Diablo III replace Real-money ah with BTC

[norulezapply]

Blizzard aren't going to implement Bitcoin in Diablo 3. I don't understand why you guys think they will.

Sure, it'd be a cool idea, for us Bitcoin users, but the majority of the general public will just use conventional methods.

Sure, it'd be great for adoption, but Blizzard aren't going to use a currency with hardly any users in comparison to conventional means, especially one that many small-scale businesses aren't using.

Start small, then the big companies will follow. Bitcoin is still an infant.

Blizzard is a huge company. They care about easy profits, not adopting a digital currency with a tiny market cap..

Come on, you guys seriously think they'd consider it? Not to mention that it'd cost them thousands of dollars to implement and test a Bitcoin auction house, which would mean they'd probably lose money in the long run as I don't think they'd recoup that money any time soon. (consider the amount of Diablo 3 players that use the real money auction house and have a Bitcoin wallet - not a huge market)

Do you think they'd consider using a payment processor like AlertPay/SolidTrustPay/LibertyReserve in Diablo 3? Nope, I don't. These are all quite shady payment processors in the view of a large company and they will simply group Bitcoin up with them.

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[kwukduck]

Blizzard aren't going to implement Bitcoin in Diablo 3. I don't understand why you guys think they will.

Sure, it'd be a cool idea, for us Bitcoin users, but the majority of the general public will just use conventional methods.

Sure, it'd be great for adoption, but Blizzard aren't going to use a currency with hardly any users in comparison to conventional means, especially one that many small-scale businesses aren't using.

Start small, then the big companies will follow. Bitcoin is still an infant.

Blizzard is a huge company. They care about easy profits, not adopting a digital currency with a tiny market cap..

Come on, you guys seriously think they'd consider it? Not to mention that it'd cost them thousands of dollars to implement and test a Bitcoin auction house, which would mean they'd probably lose money in the long run as I don't think they'd recoup that money any time soon. (consider the amount of Diablo 3 players that use the real money auction house and have a Bitcoin wallet - not a huge market)

Do you think they'd consider using a payment processor like AlertPay/SolidTrustPay/LibertyReserve in Diablo 3? Nope, I don't. These are all quite shady payment processors in the view of a large company and they will simply group Bitcoin up with them.

There already is a huge trading platform for diablo stuff using bitcoin.
IMHO it would be a smart and profitable move from Blizzard to adopt new 'revolutionary' payment methods.
Will they consider it? That depends on who decides really, clueless employees will trash it yea... true dat.
And that's probably where our tickets/suggestions end up, with the clueless employees.
So will Blizzard consider it? I think they would if it gets to the right people.
Does it get to the right people? I don't think so.

[HostFat]

I think that this is the right time to open a bitcoin shop to sell wow-subscription-cards.

[norulezapply]

There already is a huge trading platform for diablo stuff using bitcoin.
IMHO it would be a smart and profitable move from Blizzard to adopt new 'revolutionary' payment methods.
Will they consider it? That depends on who decides really, clueless employees will trash it yea... true dat.
And that's probably where our tickets/suggestions end up, with the clueless employees.
So will Blizzard consider it? I think they would if it gets to the right people.
Does it get to the right people? I don't think so.

What huge trading platform is this? Got a link?

Also, define "huge"? Because Bitcoin's userbase in itself isn't "huge" to start with. Like I said, it's still an infant really.

I don't think it'd be profitable for them for that reason. There simply aren't enough Bitcoin users for a major company like Blizz to spend lots of time and money implementing support for it. Same goes for any other 'revoluntionary' payment methods. Major companies aren't interested, unless a lot of people use it, like PayPal for example.

Small companies would be in a different position and more lenient to adopting Bitcoin (they might see it as a way to make their business stand out, whereas Blizzard doesn't need to do that).

[mc_lovin]

I doubt you will get through to them, but all power to you!  I think a Diablo III money to BTC conversion site is going to be a more realistic goal.

[HostFat]

I'm not sure, but it seems that blizzard cut 30% to move out money from their system, so I see that there is an huge space for business

[Maged]

Will they consider it? That depends on who decides really, clueless employees will trash it yea... true dat.
And that's probably where our tickets/suggestions end up, with the clueless employees.
So will Blizzard consider it? I think they would if it gets to the right people.
Does it get to the right people? I don't think so.

I'll say this again: I can make this happen. However, it'll be much harder now that the auction house is implemented. Now, we'll need to make a business case for accepting Bitcoin as a deposit method (having it be it's own currency is far too much to ask for) based on existing external demand on sites like ogrr. Sadly, I think it's too late for that now. We've proven that the business case is not there.

[virtualfaqs]

PayPal might be against this. Also for 20%, you don't have to deal with PayPal chargebacks which is pretty nice..... steep cost, but nice.

[LightRider]

There already is a huge trading platform for diablo stuff using bitcoin.
IMHO it would be a smart and profitable move from Blizzard to adopt new 'revolutionary' payment methods.
Will they consider it? That depends on who decides really, clueless employees will trash it yea... true dat.
And that's probably where our tickets/suggestions end up, with the clueless employees.
So will Blizzard consider it? I think they would if it gets to the right people.
Does it get to the right people? I don't think so.

What huge trading platform is this? Got a link?

Also, define "huge"? Because Bitcoin's userbase in itself isn't "huge" to start with. Like I said, it's still an infant really.

I don't think it'd be profitable for them for that reason. There simply aren't enough Bitcoin users for a major company like Blizz to spend lots of time and money implementing support for it. Same goes for any other 'revoluntionary' payment methods. Major companies aren't interested, unless a lot of people use it, like PayPal for example.

Small companies would be in a different position and more lenient to adopting Bitcoin (they might see it as a way to make their business stand out, whereas Blizzard doesn't need to do that).

ogrr.com

[norulezapply]

There already is a huge trading platform for diablo stuff using bitcoin.
IMHO it would be a smart and profitable move from Blizzard to adopt new 'revolutionary' payment methods.
Will they consider it? That depends on who decides really, clueless employees will trash it yea... true dat.
And that's probably where our tickets/suggestions end up, with the clueless employees.
So will Blizzard consider it? I think they would if it gets to the right people.
Does it get to the right people? I don't think so.

What huge trading platform is this? Got a link?

Also, define "huge"? Because Bitcoin's userbase in itself isn't "huge" to start with. Like I said, it's still an infant really.

I don't think it'd be profitable for them for that reason. There simply aren't enough Bitcoin users for a major company like Blizz to spend lots of time and money implementing support for it. Same goes for any other 'revoluntionary' payment methods. Major companies aren't interested, unless a lot of people use it, like PayPal for example.

Small companies would be in a different position and more lenient to adopting Bitcoin (they might see it as a way to make their business stand out, whereas Blizzard doesn't need to do that).

ogrr.com

Interesting site. Quite a decent userbase, but still, 3000 users is not huge.
Not worth all the cost of implementing Bitcoin into the AH to accomodate those people for Blizzard.

[virtualfaqs]

I don't think it'd be profitable for them for that reason. There simply aren't enough Bitcoin users for a major company like Blizz to spend lots of time and money implementing support for it. Same goes for any other 'revoluntionary' payment methods. Major companies aren't interested, unless a lot of people use it, like PayPal for example.

Small companies would be in a different position and more lenient to adopting Bitcoin (they might see it as a way to make their business stand out, whereas Blizzard doesn't need to do that).

Also phishing scams tricking buyers to send BTC to the wrong address.

[kwukduck]

As Maged said, it's probably too much to ask for direct implementation into the AH, but i assume (haven't used it yet) you have to charge your account on their website using one of the current payment processors, they could add bitcoin to that and add 'euros/dollars' to your account at the current exchange rate. Thats not even hard or expensive to implement.

The only reasons i can think of that make an argument for blizzard i think is that they have less overhead costs from the payment processor (none?).
Also enables people who want to remain anonymous to use real money AH. (extra users)


btw; i thought ogrr was bigger, my mistake but still impressive site imho.

[norulezapply]

As Maged said, it's probably too much to ask for direct implementation into the AH, but i assume (haven't used it yet) you have to charge your account on their website using one of the current payment processors, they could add bitcoin to that and add 'euros/dollars' to your account at the current exchange rate. Thats not even hard or expensive to implement.

The only reasons i can think of that make an argument for blizzard i think is that they have less overhead costs from the payment processor (none?).
Also enables people who want to remain anonymous to use real money AH. (extra users)


btw; i thought ogrr was bigger, my mistake but still impressive site imho.

It would definitely be far easier to implement it as you say rather than directly into the AH, but I think you still under-estimate the amount of research, implementation and testing they'd need to do (all of which costs money). For a small website owner it's fairly trivial to implement Bit-pay or something, but Blizzard needs to test everything to make sure it's perfect and no-one is losing money and hurting their reputation, if you see what I mean.

Also yeah ogrr looks quite cool so I'll probably check it out later

[Fuzzy]

There is a more recent discussion about this HERE

Just for reference.

[MPOE-PR]

@norulezapply Your naysaying is really very productive. I don't just mean here, I'm sure it's working wonders in all fields of your life.

Will they consider it? That depends on who decides really, clueless employees will trash it yea... true dat.

Here's something: they put in an update which crashed Wine for Wine players. Nobody on their team said a word about it but the fix came two days later. They have many competent folks there, and I don't think it would fall on deaf ears. It all depends on how many queries they get.

@Maged Make it happen, how?

@Fuzzy More recent than the 14th of June?

[Maged]

@Maged Make it happen, how?

I can send a proposal regarding Bitcoin directly to the upper-management at Blizzard, without going through the low-level employees. The proposal would have to be pretty convincing, though, because I'd have to put my reputation with them on the line by sending it.

[kjlimo]

@Maged Make it happen, how?

I can send a proposal regarding Bitcoin directly to the upper-management at Blizzard, without going through the low-level employees. The proposal would have to be pretty convincing, though, because I'd have to put my reputation with them on the line by sending it.

OK, here it goes.  sorry I never found this website back in August 2011...

Blizzard Management,

You've aligned your RMAH with paypal.  Paypal has had years of controversy in the online gaming community.  Many users experience fraud, chargebacks, scams and frozen accounts when dancing around the broad terms & conditions that centralized payment processors adhere to.

Bitcoin brings the security of cash to online transactions.  Deposits to your system would be completely irreversible; and withdrawals/transfers of funds would come with nearly zero transaction fees (less than a penny or even no fee).

Bitcoin is made for small transactions which is likely what the average user will be depositing or withdrawing.  Traditional payment processors (VISA/Paypal, etc.) typically have a minimum flat fee plus a percentage transaction that cut into your profit margin.

While bitcoin will not replace traditional methods, it is a great idea to include this revolutionary technology into your state of the art game design.

I can get you in contact with industry experts who can help Blizzard capitalize the opportunities that Bitcoin can bring to your business. 

Sincerely yours,
XYZ

I hope this is helpful.  I haven't completely looked at the RMAH to determine whether it is so strongly tied to Paypal.  Please someone enhance from my starting point if it needs refinement.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like me to discuss this with Blizzard Management.  I'd love the opportunity and work in the professional services industry.  Hopefully, I'd be able to have an intelligent conversation with management.

I'm currently at the Fellowship Admissions Course (for the Society of Actuaries) receiving my final credentials as an actuary, woot!

[Maged]

As I mentioned before, now that the game and the RMAH is out, it's too late to just send a simple email. They will need to see actual numbers that show that there is a significant interest in purchasing D3 items/gold with Bitcoins. We really missed our chance, here.

[kjlimo]

As I mentioned before, now that the game and the RMAH is out, it's too late to just send a simple email. They will need to see actual numbers that show that there is a significant interest in purchasing D3 items/gold with Bitcoins. We really missed our chance, here.

ok,  do you have any figures on the number of players of Diablo III?

I haven't seen more than 25-30k people online at any given point of time, but I could believe there are 100-200k "users."

There is ogrr.com (as website based on bitcoins) that has a small community of people playing Diablo III trading for items with bitcoins.

There is the marketplace section of this website where items are being listed & sold for bitcoins daily.

How many people is enough?  What type of magical information are you looking for to "wow" them?

heh, that's funny to think we're trying to WOW the people who made WoW...

[Bitcoin Oz]

Once there are thousands of people getting chargebacks because of paypal things might be different