Guild Wars Mini-Interview #53
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 978
Q: Why don't you have an Auction House? Or at least some kind of bazaar option? I find it hard to sell any of my stuff to other players. The only thing I can do is scream in the chat function what I'm selling and hope people see it. (This also creates spam for players that actually want to chat). I know there's already a trade chat function, but it's not good enough...
A: You are correct it's not good enough. We need to implement more in support of player sales and trades. It's on the to-do list, and we intend to investigate a lot of options in this area. We're very aware that one of the things that keeps a game world lively, and that gives a game longevity, is the social opportunities offered by the game. And naturally, trading, selling, being the (village entrepreneur) or the (item speculator) would be part of that social setting.
Implementing an auction house, a bazaar or a other more-sophisticated means of trade is going to do a lot for Guild Wars. It will allow all of us to interact more meaningfully. If we want to trade, we'll have a good way to do it. If we want to hang out in town and chat, we can do it without being interrupted by trade chatter, and without interrupting the reasonable business efforts of traders. And if we want to form a party, we can do so smoothly and easily. Right now we're sort of (bumping into) one another chatters and traders and party formers all mixing in a combination that can be exciting but is a little hectic, too!
The team is definitely going to find better means of making interaction more comfortable. I cannot give you a timeline on the implementation of an improved system, but I can say that such improvements are a definite objective for the not-too-distant future!
