Blizzard’s Diablo 3 launched the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) a few weeks ago. This new feature of the game lets gamers sell virtual items that they picked up online to any other gamer in the world for real money. You can use the money you earn to buy items in the auction house or you can withdraw it to real money via Paypal.
We sat down with two professional Game Play Specialists (Marc Ople and Jed dela Pena) to discuss the RMAH and how Filipino gamers responded to this new feature. Allow me to quickly share the highlights of our conversation.
- Marc has earned over US$70, Jed around US$10.
- They have a friend who earned over US$350 in 2 weeks.
- A lot of luck involved in picking up really good items that can sell for good prices.
- If you want to make a lot of money you need to understand how the Auction House works, what the trends are, and explore other venues of buying and selling items.
- They both recommend that you just enjoy the game and just use the RMAH to sell stuff if you have extra gear. Not really worth spending 8 hours/day because you’re not sure if you’re going to get anything good.
I’ve been playing Diablo 3 myself but I’ve never tried the RMAH. Intrigued by my conversation with the 2 game experts I decided to give it a try. I checked my storage, picked a nice item, and posted it on the RMAH. The result? Success! I earned $2 USD. Lol.
I pretty much echo the sentiments of Marc and Jed. Unless you’re a gaming and micro-economics wizard, there’s no point in trying to make a solid livelihood out of the RMAH. Get a real job.
PS: We have a full audio recording of our entire conversation. Will look into the possibility of uploading it here.