Real Money Trading or RMT, refers to the practice of spending real money for digital goods such as game items, characters, gold, or other such features or services.
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Background
RMT has a long and fairly sordid history, and has been illegal, or strongly discouraged by most Western game developers, especially in MMORPGs. (Where RMT is most common, since the games have virtual economies in which gold and other resources have real value.)
Blizzard has never permitted any form of RMT in their games, and have waged a long-running and sporadically successful effort to stop character leveling services and gold farmers/sellers in World of Warcraft. This isn't to say that players can't legally buy extra features and services in WoW; Blizzard began selling realm moves and character faction transfers in 2008, and they make considerable $ from these services, which are essentially time-saving services, akin to what the (illegal) character leveling services are peddling.
RMT in Diablo 3
It's highly unlikely that RMT will be permitted in Diablo 3, though it's certain that some players will choose to engage in it, as they have in every such game so far released.
RMT in Other Games
Other developers with less popular games have taken more pragmatic approaches, and some have come to accept RMT in their games, with them the eBay-like recipients; skimming some % off the top of every auction or cash trade.
Many other games, especially ones popular in Asia where most players play in baangs and pay an hourly fee (which makes the concept of paying a bit more for better items or other upgrades seem a natural extension of the financial model), are more accommodating of RMT. RMT is seen in virtually every "free online" game, since those use RMT and ad banner loads to fund their operations. In popular games such as MapleStory, the basic game is free, but players can buy cooler outfits, better equipment, or access to the full game or extra dungeons/items, for cash fees.
Additional Information
- The Virtual Economy page on Wikipedia.org provides a comprehensive overview of this issue.
- Scott Jennings, a long time industry insider, discussed the distaste most Western gamers feel for RMT, and later wrote a more general overview of the realities of RMT in his weekly gaming column.