I’m a bit annoyed at Blizzard. I understand that they have to turn a profit, but I feel that they have a rather monopolistic hold over the MMORPG (massively multilayer online role playing game) market which they are taking advantage of.

I will explain what’s going on. To play World of Warcraft you must pay a monthly subscription of around £10. This is a common model that a lot of MMO’s use. The other model is called the micro-transaction model. Basically the developers make money through players buying items that cost real life money. This allows the developers to offer the game for free. Both are acceptable models, however Blizzard have decided to combine the two. Not only do you have to pay to play their game. You now also have to pay if you want to change the name and appearance of you character. There is also a card game you can buy where – if you are lucky - you can pick up items that can be used in game as well.

It’s seems they are implementing the micro-transaction model by stealth and I don’t like it...

Over here in the UK we have something called the competition commission. It basically stops one company taking over a market and thus taking advantage of their customers with higher prices and a poorer quality of service. I’m sure they would be very interested in Blizzard actions. Although I am sure they can do nothing about it

Anyway, this won't be the last paid service that Blizzard will be offer up to its cornered market, mark my words.