So, recent news has there being an "Auction House" in Diablo III – actually, the news says there are 2 auction houses. One will focus specifically in-game (in game items, in game currency [aka gold]) and one will focus on internalizing the growing industry of money-for-pixels – spending dough through sites like eBay to purchase in-game objects of value. [Full disclosure: my friend bought an Enigma for his Paladin in Diablo II for something like 12 bucks - we mocked him ceaselessly for it] Three points I wanted to bring up: First Point: If I can list items on either exchange, I'm going to list it on the money exchange. Why? Because I can redistribute that wealth any way I want. If I only trade in the gold exchange, I can only get value in-game. It's not entirely clear if there is cross-over between the two exchanges – aka can you buy gold on the currency exchange and use it in the gold exchange? I think you can. I hope you can. Because if you can't, supply will shift heavily to the currency exchange, creating a weird, crippled auction in game and a hyperpowered, high cost currency auction. If there is a gold to currency exchange rate, then we've created a whole new economy. Complete with inflation and deflation. And that leads to point two… Second Point: in Diablo II, a group and I were doing Chaos Tristram runs singlehandedly – and we were able to shift the value of in-game unidentified Torches from 5hrs to 4hrs. We flooded the market and caused self-inflicted deflation. Whoops. It will be interesting to see what controls are put in place to prevent oversupply in the auction house, and thus super-deflating epic items. Of course, we as the Diablo III community should work together to make sure we don't over-supply good items. But we face a prisoners dilemma – If everyone pursues their own best interest, we all hurt.

Third Point: If gold to currency transactions exist, Diablo III just became a great value proposition. Think about it. Instead of spending $50 on a game that gives you hours of enjoyment – (valuable in itself), you spend $50 on a game that your in-game work can actually yield you monetary value in return.

For all of us who built up HUGE amounts of gold in our stores and just didn't pick it up anymore, you are who I'm talking about. Not only can you get a weekend of fun out of Diablo III – you might just make back your purchase price. Eventually, I predict the most hardcore of hardcore will start gauging their time spent in Diablo III not just in hours or Level…but in hourly wage.