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Originally Posted by bolinp78
Because the "real" gamers (if this came out ten years ago it would be me) know that when you bring real money into the mix on such a direct level you lose the immersion that the game provides and hooks you with.
This game is a generation gapper; There are going to be quite a few gamers that played the first few Diablo games a decade ago that are going to be adamantly against an auction house featuring real money.
When a game becomes more about power-leveling and farming and less about storyline, lore, PvP, and the like, is when you lose a lot of your fan base that knows what it feels like to be immersed by a game beyond the $$. Instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment for getting a certain item, or killing a boss hoping he will drop something that your character can use, you'll just be worried about how much you can get for it on the auction house. Instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment for getting a particular item, you know in the back of your mind (no matter how much of a purist you are) that as long as you are willing to shell out the cash you can have that item right now without really working for it in game.
Not only will this deter the old school gamer, but it will also deter the newbie and the casual gamer who comes to realize that in order to stay up with the crowd they are going to feel pressured to shell out real cash. I realize that there are going to be auction houses for both real money and in-game gold, but the in-game gold auction house is just going to be a stepping stone for the real money auction house where the really good stuff is.
The bottom line is Blizzard is tired of being cut out of the shady gold selling practices that went on in their previous games, and they want their share. They are understandably disguising this motive by telling everyone that they are trying to protect them and their accounts. News flash, the gold sellers aren't going to go away and Blizzard just wants to cash in on your love for the game and your desire to have a better crossbow than your friends.
In my opinion, it's not a good idea at all to try and monetize MMORPG's in this way. But this is what gaming has turned into; That's just the way it is. Blizzard realizes the amount of immersion they create with games such as these, and the cash cow that they can be even years after release. It's too bad they are selling out.
I was considering purchasing the game when and if it ever comes out, but not after this announcement.
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I'm not going to directly agree or disagree. I think you have a point, and can empathize.
I will make a few comments though. If you want to only experience the story, then you can choose to just play the story and not partake in the RMAH. Also, I see the RMAH actually being a form of end-game, and this won't take effect until well after you have finished the story.
On the topic of immersion, and immersion breakage. You should read some of the posts by Devs in the SW:TOR forums about immersion. Their posts sum up to generally say that everyone's idea of immersion is different, and some features may be 'immersion-breaking' for some poeple, but they may be key factors for others to the extent of deciding whether or not they will even play the game. As a result, Bioware has taken a stance that the term immersion-breaking is in itself flawed and cannot truly be quantified. So, this leaves the user with a certain responsibility for their own experience.
In the end, Blizzard says that D3 /= D2. And I think it has the potential to be good or bad, it just depends on how each person chooses to use it. (There will be obvious potential for exploitation, so that is partly to do with Blizzard's responsibility to keep the market integrity intact.) I think Blizzard's goal here is to give you cake and let you eat it too. (Get your story game, but allow you to make some money while you enjoy it.) At least, that is what they may advertise.
TL;DR Immersion depth is generally not a strong foundation to lodge a complaint with.