With Blizzard finally ramping up to launch its long-promised and oft-delayed real-money auction house for Diablo III this week, the company has announced that players using the new feature will need to have two-factor authentication enabled on their accounts for security purposes.

According to the game's newly updated terms of service, players that want to add or remove money from their Battle.net account balance will first need to sign up for a free Mobile Authenticator app on their smartphone or order a physical keychain authenticator, which can be purchased for $6.50 (plus shipping). These authenticators generate a unique, constantly rotating, account-linked numeric code that players enter in addition to their standard password, to ensure that only the person with the authenticator can use the associated account.

While some forum-goers have claimed their Diablo III accounts were hacked despite their using an authenticator, Blizzard says it has yet to receive a confirmed report of a hacked account that had an authenticator attached to it. The company says it understands the minor hassle this two-step login process will cause for auction-house users, but says the move will "help ensure that players have a positive experience when using the real-money auction house" and "help foster a safer auction house environment for all of our players."

Despite the hassle on all sides, requiring added security for real-money accounts is probably a prudent move for Blizzard's long-term reputation. Even players who think they're extremely careful with their account security can be susceptible to having a standard password compromised, as I discovered for myself a few weeks ago. With the account hacking stakes being raised from virtual items to real money, it makes sense that Blizzard would start requiring a level of online account security usually associated with European bank accounts.