]

Now let's compare that to buying a prepaid timecard in a physical supermarket. Pretend you're the CFO going to pitch the adoption of a timecard system.

Heh, thanks, now I don't have to make a similar list I was going to include writing a CV, getting a job, going through the hassle of getting IDd/rejected/reapplying for a bank account, waiting for your first paycheck etc. - since Jalum conveniently ignores the fact that US Dollars do not magically fall out of the air either.

You only need many of the steps once, and some of them are nonsense to begin with (9. waiting for confirmation over the weekend, huh? It's seconds for reception, minutes for confirmation - half an hour if you're extremely unlucky). Also, similar to USD, once you have Bitcoins you can use them for other things as well, which inevitably will follow if/when Blizzard starts supporting them.

Cool about Wuala, LaCie is a big brand.

BTW, I don't personally think Blizzard will jump into this soon, they will probably want to wait it out regarding legal status and the biggest issue is that their competing payment providers will undoubtedly have something to say about this.

[twobits]

Now let's compare that to buying a prepaid timecard in a physical supermarket. Pretend you're the CFO going to pitch the adoption of a timecard system.

Everyone knows what a timecard is.  No one knows what a bitcoin is.  See the difference?

Timecard? Never heard of that.

A timecard is something that some hourly workers  had to stick in a calibrated clock at the start of end of their shifts to get paid.

[twobits]

Fine.  Spend your time calling their CS reps in Indonesia, hoping that someone will pass on your brilliant idea.  Attend Blizzcon wearing your "Who is John Galt?" shirt and fedora.  Just please update us on your progress as you do these things.

lol, now I see why you think it is a stupid idea, because in your head it certainly is.  No one said anything about John Galt shirts or fedora.   You are right, given your thought process and view of it, for you it would be a waste of time.  Don't worry we aren't asking you to be the one to do it,  as we already know you would fail at it.

[whenhowwho]

I think it is a marvelous idea and Blizzard probably will also. Credit card fees suck and add up to incredible amounts of money. The cards that are sold in stores one month cards two month cards or whatever, blizzard is lucky to see half of their value. Especially if they are being sold at walmart. Kudos to OP and be persistent. To the naysayers I say open your minds just little bit put down your hotpockets and red bull long enough to think about things. By your way of thinking i could say the following: why would anyone make friends online and talk to them everyday when they could go out into the real world and talk to real people. I guess there are 750 million retards on facebook then. Perhaps i could have been a bit more articulate but hopefully you get the point.

[SlipperySlope]

Actually given how kids are shut out of a lot of net commerce due to not being able to get a credit card and such,  but may just have a decent graphics card for games and time and knowledge to figure things out, I bet the number that would do this is far more then you would suspect.   It also is smart marketing to get kids used to bitcoins and the idea they have value.

Agreed.  And bitcoins are a boon to anyone wanting to hide financial transactions - and for those reasons cannot use conventional payments online.

[Maged]

As someone more familiar with Blizzard, let me tell you that your message about Bitcoins would NOT have been passed up. Communication between Austin, Texas and Irvine, California is pretty bad. If you want to see this go anywhere, post it on their forums and hope that some CMs see it.

That being said, I bet if I asked, many of my contacts there will have at least heard of Bitcoin.

[EconomicOracle]

I wish you luck in braving the blizzard, OP. You may reach times of struggle, with cold snow blasting in your face, but remember: You have bitcoins on you`re side. When your cold and freezing, just think of the bitcoins. Think of the boiling hot mining rigs. Think of the flames that burn down houses. If you do, you won't feel the cold anymore! You'll be reinvigorated!

[arnoldrimmer]

The should accept ingame Money that would be cool that way I would fireup my Farmbots again!

[Gabi]

Why should they accept bitcoins?  Aside from you just wanting them to, that is.  Who is unable to pay them in a currency they accept but who would pay them in pretend internet coins?  Do even five of those people exist?

You're right in your first post, this is a complete waste of your time.  But that's not an uncommon theme with bitcoiners.

Actually given how kids are shut out of a lot of net commerce due to not being able to get a credit card and such,  but may just have a decent graphics card for games and time and knowledge to figure things out, I bet the number that would do this is far more then you would suspect.   It also is smart marketing to get kids used to bitcoins and the idea they have value.

^This!

A lot of kids that doesn't have their credit card and whatelse are able to use their GPU to mine without problems and will then buy games and other things with bitcoins

Sure they won't make thousands of $ per month via mining, but even 15$ is enough to pay a MMO, so they can and will

[Exonumia]

The thing is... with little to no effort... Blizzard can sell sparkly ponies for $25 a pop... and does daily... and they are not very keen on people buying and selling their own virtual currency.

Now they might sign you up as a retailer of game time cards (and WOW trading cards while your at it!)... then YOU could sell them for bitcoins

When they need money they just create another virtual pet or mount and cash the checks, bitcoin would be way to much work for them right now.

[BTC-Joe]

I was not aiming for World of Warcraft specifically when I talked to them. I was talking more about any payment options they have because generally they use the same payment methods throughout.

Also, blizzard would most likely completely disregard the conversation if I was talking about bitcoins for gold/items.

Yeah, the same payment method that most companies use - credit card.

Don't you think it's a little early to write-off any possibilities for this approach? Blizzard's official position about people who buy gold or items is that they don't support it and would "ban" anyone who was discovered, but the fact is that they acknowledge that "secondary market" is one of the big reasons their game thrives so they continue to turn a blind eye.

Basically, they could test bitcoin's viability by selling virtual items - which costs them nothing...and if they sell their ponies and horsies for BTC it would certainly drive up demand for bitcoins, and in turn their value.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I was not aiming for World of Warcraft specifically when I talked to them. I was talking more about any payment options they have because generally they use the same payment methods throughout.

Also, blizzard would most likely completely disregard the conversation if I was talking about bitcoins for gold/items.

Yeah, the same payment method that most companies use - credit card.

Don't you think it's a little early to write-off any possibilities for this approach? Blizzard's official position about people who buy gold or items is that they don't support it and would "ban" anyone who was discovered, but the fact is that they acknowledge that "secondary market" is one of the big reasons their game thrives so they continue to turn a blind eye.

Basically, they could test bitcoin's viability by selling virtual items - which costs them nothing...and if they sell their ponies and horsies for BTC it would certainly drive up demand for bitcoins, and in turn their value.

The items I was thinking about was more so equipment for your character, not their in-game mounts/pets or whatever else they've got now. I agree that testing BTC via ponies would be a good idea.

[tymothy]

People exchange WOW gold for Bitcoins
People pay Blizzard in Bitcoins to continue playing WOW
Blizzard doesn't have to pay CC transaction fees

[terroh8er]

I don't have any idea how much credit card fees are, but I have a feeling it is no where near the volatility of Bitcoin. I'm used to waking up every morning and having the price gone up/down 10%. And that's on a quiet day. A company like Blizzard doesn't need to expose itself to that kind of risk.

What you can and should do is post on the WoW forums and tell people they can pay for their WoW subscription by letting guiminer run overnight. Do so in three sentences or less and don't use words like "inflation", "government", or "Ben Bernanke".

After they realize it's not a scam and trust you, you can explain the ideology and the world of Bitcoin. Who knows, maybe they'll find something on SR to give them an extra "boost" in late night raids 

[Jalum]

Heh, thanks, now I don't have to make a similar list I was going to include writing a CV, getting a job, going through the hassle of getting IDd/rejected/reapplying for a bank account, waiting for your first paycheck etc. - since Jalum conveniently ignores the fact that US Dollars do not magically fall out of the air either.

As an average adult in Western society, if someone tells me that something costs a dollar, I have the background knowledge about how I can attain a dollar, and the various means with which I can transmit that dollar to the other party.

The average adult does not know what a bitcoin is.  Once you explain to them about anonymous cryptocurrencies, if they're still interested they will need to know how to obtain one.  Please come up with a more concise list of steps that you would tell someone to ensure that they were able to turn their dollars into bitcoins into a WoW subscription.  This is what Blizzard would have to do: if they advertise a payment method, they sure as hell make sure you know how to utilize it.

You only need many of the steps once, and some of them are nonsense to begin with (9. waiting for confirmation over the weekend, huh? It's seconds for reception, minutes for confirmation - half an hour if you're extremely unlucky).

Step number 9 is because there is a prevention on moving money into/out of Dwolla or Mtgox on weekends, isn't there?  Isn't that the justification for the price falling every weekend?  As a result, no serious merchant would agree to a price in bitcoins if they couldn't immediately convert those to dollars, which cannot be done on the weekend.

Also, similar to USD, once you have Bitcoins you can use them for other things as well, which inevitably will follow if/when Blizzard starts supporting them.

Yes, the products you can buy with bitcoins are "similar" to those you can buy with USD.  They just cost 400% more.

[eyal]

i'm trying to build a service that would make accepting bitcoins from customers (and getting paid in USD if they want to)

see out http://openbitcoin.biz

[MaGNeT]

Why should they accept bitcoins?  Aside from you just wanting them to, that is.  Who is unable to pay them in a currency they accept but who would pay them in pretend internet coins?  Do even five of those people exist?

You're right in your first post, this is a complete waste of your time.  But that's not an uncommon theme with bitcoiners.

Serious question... Why did you even bother to create an account on this forum?