Diablo 3: Fun & Profit

Blizzard will let you sell your Diablo III loot for real money.

Built into the game's client, the Diablo III Auction House will let players swap items—weapons, gems, armor, runestones, even characters—for other items, in-game gold or regional, real-world currency. Buyers can search by character class and item type, with the option to auto-bid on or instant buy virtual goods. Transactions between players are handled anonymously.

On cash-based transactions, Blizzard will charge sellers both a listing fee and a "nominal fixed transaction fee" if the item finds a buyer. The developer says the listing fee was designed to prevent players from putting up every item they own up for sale. It plans to offer an unspecified amount of free listings to Diablo III players who might want to experiment with selling their game loot.

Diablo III players who opt to sell in-game gear for real world currency have the option of funneling the cash proceeds into one of two accounts: an e-balance that players can use to buy other Blizzard products (games, World of Warcraft game time, virtual pets) and an unannounced third party payment provider that will simply let them cash out their winnings (minus another fee from the third party).

Looks like I have a new economic fallback plan.