Developer Blizzard has launched its real money auction house for Diablo III, enabling players to buy and sell virtual items with real cash.

Guides to help players make money by playing the game are already being posted across the web, including advice that sounds very similar to gambling on the stock exchange.

WRETCHED HIVE: Screenshot from the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, RuneScape.

Meanwhile, long-running online game Runescape is being widely criticised for encouraging youngsters to gamble.

Australian gamer, parent and former gambling addict Jakob Gamertsfelder is a veteran Runescape player but is now one of many actively protesting about the game's new direction - what he describes as "an online casino aimed at children".