Yesterday, I read a post at D3Gold Guide about making $5/week in Diablo 3 being “doubtful.” Marcko debunks the myth that Diablo 3 won’t be profitable and explains the crucial difference between casually minded players and well prepared players capable of making actual cash in Diablo 3. How much can players make though and does it really matter?

First, I don’t think it actually matters how real money comes from what we make. Consider that players in World of Warcraft devoted thousands of hours just to making gold. This wasn’t because they didn’t already have an epic flying mount, which was practically free by the end of Wrath of the Lich King. It wasn’t because they didn’t have the best BoEs in the game or the best mounts, most of them did. This was because earning a virtual currency in a game was a game in itself.

There’s a certain sort of gratification you get when you reach new milestones. The first time you reached gold cap during Wrath of the Lich King is a good example. Then, discovering the new gold cap in Cataclysm was another. Eventually with no outlet for all that gold the process does get boring. Many players would reach 100,000-150,000 gold and then take a break until they found a way to spend it.

What will the milestones be in Diablo 3 and what will they be worth in real-money terms? I don’t know, but one thing is for sure, normal distribution will occur amongst players based on variables we don’t yet know. What this means it that a small minority of players will be very rich, a larger group will be moderately rich and the vast majority of players will be about average.

The value of the items and quantities of gold inside the game are determined by their scarcity and demand. The point is that there will always be the 10-15% on the right side of the bell curve who will have a lot of what is valued by the majority. In World of Warcraft some players had millions and millions of gold, but there were only a few. In Diablo 3 the same trend will apply.

Another thing that we know is that the stakes are higher in Diablo 3. Real money is in play so farmers, botters and cheaters are going to have more incentive to play for keeps. This works both ways though, if you can become part of “the 1%” as protestors call it, you can certainly make more than $5/week.

What can we do though to make sure that we are “ahead of the curve”? We can make sure that we arm ourselves with more information than the majority of people. We be more creative than them and we can have more confidence in what we’re doing. Most players will completely ignore the prospect of making gold/real-money in D3.

In conclusion it doesn’t really matter how much real money we can make in D3, it just matters how far on the right we are on the curve. A result of being there will be that we will be able to capitalize on what we have earned, if we choose to sell it.

Important: Many of the strategies and tips I share here were originally inspired by the people at the Diablo 3 Gold Secrets Forum. If you're serious about making the big bucks in Diablo 3, or just being the best players, you need to signup ASAP.