The second controversial decision revolved around trading. For Diablo II, Blizzard North had created an in-game bartering system, but there was no standardized economy, and cheats were rampant. To try to solve these problems, players created third-party marketplaces, but the scams only grew more pervasive, and Blizzard couldn’t control or stop them. Diablo III would offer an official solution: an auction house in which players could buy and sell items on Battle.net, which the company could keep secure. To put it together, Rob Pardo called upon his strategic initiatives department, a group of
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