It doesn't really matter, the reason the RMAH is there is because you could purchase items anyway through 3rd party sites.
People have payed ridiculous money to be tutored by people to play rts games, I'm sure there are people offering tutoring services for SC 2.
Your going to run into puritans but there is a conversion mechanisim for gold to american dollars
they say they aren't paying real cash for their items but as soon as you use the AH you have spent Diablo money that you could have converted at the "exchange table" to american dollars
Think about it this way if you spent 100 peso's on something, it might not have had george washington on it but you spent money.
Well, my 5 cents: I'm from Venezuela and here we have a quite inconvenient currency exchange control by the government in place, so when I have to buy stuff on $ I have to literally overpay for it, so from that perspective I don't use my money to buy in th RMAH. My goal for this game (aside for having a LOT of fun that is) is to at least buy SC2 Heart of the Swarm selling items on the RMAH.
I'm no way against buying stuff on the RMAH, in fact I've sunk al the cash I've made selling stuff there back into my character. I'm an adult and if I can blow up 200$ in a party night with my friends I don't see anything against doing the same for a hobby that brings me satisfaction a lot of fun times by myself of with my friends.
That 250$ you spent on a "perfect" item might come in handy someday when you are unemployed or decide to have kids.
If you think like that you can't ever buy a pizza, buy new games, buy a magazine or anything really... except the most essential to stay alive.
People are responsible for their own money and I hope everyone is only spending what they can afford to be without. Further than that I don't really care ^^
Exactly, if you don't know where you stand, so much so finacianlly that even 250 bucks will make or break you in the future then you should not be spending money on even the smallest creature comforts in life. Ramen noodles and mac-n-cheese for you if you are in that situation.
Wont change how that impacts the market, people buying at 12 cents per million means no1 is buying the gold you try to sell legitimately, remember were arguing from the POV of the seller, not buyer
No1 buying the gold you try to sell?. Ive the past week sold over 3B gold on rmah. 5x 200.000.000. And each time it sold in less than 15 mins.
This debate makes me wonder how many people here buy music on iTunes or apps for their Droid Phones... How many of these folks paid for a WoW sub? Virtual items are now a marketable product and as said earlier, if their is a desire for that item it is no different than if you want a twinky and are willing to spend 50 bucks for a box of them on Ebay...
This debate makes me wonder how many people here buy music on iTunes or apps for their Droid Phones... How many of these folks paid for a WoW sub? Virtual items are now a marketable product and as said earlier, if their is a desire for that item it is no different than if you want a twinky and are willing to spend 50 bucks for a box of them on Ebay...
I have like 400 comics in my Comixology account on Android.
You always pay to win because you either pay in time or in a currency.
This is by far the most dishonest, skewed manner of excuse crafting I have ever heard.
Right or wrong, good or bad, buying items/gold is a shortcut. There is no way around it, there is no excuse to trump it.....it is a shortcut. So much so that it has always been considered cheating until the RMAH came into being. Now, it is not against the rules, therefor not appropriately titled as cheating. But still, buying items retains it's reputation as a shortcut, the easy road etc.
You always pay to win because you either pay in time or in a currency.
This is by far the most dishonest, skewed manner of excuse crafting I have ever heard.
Right or wrong, good or bad, buying items/gold is a shortcut. There is no way around it, there is no excuse to trump it.....it is a shortcut. So much so that it has always been considered cheating until the RMAH came into being. Now, it is not against the rules, therefor not appropriately titled as cheating. But still, buying items retains it's reputation as a shortcut, the easy road etc.
No one has ever disagreed that it's not a shortcut, but why does everything has to be an "excuse" in your opinion? An excuse is a justification for a fault, if you did something wrong (paraphrasing OED). By throwing at everyone that they make up "excuses" as reason for using real money, you kind of judge them as if they had done something wrong. Actually, if I don't have the time, I think it would be more wrong to jeopardize my job just to catch up on the 200 hours played gap to my friends than to quickly close the gap by throwing in 10 Euros. Is it a shortcut? Absolutely. But why is this an excuse? To whom should I say sorry? What fault did I make? Whom did I offend? Remember, D3 is non-competitive and no esports.
I rarely post on forums anymore, however, I felt compelled to chime in on this discussion.
I believe that if people want a stable economy in a game, what better way than to incorporate a legitimized currency into its complexiveness (real world money). That being said, when real money can back up the gold in game you an look at a gem that is priced at 20 million gold and say... Today this gem costs 20m and is worth $10. Six weeks from this day and you look again to see that its gone up to 25 million but only worth $8, and 6 weeks from then its back down to 20m and worth $15. The point of this is that all values with fluctuate, with two ways to compare an items value I think we have a more realistic way of interpreting its actual value. That being said, when I look for upgrades in the AH and trifecta IK gloves are 1 billion gold that can be seen as the same as it being worth ~$400.00.... Now when I see a pair of IK trifecta pop up on the RMAH for $100... I say holy shit... THAT IS THE SAME AS BUYING THEM FOR ~250m...... AN INSANE DISCOUNT. I am using the values of both TO MY ADVANTAGE. Whether you like it or not, your gold in your stash, even if its a measly 250,000, has a real value associated with it... so whether you're spending your gold or real dollars, theyre one in the same, JUST SPEND THEM WISELY.
Edit into second part
I would also like to mention that there is a level of competetiveness that people enjoy from games.... Whether you spend your time trying to distinguish "reality" from "gaming" or "hobbies" or what have you... Some items in the game are incredibly rare.... And if people are interested in the game, and take it seriously, those "things" will remain to have "value" so how you obtain them (as long as theyre within the games boundaries...and if I'm not mistaken an auction house and rmah are both incorporated into the game) then you are not cheating. if you played pokemon, and traded your diglett for a holifoil charizard with someone, is that cheating? But you didnt obtain it yourself from a booster pack or from your spoils of victory at a sanctioned tournament.... Why do we feel the need to draw such fine lines? I think "paying to win" is a poor way to describe a persons efforts.... If you have the means to bypass farming for equipment it seems exponentially more efficient to simply pay the appropriate value ( or wait for a deal if you're frugal...thats okay as well) there can only be so many 1200+dps 1 handers with crit dmg, life on hit/steal/ what have you... perfect IK chest pieces, etc.... They are so unlikely to drop youre more likely to NEVER FIND ONE.... If you're willing to do what it takes to obtain it so be it! it is LEGIT!
For the people blaming Blizzard entirely, please consider/think about the following:
Blizzard's decision to cash in on the real-money market was just that. A decision to attempt regulation and cash in; nothing more and nothing less. They did not create the real-money market by any means (not even close). The market has always been there and Blizzard has had little to no control of it. You have always been able to buy yourself to the top in any game so long as it had in-game currency and item trading. Seeing as there was no way to even come close to stopping it, combating it through banning whatever little number of accounts they managed to catch proved a waste of time and resources (thousands of people get away with buying WoW gold/boost runs/leveling every day, for example). To join in on it was only a natural and inevitable business decision on part of Diablo 3.
There was no 'money-making conspiracy' on part of Blizzard, it was a simple business 1 + 1 = 2. I can continue wasting time and money on futile attempts fighting a losing battle while it becomes rampant anyway, or I can try to regulate it and cash in. If you were in charge, which would you choose?
For the people blaming players and/or saying it's "stupid" to spend money on a game:
By those standards, almost everything the average human being spends on is "stupid". As an example, do you criticize everyone you know goes to McDonald's? Maybe you do; however chances are that most of you criticizing go to McDonald's yourselves. That's worse than spending money on a game. That "food" actually harms your health. I personally smoke for example. Isn't me spending money on cigarettes every day, worse than spending money on a game? I could think of so many of things people spend amounts on daily that dwarf what is spent on games, that are way worse than spending on games. The list would go on and on and keep getting worse as it goes (example: drugs & alcohol). This is why the bashing people get for buying stuff with money is very unreasonable.
If I went ahead and bought that $350 dollar Diablo statue, posted a picture of it and said "hey guys, look at my new statue... I saved up money to buy it cause it's so expensive but I finally have it! Looks so cool with my room! Isn't it neat? :D" I would probably get mostly positive and friendly responses. There will be an asshole or two saying "gz you wasted money on a toy harharharhar"; however others will still tell them to stop doing that and let people choose what they want to do with their money. If I posted a picture of something else though... let's say a 1200 DPS wand with int, good crit dmg and a socket then said "Hey guys! Look at this! I found it today for only $100! Couldn't help but show you what a catch this was... I'm gonna be farmin' much faster now!"... I would get torn apart by many more than just one or two guys.
Gaming is a hobby. When people are passionate enough and have the resources, they like to invest money in their hobbies. You could be spending on a stamp collection, engine upgrades for your awesome car, better fishing equipment or... wait for it... gear for you Diablo 3 character.
Six months before Diablo came out I started saving up a chunk of my salary for a new computer. I saved and saved then finally built a really cool PC with a great video card and three 27-inch screens in eyefinity. Whenever I play Diablo now or any other game, maybe a first-person shooter... am I officially cheating now? How is that different from buying a piece of gear?
Also, honestly ask yourself the question "who spends money on gear?". Sure, there's a few kids out there who aren't even 16 using daddy's credit card. Those are a minority amongst the demographic though. There's a few kids driving daddy's Lamborghini out there as well... not talking about them. What about those who work for their hard-earned money? They got it fair n' square. Do people have to quit their jobs and play 24/7 to excel and be considered "legit"? Most people can't do that. Then they get bashed if they buy anything for taking "the easy way" or a "shortcut". If you think working your ass off to get a paycheck which you then sacrifice some of to make up for lost game time that you couldn't play is the "easy road", you need to rethink your logic in this assertation just a bit.
You always pay to win because you either pay in time or in a currency.
This is by far the most dishonest, skewed manner of excuse crafting I have ever heard.
Right or wrong, good or bad, buying items/gold is a shortcut. There is no way around it, there is no excuse to trump it.....it is a shortcut. So much so that it has always been considered cheating until the RMAH came into being. Now, it is not against the rules, therefor not appropriately titled as cheating. But still, buying items retains it's reputation as a shortcut, the easy road etc.
No one has ever disagreed that it's not a shortcut, but why does everything has to be an "excuse" in your opinion? An excuse is a justification for a fault, if you did something wrong (paraphrasing OED). By throwing at everyone that they make up "excuses" as reason for using real money, you kind of judge them as if they had done something wrong. Actually, if I don't have the time, I think it would be more wrong to jeopardize my job just to catch up on the 200 hours played gap to my friends than to quickly close the gap by throwing in 10 Euros. Is it a shortcut? Absolutely. But why is this an excuse? To whom should I say sorry? What fault did I make? Whom did I offend? Remember, D3 is non-competitive and no esports.
I have yet to hear it. Someone step up, be a man and put it plainly..."YES, I wanted to do it the easy way. I was willing to pay to be one of the best instead of earning it. I took a shortcut."
Instead we get excuses..."I work long hours.....I have a family......I have lots of money.......time is money, so if you spend time playing it's the same as buying items". Fucking excuses.
I don't look down on RMAH'ers. They only get fulfillment from the game while playing with the best gears. The game is funner when you have good shit, so I understand this. The closest I'll come to aiming an insult would be to say they let their pride defeat their patience.
Call it like it is.....it is what it is....it's a shortcut.
Diablo is a competitive game, even without PvP. You know it, I know it, we all know it. There is a sort of keeping up with the Jones' when you play D3. Friends linking thier hot new gears to you, thier DPS skyrocketing while yours stays embarrassingly low. Some players can fight through that and meet their friends at the top of the mountain at a later date.
Many people cannot. This will not do. Instead of blowing cash money on some other bullshit that gives them temporary happiness they make a decision, a decision to shortcut that trip to the top of the mountain.
What I'm highlighting is a perceived shame among the community of RMAH'ers. A shame that they themselves often harbor. They feel the need to offer excuses for their decisions. They react and flail wildly in full-on defensive mode when their method of accomplishment is brought into question (as can be seen here, in this thread).
It was even hinted at that I'm "stupid" because I mentioned that I, personally, feel like I'm cheating myself by buying items so that's why I don't do it. Such a static, non-offensive and honest comment was repudiated like I'm some stumbling fuckin clown......just for saying how it makes me feel, personally, to buy items and why I do not participate.
I will be clear by stating that I'm referring to people whom have bought full gear-sets for one or more characters. Not people whom maybe bought an item or two to top-off their main, or someone that bought that white-whale item they've always wanted.
To the secondary theme of this thread; Do I feel it is wrong, from a real life perspective/financial perspective to buy items?
NO. We Americans waste soooo much money on gratuitous amounts of entertainment, how could I possibly claim someone is wrong for dropping cash on pixels? It's fine, go for it. Wasting $100 on an imaginary sword is no more a waste than wasting a hundred dollars on porn, or model trains, or any other hobby-esqe expenditure.
Back in the days when internet would cost per hour, putting more time into an online game was equal to spending more money on it. Would you consider this cheating?
No. A better analogy, if I may play devils advocate, would be like gaming was in the early 1980's. When you tried to get your name on the Top 10 leader-board of the local arcade machine. The kids whom had their 3 letter initials of "FUX" or "CUM" or the always popular "ASS"......those were the kids that had the quarters. Those were the kids who's parents would throw them a $20 bill and tell them to go fuck off and do what they want with it.
Meanwhile, myself and my poor friends would search around under drive-thru windows looking for dropped change like we're some fucking hobo's or something. So the idea that more money IRL = a "higher score" is not a new one.
If you lend a friend your high end weapon for a PvP match, is that cheating?
It's a shortcut. By definition, cheating is a willful violation of stated rules. If no rule is broken, it cannot be termed as cheating. In D2, buying items was against the rules (terms of use). In D3, it is sanctioned so long as you buy through their means.
You want to win so badly that you use something that's not yours to win. Again, this is an issue of personal fulfillment. I don't feel fulfilled, like so many others here, by accomplishing something on false or contrived circumstances. Cheaters never win etc etc.
What if that friend gives you $20 for the same weapon? What if it is not a close friend but someone you met on the internet a week ago? Where is the difference, where do you draw the line?
There is no need for a common line. The line is personal. My line stops at accepting handouts and using my REAL LIFE money to buy items to use to my advantage within the gaming realm. To me, this is cheating ones self of the experience of rising up.
Some people spend a lot of money on equipment so they have more FPS, which gives them a slight edge in some games (e.g. FPS). Would you say that they "pay to win"?
None of these analogies work. C'mon.....all these things are external to the game itself. I play on a crap Nvivdia 6800GT vid card, I have a daughter, a relationship, friends, a job and a busy life. Yet I still have managed to move up, I still manage to squeak in enough hours to play enough to get somewhere in this game.
I understand that, yes, some people are busier than I....but as far as I'm concerned, they can just wait that much longer if they had true pride in their gaming. But no, not most of them. They'll get ahead the American way, they'll buy it.
When someone says they have a full-time job, kids or whatever so they spent money to catch up on playing, that is not called an excuse. It's called circumstances
.
An excuse is something you give when you've done soemthing wrong.
When someone says: "Today instead of playing Diablo 3 I'm going to work. It's how I make money. Afterwards I'm going back home and I'm gonna buy this sweet weapon I've been eyeing for 100 euros", they don't need an excuse, their job is not an excuse and they've done/are not going to do anything wrong. They are unable to do it the long way (I stress the word unable), and are willing to pay for a shortcut to make up.
They don't have to "admit" it. The 100 euro weapon is just as legit as the one that took you a week to farm. In fact, it can be argued as even harder to get. All you had to do was sit there and farm the game you love. They had to find a job, earn a paycheck and then pay real money.
You see it as silly. Some don't. Some people think professional wrestling is silly. Some don't. Some think sports are silly. Some don't. Bottom line: If your spending principles prevent you from RMAH, good for you but you're neither "right" nor "wrong"; and no one has to "admit" anything to you as they too are not wrong either.
People are perceptive, you're clearly referring to "short cuts" in a pejorative manner. Theres no hiding behind that. You can be upset that someone spent their income or INVESTED their money into a game for FURTHER enjoyment. How you choose to validate or actualize that information is clearly subjective. No one needs to tell you "I circumvented the normal process" Because there is no clear normal process, and if they are obtained within the boundaries of the game ITS NOT A SHORT CUT ITS JUST THE FASTEST ROUTE youre implying that they have deceptively deviated from a standard route. You might be able to say purchasing HR's in Diablo 2 would be a short cut because its against the ToS and no one is supposed to do it (the fact they are all duped and shouldn't be that many available in the first place is worth mentioning as a "short cut" for everyone as a whole..Does that automatically make everyone in the game, those who have played yet or not, "short cutters?" because theyre bound to be in a corrupted game state) But in Diablo 3 these features are DIRECTLY encorporated into the entire games structure. Let's break it down.... You can farm for your gear...If you have specific gear in mind your odds of landing the exact gear minimums you want could be 1/1,000,000,000, or you could find some awesome gear and trade with someone who has the gear you want, or you can trade that gear for gold, sell that gold, and cash that balance in to buy more gold/items at a later date. Therefore, gold, time, trading, and real money are all equal components of the game, but at different times certain ones will be more lucrative, should you choose to be inefficient with your time or resources, well that may just be a poor choice, but that doesnt make you a player with better morals or patience. You have optionally chose to limit they way you play, and thats fine IF YOU ARE SATISFIED.
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People have payed ridiculous money to be tutored by people to play rts games, I'm sure there are people offering tutoring services for SC 2.
Your going to run into puritans but there is a conversion mechanisim for gold to american dollars
they say they aren't paying real cash for their items but as soon as you use the AH you have spent Diablo money that you could have converted at the "exchange table" to american dollars
Think about it this way if you spent 100 peso's on something, it might not have had george washington on it but you spent money.
And finally, who cares?
This isn't a debate about logic or reason, it's a silly debate concerning pride.
I'm no way against buying stuff on the RMAH, in fact I've sunk al the cash I've made selling stuff there back into my character. I'm an adult and if I can blow up 200$ in a party night with my friends I don't see anything against doing the same for a hobby that brings me satisfaction a lot of fun times by myself of with my friends.
but if you have your own job and you're spending your own money for your entertainment, that's no big deal at all
I'd rather spend it on cake tho
Thanks. I want cake now.
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Exactly, if you don't know where you stand, so much so finacianlly that even 250 bucks will make or break you in the future then you should not be spending money on even the smallest creature comforts in life. Ramen noodles and mac-n-cheese for you if you are in that situation.
Still to spend money on virtual items want be new for me. I have purchased some skins in LoL already just to support the good game.
No1 buying the gold you try to sell?. Ive the past week sold over 3B gold on rmah. 5x 200.000.000. And each time it sold in less than 15 mins.
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I have like 400 comics in my Comixology account on Android.
So do crack heads.
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This is by far the most dishonest, skewed manner of excuse crafting I have ever heard.
Right or wrong, good or bad, buying items/gold is a shortcut. There is no way around it, there is no excuse to trump it.....it is a shortcut. So much so that it has always been considered cheating until the RMAH came into being. Now, it is not against the rules, therefor not appropriately titled as cheating. But still, buying items retains it's reputation as a shortcut, the easy road etc.
BurningRope#1322 (US~HC) Request an invite to the official (NA) <dfans> Clan
No one has ever disagreed that it's not a shortcut, but why does everything has to be an "excuse" in your opinion? An excuse is a justification for a fault, if you did something wrong (paraphrasing OED). By throwing at everyone that they make up "excuses" as reason for using real money, you kind of judge them as if they had done something wrong. Actually, if I don't have the time, I think it would be more wrong to jeopardize my job just to catch up on the 200 hours played gap to my friends than to quickly close the gap by throwing in 10 Euros. Is it a shortcut? Absolutely. But why is this an excuse? To whom should I say sorry? What fault did I make? Whom did I offend? Remember, D3 is non-competitive and no esports.
I believe that if people want a stable economy in a game, what better way than to incorporate a legitimized currency into its complexiveness (real world money). That being said, when real money can back up the gold in game you an look at a gem that is priced at 20 million gold and say... Today this gem costs 20m and is worth $10. Six weeks from this day and you look again to see that its gone up to 25 million but only worth $8, and 6 weeks from then its back down to 20m and worth $15. The point of this is that all values with fluctuate, with two ways to compare an items value I think we have a more realistic way of interpreting its actual value. That being said, when I look for upgrades in the AH and trifecta IK gloves are 1 billion gold that can be seen as the same as it being worth ~$400.00.... Now when I see a pair of IK trifecta pop up on the RMAH for $100... I say holy shit... THAT IS THE SAME AS BUYING THEM FOR ~250m...... AN INSANE DISCOUNT. I am using the values of both TO MY ADVANTAGE. Whether you like it or not, your gold in your stash, even if its a measly 250,000, has a real value associated with it... so whether you're spending your gold or real dollars, theyre one in the same, JUST SPEND THEM WISELY.
Edit into second part
I would also like to mention that there is a level of competetiveness that people enjoy from games.... Whether you spend your time trying to distinguish "reality" from "gaming" or "hobbies" or what have you... Some items in the game are incredibly rare.... And if people are interested in the game, and take it seriously, those "things" will remain to have "value" so how you obtain them (as long as theyre within the games boundaries...and if I'm not mistaken an auction house and rmah are both incorporated into the game) then you are not cheating. if you played pokemon, and traded your diglett for a holifoil charizard with someone, is that cheating? But you didnt obtain it yourself from a booster pack or from your spoils of victory at a sanctioned tournament.... Why do we feel the need to draw such fine lines? I think "paying to win" is a poor way to describe a persons efforts.... If you have the means to bypass farming for equipment it seems exponentially more efficient to simply pay the appropriate value ( or wait for a deal if you're frugal...thats okay as well) there can only be so many 1200+dps 1 handers with crit dmg, life on hit/steal/ what have you... perfect IK chest pieces, etc.... They are so unlikely to drop youre more likely to NEVER FIND ONE.... If you're willing to do what it takes to obtain it so be it! it is LEGIT!
Blizzard's decision to cash in on the real-money market was just that. A decision to attempt regulation and cash in; nothing more and nothing less. They did not create the real-money market by any means (not even close). The market has always been there and Blizzard has had little to no control of it. You have always been able to buy yourself to the top in any game so long as it had in-game currency and item trading. Seeing as there was no way to even come close to stopping it, combating it through banning whatever little number of accounts they managed to catch proved a waste of time and resources (thousands of people get away with buying WoW gold/boost runs/leveling every day, for example). To join in on it was only a natural and inevitable business decision on part of Diablo 3.
There was no 'money-making conspiracy' on part of Blizzard, it was a simple business 1 + 1 = 2. I can continue wasting time and money on futile attempts fighting a losing battle while it becomes rampant anyway, or I can try to regulate it and cash in. If you were in charge, which would you choose?
For the people blaming players and/or saying it's "stupid" to spend money on a game:
By those standards, almost everything the average human being spends on is "stupid". As an example, do you criticize everyone you know goes to McDonald's? Maybe you do; however chances are that most of you criticizing go to McDonald's yourselves. That's worse than spending money on a game. That "food" actually harms your health. I personally smoke for example. Isn't me spending money on cigarettes every day, worse than spending money on a game? I could think of so many of things people spend amounts on daily that dwarf what is spent on games, that are way worse than spending on games. The list would go on and on and keep getting worse as it goes (example: drugs & alcohol). This is why the bashing people get for buying stuff with money is very unreasonable.
If I went ahead and bought that $350 dollar Diablo statue, posted a picture of it and said "hey guys, look at my new statue... I saved up money to buy it cause it's so expensive but I finally have it! Looks so cool with my room! Isn't it neat? :D" I would probably get mostly positive and friendly responses. There will be an asshole or two saying "gz you wasted money on a toy harharharhar"; however others will still tell them to stop doing that and let people choose what they want to do with their money. If I posted a picture of something else though... let's say a 1200 DPS wand with int, good crit dmg and a socket then said "Hey guys! Look at this! I found it today for only $100! Couldn't help but show you what a catch this was... I'm gonna be farmin' much faster now!"... I would get torn apart by many more than just one or two guys.
Gaming is a hobby. When people are passionate enough and have the resources, they like to invest money in their hobbies. You could be spending on a stamp collection, engine upgrades for your awesome car, better fishing equipment or... wait for it... gear for you Diablo 3 character.
Six months before Diablo came out I started saving up a chunk of my salary for a new computer. I saved and saved then finally built a really cool PC with a great video card and three 27-inch screens in eyefinity. Whenever I play Diablo now or any other game, maybe a first-person shooter... am I officially cheating now? How is that different from buying a piece of gear?
Also, honestly ask yourself the question "who spends money on gear?". Sure, there's a few kids out there who aren't even 16 using daddy's credit card. Those are a minority amongst the demographic though. There's a few kids driving daddy's Lamborghini out there as well... not talking about them. What about those who work for their hard-earned money? They got it fair n' square. Do people have to quit their jobs and play 24/7 to excel and be considered "legit"? Most people can't do that. Then they get bashed if they buy anything for taking "the easy way" or a "shortcut". If you think working your ass off to get a paycheck which you then sacrifice some of to make up for lost game time that you couldn't play is the "easy road", you need to rethink your logic in this assertation just a bit.
I have yet to hear it. Someone step up, be a man and put it plainly..."YES, I wanted to do it the easy way. I was willing to pay to be one of the best instead of earning it. I took a shortcut."
Instead we get excuses..."I work long hours.....I have a family......I have lots of money.......time is money, so if you spend time playing it's the same as buying items". Fucking excuses.
I don't look down on RMAH'ers. They only get fulfillment from the game while playing with the best gears. The game is funner when you have good shit, so I understand this. The closest I'll come to aiming an insult would be to say they let their pride defeat their patience.
Call it like it is.....it is what it is....it's a shortcut.
Diablo is a competitive game, even without PvP. You know it, I know it, we all know it. There is a sort of keeping up with the Jones' when you play D3. Friends linking thier hot new gears to you, thier DPS skyrocketing while yours stays embarrassingly low. Some players can fight through that and meet their friends at the top of the mountain at a later date.
Many people cannot. This will not do. Instead of blowing cash money on some other bullshit that gives them temporary happiness they make a decision, a decision to shortcut that trip to the top of the mountain.
What I'm highlighting is a perceived shame among the community of RMAH'ers. A shame that they themselves often harbor. They feel the need to offer excuses for their decisions. They react and flail wildly in full-on defensive mode when their method of accomplishment is brought into question (as can be seen here, in this thread).
It was even hinted at that I'm "stupid" because I mentioned that I, personally, feel like I'm cheating myself by buying items so that's why I don't do it. Such a static, non-offensive and honest comment was repudiated like I'm some stumbling fuckin clown......just for saying how it makes me feel, personally, to buy items and why I do not participate.
I will be clear by stating that I'm referring to people whom have bought full gear-sets for one or more characters. Not people whom maybe bought an item or two to top-off their main, or someone that bought that white-whale item they've always wanted.
To the secondary theme of this thread; Do I feel it is wrong, from a real life perspective/financial perspective to buy items?
NO. We Americans waste soooo much money on gratuitous amounts of entertainment, how could I possibly claim someone is wrong for dropping cash on pixels? It's fine, go for it. Wasting $100 on an imaginary sword is no more a waste than wasting a hundred dollars on porn, or model trains, or any other hobby-esqe expenditure.
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No. A better analogy, if I may play devils advocate, would be like gaming was in the early 1980's. When you tried to get your name on the Top 10 leader-board of the local arcade machine. The kids whom had their 3 letter initials of "FUX" or "CUM" or the always popular "ASS"......those were the kids that had the quarters. Those were the kids who's parents would throw them a $20 bill and tell them to go fuck off and do what they want with it.
Meanwhile, myself and my poor friends would search around under drive-thru windows looking for dropped change like we're some fucking hobo's or something. So the idea that more money IRL = a "higher score" is not a new one.
It's a shortcut. By definition, cheating is a willful violation of stated rules. If no rule is broken, it cannot be termed as cheating. In D2, buying items was against the rules (terms of use). In D3, it is sanctioned so long as you buy through their means.
You want to win so badly that you use something that's not yours to win. Again, this is an issue of personal fulfillment. I don't feel fulfilled, like so many others here, by accomplishing something on false or contrived circumstances. Cheaters never win etc etc.
There is no need for a common line. The line is personal. My line stops at accepting handouts and using my REAL LIFE money to buy items to use to my advantage within the gaming realm. To me, this is cheating ones self of the experience of rising up.
None of these analogies work. C'mon.....all these things are external to the game itself. I play on a crap Nvivdia 6800GT vid card, I have a daughter, a relationship, friends, a job and a busy life. Yet I still have managed to move up, I still manage to squeak in enough hours to play enough to get somewhere in this game.
I understand that, yes, some people are busier than I....but as far as I'm concerned, they can just wait that much longer if they had true pride in their gaming. But no, not most of them. They'll get ahead the American way, they'll buy it.
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An excuse is something you give when you've done soemthing wrong.
When someone says: "Today instead of playing Diablo 3 I'm going to work. It's how I make money. Afterwards I'm going back home and I'm gonna buy this sweet weapon I've been eyeing for 100 euros", they don't need an excuse, their job is not an excuse and they've done/are not going to do anything wrong. They are unable to do it the long way (I stress the word unable), and are willing to pay for a shortcut to make up.
They don't have to "admit" it. The 100 euro weapon is just as legit as the one that took you a week to farm. In fact, it can be argued as even harder to get. All you had to do was sit there and farm the game you love. They had to find a job, earn a paycheck and then pay real money.
You see it as silly. Some don't. Some people think professional wrestling is silly. Some don't. Some think sports are silly. Some don't. Bottom line: If your spending principles prevent you from RMAH, good for you but you're neither "right" nor "wrong"; and no one has to "admit" anything to you as they too are not wrong either.
People are perceptive, you're clearly referring to "short cuts" in a pejorative manner. Theres no hiding behind that. You can be upset that someone spent their income or INVESTED their money into a game for FURTHER enjoyment. How you choose to validate or actualize that information is clearly subjective. No one needs to tell you "I circumvented the normal process" Because there is no clear normal process, and if they are obtained within the boundaries of the game ITS NOT A SHORT CUT ITS JUST THE FASTEST ROUTE youre implying that they have deceptively deviated from a standard route. You might be able to say purchasing HR's in Diablo 2 would be a short cut because its against the ToS and no one is supposed to do it (the fact they are all duped and shouldn't be that many available in the first place is worth mentioning as a "short cut" for everyone as a whole..Does that automatically make everyone in the game, those who have played yet or not, "short cutters?" because theyre bound to be in a corrupted game state) But in Diablo 3 these features are DIRECTLY encorporated into the entire games structure. Let's break it down.... You can farm for your gear...If you have specific gear in mind your odds of landing the exact gear minimums you want could be 1/1,000,000,000, or you could find some awesome gear and trade with someone who has the gear you want, or you can trade that gear for gold, sell that gold, and cash that balance in to buy more gold/items at a later date. Therefore, gold, time, trading, and real money are all equal components of the game, but at different times certain ones will be more lucrative, should you choose to be inefficient with your time or resources, well that may just be a poor choice, but that doesnt make you a player with better morals or patience. You have optionally chose to limit they way you play, and thats fine IF YOU ARE SATISFIED.