I don't get the big fuss about this, it's been happening for a long time already with other platforms such as Steam. It's just a very good way for the companies to be able to "secure" income.
If we were able to pick it out from the account to real cash then they'd have to treat everything as loaned money. Now they know that once it's in the Blizzard Balance it's only exchangeable for their products so it's "safe" to use it to invest/evolve the company.
And as said there will still be a cash out option available via PayPal if you sell stuff on the RMAH and it will be done on a per-auction basis. Aa previously said, nothing surprising here.
I'm pretty sure a lot of people will find this to be anti-climatic. I know I did. I didn't mind other moves Blizzard has done recently, but this leaves a sour taste in my mouth for some reason. Blizzard could have simply taken bigger cuts and some some cuts for Paypal as well, but they are going down another path.
It's just another way for Blizzard to make money while trying to restrict players from cashing-out. They want to keep your money as opposed to giving you complete freedom with the currency. It's also a clever way to get you to spend on WoW time.
If the Diablo economy gets stale at some point, this feature will end up becoming stale as well. Blizzard is just trying to play catch up, because they failed to make Batle.net 2 into something you would actually pay for. Can't say I blame them, but eh.
One upside is that Blizzard will finally be making some of the money for themselves that they have lost to 3rd party sellers in the past. Gold farmers and item websites will finally stop making the money they never deserved in the first place.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Some people tell me I'm going to hell. I just let them know that I've already packed my bags!
My first reaction is to not like this... At all. Not sure why, though. Maybe because it was so unexpected.
Same. Here's what bugs me:
"Once funds or Diablo III auction house earnings have been added to your Battle.net Balance, you are not able to convert that Balance into cash? Battle.net Balance can only be used to buy designated Blizzard Entertainment products or to acquire items from Diablo III's currency-based auction house."
They are very obviously making it purposefully inconvenient to convert RMAH money into real money. They have made it IMPOSSIBLE to redeem blizzard "bucks" or lol "value" back into cash. So, if you "load up" your "balance," it's the exact same as spending the money in the first place.
I find their language disconcerting: "Battle.net Balance is a new Battle.net feature that will allow players to store value in their Battle.net account"
They are trying to make you forget your "value" is actually real money. Why? So it can sit in THEIR bank account un-used. Every real-money dollar that sits in their (ahem, sorry, your) account is literally profit they have created out of thin air.
Blizzard is trying to manipulate online gaming currency so they can become a pseudo-financial institution. Their (ahem, your) unspent "bucks" are surely accruing interest, and more probably are re-deployed through accounting tricks into higher yield investment bundles. Meanwhile, it is literallyimpossible for you to get your money back out.. How is that acceptable?
Imagine a bank that only allows you to deposit, and never withdraw. That's what this is. Imagine that bank justifying what is essentially share-cropping practices by "selling" you 5 or 6 items of your "choosing". Such as: WoW time, um.. starcraft 2 maybe? Um, t-shirts, don't forget oh and hoodies. Did I say WoW time? Maybe this Titan IP when it comes out in 2018?
Look, it's their right to do whatever the hell they want, within the boundaries of law. I'm willing to bet they've been hard at work lobbying congress to allow some of this stuff to be legal in the first place. But as Gheed said, I'd much rather see them use this intellectual energy on new game products, rather than new financial instruments.
Gold AH for Life.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
I don't get the big fuss about this, it's been happening for a long time already with other platforms such as Steam. It's just a very good way for the companies to be able to "secure" income.
This isn't the end of the world. But here's what I don't like: This decision is clearly not motivated by customer demand. We've never had any trouble paying for Blizzard services. We don't need a Blizzard balance that's transferable only between RMAH and Blizz "bucks." It seems to me that most people would prefer the option to cash out your earnings whenever you like.
But if you can cash out whenever you like, then you won't be enslaved by their banking system. They have no interest in your convenience. What they want is dependence and addiction, since "I have to keep playing, I still have a balance..."
Anyone who sits and thinks about it will come up with this model, provided their motivation is convenience for the user and not simply profit: Use paypal for everything. If you buy something from Blizzard, or from the RMAH, that amount is withdrawn from paypal. If you sell something on the RMAH, that account is credited. This technique is used constantly with online vendors of every make and model. But Blizzard doesn't want the money sitting in Paypal's bank accounts. They want it sitting in their OWN bank accounts. That's why they have to use a bunch of convoluted legal trickery to escape being labeled a bank.
Bottom line, it's motivated by profiteering reminiscent of large financial institutions... the same ones who literally invented collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps out of thin air, lobbied that they not be regulated, and subsequently used them to ruin our economy for the foreseeable future, and created new financial instruments during the crisis to profit from the very ruin they created!
Unrelated rant? Nope. I see the same instruments at work here, and would be fascinated by what the SEC has to say about all this, and how the legality was handled. I wonder if Blizzard account balances can be bundled and securitized, and traded on wall street? Hey, if you were a new hotshot MBA working for Blizzard, who's been educated by the very same people who systematically de-regulated and de-frauded American economics for ruin and profit, wouldn't this sound like a great model to increase gross margins with little-no downside risk?
Sorry guys, but I have no remaining trust in American Capitalism as it is practiced today. We've been burned black and bled dry. I, for one, am sick of it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
If we were able to pick it out from the account to real cash then they'd have to treat everything as loaned money. Now they know that once it's in the Blizzard Balance it's only exchangeable for their products so it's "safe" to use it to invest/evolve the company.
And as said there will still be a cash out option available via PayPal if you sell stuff on the RMAH and it will be done on a per-auction basis. Aa previously said, nothing surprising here.
It's just another way for Blizzard to make money while trying to restrict players from cashing-out. They want to keep your money as opposed to giving you complete freedom with the currency. It's also a clever way to get you to spend on WoW time.
If the Diablo economy gets stale at some point, this feature will end up becoming stale as well. Blizzard is just trying to play catch up, because they failed to make Batle.net 2 into something you would actually pay for. Can't say I blame them, but eh.
One upside is that Blizzard will finally be making some of the money for themselves that they have lost to 3rd party sellers in the past. Gold farmers and item websites will finally stop making the money they never deserved in the first place.
Not necessarily true - a grey market may emerge to undercut legit item sales at a lower fee base (or with particularly rare items).
Same. Here's what bugs me:
"Once funds or Diablo III auction house earnings have been added to your Battle.net Balance, you are not able to convert that Balance into cash? Battle.net Balance can only be used to buy designated Blizzard Entertainment products or to acquire items from Diablo III's currency-based auction house."
They are very obviously making it purposefully inconvenient to convert RMAH money into real money. They have made it IMPOSSIBLE to redeem blizzard "bucks" or lol "value" back into cash. So, if you "load up" your "balance," it's the exact same as spending the money in the first place.
I find their language disconcerting: "Battle.net Balance is a new Battle.net feature that will allow players to store value in their Battle.net account"
They are trying to make you forget your "value" is actually real money. Why? So it can sit in THEIR bank account un-used. Every real-money dollar that sits in their (ahem, sorry, your) account is literally profit they have created out of thin air.
Blizzard is trying to manipulate online gaming currency so they can become a pseudo-financial institution. Their (ahem, your) unspent "bucks" are surely accruing interest, and more probably are re-deployed through accounting tricks into higher yield investment bundles. Meanwhile, it is literally impossible for you to get your money back out.. How is that acceptable?
Imagine a bank that only allows you to deposit, and never withdraw. That's what this is. Imagine that bank justifying what is essentially share-cropping practices by "selling" you 5 or 6 items of your "choosing". Such as: WoW time, um.. starcraft 2 maybe? Um, t-shirts, don't forget oh and hoodies. Did I say WoW time? Maybe this Titan IP when it comes out in 2018?
Look, it's their right to do whatever the hell they want, within the boundaries of law. I'm willing to bet they've been hard at work lobbying congress to allow some of this stuff to be legal in the first place. But as Gheed said, I'd much rather see them use this intellectual energy on new game products, rather than new financial instruments.
Gold AH for Life.
-Thomas Jefferson
This isn't the end of the world. But here's what I don't like: This decision is clearly not motivated by customer demand. We've never had any trouble paying for Blizzard services. We don't need a Blizzard balance that's transferable only between RMAH and Blizz "bucks." It seems to me that most people would prefer the option to cash out your earnings whenever you like.
But if you can cash out whenever you like, then you won't be enslaved by their banking system. They have no interest in your convenience. What they want is dependence and addiction, since "I have to keep playing, I still have a balance..."
Anyone who sits and thinks about it will come up with this model, provided their motivation is convenience for the user and not simply profit: Use paypal for everything. If you buy something from Blizzard, or from the RMAH, that amount is withdrawn from paypal. If you sell something on the RMAH, that account is credited. This technique is used constantly with online vendors of every make and model. But Blizzard doesn't want the money sitting in Paypal's bank accounts. They want it sitting in their OWN bank accounts. That's why they have to use a bunch of convoluted legal trickery to escape being labeled a bank.
Bottom line, it's motivated by profiteering reminiscent of large financial institutions... the same ones who literally invented collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps out of thin air, lobbied that they not be regulated, and subsequently used them to ruin our economy for the foreseeable future, and created new financial instruments during the crisis to profit from the very ruin they created!
Unrelated rant? Nope. I see the same instruments at work here, and would be fascinated by what the SEC has to say about all this, and how the legality was handled. I wonder if Blizzard account balances can be bundled and securitized, and traded on wall street? Hey, if you were a new hotshot MBA working for Blizzard, who's been educated by the very same people who systematically de-regulated and de-frauded American economics for ruin and profit, wouldn't this sound like a great model to increase gross margins with little-no downside risk?
Sorry guys, but I have no remaining trust in American Capitalism as it is practiced today. We've been burned black and bled dry. I, for one, am sick of it.
-Thomas Jefferson
hrmmm...
Author of: Random Ravings of Warcraft