The Diablo Economy

During Diablo II’s “boom years” of the mid-2000s, a small, dedicated set of gamers sought to capitalize on the game’s mounting interest and rapidly expanding economy by selling items for real world dollars through eBay. Many made good money doing so. While hardcore gamers loved it, average players hated it — feeling that it imperilled Diablo’s intrinsically meritocratic form of wealth distribution — yet both sides agreed that the situation was unsustainable. Items were frequently stolen, accounts were mistakenly deleted by Blizzard and finally, after eBay’s banning of the sale of virtual goods in 2007 pushed the sale of Diablo II items completely under the table, it was clear that some type of compromise was necessary. And thus, the real money auction house was born.

I have never played Diablo but this post by the Ivey Business Review about the history of the game’s virtual economy is totally fascinating.

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