There's
an interview on IncGamers with Runic Games' Max Schaefer focusing on the
recent revelation that
Diablo III will have an auction house with real-money transactions and will require a persistent internet connection to play. These topics are relevant since Schaefer has previously worked on the Diablo series, and Runic's
Torchlight 2 is widely regarded as the main competition for Diablo III. He explains how Torchlight 2 will feature neither RMTs nor always-on DRM, but that he understands what Blizzard is trying to accomplish: "Whatever you do, you have to make sacrifices. We sacrifice a cheat-free environment to give players the most options, they are sacrificing options and flexibility for security of the economy like you would in an MMO. I understand their approach and sympathize with the technical difficulties of what they are trying to do." He also says he does think that there are circumstances where always-on DRM can be considered ethical in a non-MMOG, but also notes that he's actually always considered Diablo II and III to be MMORPGs of a sort anyway: "I think that there really is no meaningful distinction between Diablo 3 (or Diablo 2) and an MMORPG. By my reckoning, it is one, but that's been my position for a long, long time."