Here's something interesting. In the 4.3 patch, Blizzard is restricting the naming policy again and changing it back to pre-2008 days in North America.

North American realms (excluding Brazilian, Latin American, and Oceanic realms) no longer permit letters with accents in character or guild names. Existing character and guild names with special characters will be unaffected by this change.

If you were around in the "Golden Days", World of Warcraft used to have very strict naming policies on all realms. No special characters, no famous names, no real world references, no partial or complete sentences, no "leet" or "dudespeak", no immersion breaking titles, etc. Everything had to be a true "fantasy name" (yes, even on normal realms) otherwise you would get a warning and a forced name change. Spam or Chuck, or example, would get reported.

Most users have totally forgotten that, during the early days of Vanilla in 2004-2005, Blizzard was very strict about character names and players were actually banned for creating "non-fantasy" related character names. Character names like "Bob", "Bruce", "Dave" or "Chad" for example, would quickly get you a flagged account, a warning, or a ban if you continued to create names that wouldn't exist in the fantasy world. This happened to me and many friends. We were all forced to create new "fantasy" names" and this was on normal PVE and PVP servers. Complaining to GMs only resulted in threats. Part of the problem was that many of the support staff were green and recently hired, new to MMORPG's and trying to make an impression to their bosses. So they were very strict and tried to comply with all company policies. They're much more laid back now than they were before.

As the subscriber base grew, though, players started running out of names. So, in May 2005, it was relaxed allowing new naming conventions.

In April 2008, it was relaxed even further and they allowed special characters to accomodate the further growth of subscribers.

Officially though, Blizzard just said that the reason for the changes were because players wanted it. Just like the Real Money Auction House.. they "only did it because players asked for it". Character restrictions? Players wanted it. Removal of restrictions? Players wanted it. Reimplementation of those restrictions again? Players wanted it. D3 Online Only Requirement? Players wanted it. You know how it goes..

I just find it very interesting that they're putting these restrictions back in place. Having too many Character Names must not be a problem anymore if you see where I'm going. :)

Can't wait for the next Shareholders Meeting.. I wonder, too, if they'll be adjusting their definition of "Subscribers" again to accomodate the WOW Starter Edition.

Very interesting read, but completely unsurprising.

Reddit post here, followed up with a confirmation from the CEO of Lewt.com (a major D2 item seller).

tl;dr version for these posts; Duping exploits in Diablo 2 are still very common, Blizzard knows about it, ignores it for years without patching, hacks@blizzard.com is useless, Blizzard programmers have been intentionally adding new duping exploits, and the Blizzard employees involved with this are suspected to be profiting significantly from it.

The solution to fixing exploits and hacks is really just posting it on as many different sites as possible, and try to get as many players using the exploit as possible. Destroying an economy and ruining everyones game playing experience is one really good way to finally get Blizzard to act.

While discussing the monetary risks involved in the RMAH, I just realized another new facet of the non-refundable Listing Fee.

• Blizzard will be crediting players with a certain number of free auctions per week (or month.)
• It's much like casinos comping players, or giving them weekly coupons for a couple free slot machine pulls. It's free, there's no risk, it's not really gambling, but it gets them comfortable and hopefully addicted to the thrill.
• Even if the item sold, you're still paying for the Transaction Fee and Cash Out fee.
• Diablo 3 is a VERY "item centric" game, meaning that even if you sold 5 free items per week, your chances of getting even more items that week are very high. If you were to wait and sell the following week, your stash would just keep growing and growing.
• Compound that with the item selling in the first place. I mean, what's even the point of having Free Listing Fees if the item doesn't sell? You could use up all 5 Free Lists per week all on the same item. It will keep being undercut by other players (with free listings too) to the point where your single item never sells and you're all out of Free Listings.
• Compound that even further with player psychology! How many of you have experienced "auction house fervor" or "competition rage" when someone keeps undercutting you? Once your free listings are used up, you'll be on such a streak that you'll start spending money in order to beat your competitor.

So really, what is the point of Free Listing fees if there's a high probability you'll burn through them before even being able to sell an item?

Also, on a related note; it was stated that "Blizzard does not plan to post items that affect gameplay, such as gear or character-enhancing runestones, for sale in the auction house."

The system is anonymous and in no way transparent. Blizzard has "no plans" to post items right now. And, they're only prohibiting "item sales".. they didn't say anything about not selling characters or gold. :)

Well well well..

So, the opinion that the Diablo 3 RMAH would be illegal was not received well by many. Everyone is claiming that it's perfectly legitimate and it's no where near the definition of gambling. Many forum users are even calling the notion ridiculous, paranoid, and even retarded.

Apparently, the country of South Korea disagrees with you.

In fact, Michael Morhaime, Robert Bridenbecker, and Blizzard Korea Sr. Mgmt had to meet with the Game Ratings Board this past Thursday to defend the use of their in-game auction house which is being called gambling. A similar in-game auction house system within the game "Emperor Online" was also rejected for its similar item trading, which was also considered gambling.

Without a rating, the game cannot be sold in SK. For now, though, Morhaime has called it "premature" to speculate on the outcome.

South Korea practically invented RMT and microtransactions, and their population makes up a huge stake of Blizzard gamers. So, if they believe something has gone too far (e.g. virtual gambling), then it probably has.

Here's a very interesting section from the news article:

The country’s attitude toward gaming involving cash transactions has irked Blizzard’s local staff who are reluctant to deal with the controversy expected with the introduction of the auction house but are forced by headquarters to launch the feature, an industry source familiar with the matter said.

Before the as-yet-undecided date of the official launch of Diablo III, the U.S. games subsidiary of Vivendi invited journalists Thursday to rebut the accusation that its auction house feature is a virtual casino.

“We’ve heard speculation comparing item trading...to some form of gambling, but in gambling you’re putting something at risk to win,” said Morhaime.

“Items” are won by individual players during the game when they complete a mission. Critics say they come through a randomized selection process, which is based on uncertainty like a card game, but Blizzard says it is a product of the player’s efforts.

“(In Diablo III), you’re not risking anything. You’re just investing your time (to win items to sell). It is an important distinction.”

* Apparently, either Blizzard is being forced by Activision to move ahead with the real money auction house system, or they mean Blizzard Korea is being forced by Blizzard US. It's possible that the Blizzard Korea office is trying to avoid using the RMAH in Korea due to its gambling nature and related laws, but HQ is forcing them to implement it regardless.

* Morhaime stated that in D3, "you're not risking anything". However, when you're trying to sell items on the Auction House to make money, you ARE risking your own money. If you don't sell the item, or someone undercuts you, you lose your Listing Fee for each of your auction posts.

* Robert Bridenbecker also mentioned that there are 3 tiers of money: in-game gold, cash, and the a Blizzard proprietary unit called "battle coins". Battle Coins is a term used by many other online games, so this might be in reference to the Battle.net credit system.

* And, just remember, when Bashiok was first asked about illegal gambling in D3, he claimed that their lawyers had already worked it out, but there was a caveat. His forum post went something like this, "our lawyers worked hard on this, it's sound from a legal perspective, don't worry.. BUT, if any local or country-specific laws do become an issue we'll of course be sure to let people in those regions know." Meaning, they're not really sure and they won't allow it in certain regions if they do find out it's illegal. (You can pretty much ignore anything someone says before the "but".)

And this is just the beginning.. wait until it's released and it starts getting questioned in other countries and even certain US states.