u think such ppl exist ?Peregrine said:I don't see any problem with it, as long as it's done within reason. I've bought some items, just to avoid the frustration of trying to trade on bnet. It's much more enjoyable to just pay $1 for that rune and finish the runeword than to spend hours looking for the right trader. I've probably recieved a better cost/enjoyment time ratio with diablo items than any other item in my entertainment budget.
On the other hand, the people who spend hundreds of dollars on stuff are completely insane.
pitcike said:u think such ppl exist ?
i thought "reason" would keep u from buying for more than like 50$... :lol:
But you spent $40+ on a bunch of 1s and 0s whose purpose is to draw pixels on your screen.MoonUnit said:I think they have too much money lol I wouldn't spend my hard-earned money on PIXELS!! :lol:
It isn't legal, most item shops get around it using a minor loophole and fancy wording. Their excuse is that you aren't actually buying the item, rather you are paying the item shop for the time it took to find them. Kinda like a farmer saying you aren't actually paying for the goods you buy, you are paying the farmer for his time. They are simply splitting hairs to cheat the system.carnivore said:this has probably mentioned before, but: is it legal or doesnt blizz just care?
after all its a business with virtual property of blizzard (as stated in the eula).
Phyrexial said:@bipolar: While that would be a good justification if the items being sold were obtained through legit means, it fails in the case of D2. The problem is that those item shops use the money you give them to further fund things like bot development and duping. They have to get their items somewhere and the amount that they are selling simply cannot be had through legitimate means and you know it. When people buy items at item shops, they are putting money into the pockets of dupers and hack/bot developers.
Don't confuse this with the actual use of dupes, while you could make an argument linking the use of dupes to the continuing production of dupes (trust me, I have on many occassions) generally the use of dupes simply increases the acceptance but doesn't give money to the offenders like item shops do.
There are also of course the arguments about "fair play" concerning the competition between people that have money to spend on the game and those that don't. Many non-ebayers would tell you that it isn't fair that someone should be able to get what took them a week to a month to get in a matter of minutes. I sympathize with them and I personally would prefer that no items would ever be made available for cash due to the fairness issues.
bipolar said:But you spent $40+ on a bunch of 1s and 0s whose purpose is to draw pixels on your screen.
What it comes down to is this. Time *is* money. If I work 40 hours in a week at, say, $25 per hour, that comes out to $1000/week. Now let's compare working one more hour. At overtime rate of $37.50, that means after taxes I have an extra ~$28 on my paycheck, which at going rates can buy about 7 high runes. Now if I had spent that hour magic finding, there is no way on god's green earth I would have found 1 high rune, let alone 7. Therefore, it is a much better use of my time, if I want to have godly items, to work that one extra hour and use the money for items.
To put it another way, if I decide *not* to work that one hour of overtime this week so that I can play Diablo II instead, I just cost myself ~$28. So one way or another, Diablo II does cost me money, as I could work instead of play and have a bigger paycheck.
The upshot is that it is more time and cost efficient to work a few extra hours and buy any items I desire than to spend countless hours trying to randomly find them.
Of course, this only applies to career-type jobs. If you're working part time at Micky Ds while going to high school, or are living paycheck-to-paycheck, you shouldn't be spending that money on items. Heck, you shouldn't be playing Diablo II -- you should spend time looking for a better job or getting a college education so you can make more money.