Please pretend you're the Blizzard CFO and you're about to pitch to the board of directors and shareholders on how the company should accept this new internet currency. What would the Blizzard explanation be for people who want to use bitcoins?
1. Make an account at Dwolla.
2. Transfer money into that account using a bank account.
3. Wait 5-7 days.
4. Once money is in Dwolla, create account at magic the gathering online exchange.
5. Deposit money into mtgox. Oh, is it a weekend? Wait until Monday.
6. Run bitcoin client, get 48 character long wallet address. Whatever you do, do not lose this text file.
7. Bid on $15 worth of bitcoins on mtgox, the price of which fluctuates every moment. So you might need half a bitcoin or 3 bitcoins.
8. Once your bid is accepted, you now own (0.5-3.0) bitcoin. Transfer those to your wallet (we recommend using CTRL+C then CTRL+V unless you're very good at typing long strings of characters).
9. Ok, now time to send us the bitcoin(s). If it's the weekend, please wait until Monday.
10. Launch the bitcoin client and make sure your text file wallet contains the bitcoin(s) you purchased from mtgox.
11. Check the mtgox exchange and determine exactly how many bitcoins are required to cover your $15 monthly. Remember that bitcoins are divisible to eight points beyond the decimal, so the correct amount to equal $15 might be 0.98776531 bitcoins.
12. Send it to this address xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Again be very very careful to type this in correctly.
13. Once you have confirmed that you sent it, log into your Battle.net account and navigate to the bitcoin payment option.
14. Enter in all your information, along with the blockchain reference link from Bitcoin Explorer that shows you sent the correct amount from your bitcoin wallet to ours.
15. Click redeem and your account will be queued for verification.
16. Bitcoin transaction verification can take minutes to days, depending on the processing power currently allocated to the bitcoin P2P network.
17. Once verified, you will receive an email confirming that the transaction has been verified.
18. You can now log in. Have fun in Azeroth!
I then imagine the board of directors all rise from their seats and a slow clap spread around the room, but it then quickly gains in intensity and speed. Men and women in business suits lift their arms and scream at the ceiling in exultation.
You are a titan of industry.
Now let's compare that to buying a prepaid timecard in a physical supermarket. Pretend you're the CFO going to pitch the adoption of a timecard system.
1. Turn off the monitor.
2. Grab your coat and put it on.
3. Walk out of the front door.
4. Walk to the supermarket, be very careful that you don't get hit by a car.
5. Arrive at the supermarket.
6. Supermarket is closed because in your area everything closes on sundays? Bummer, have to wait until monday.
7. Otherwise, walk into the store and walk to the counter.
8. Ask for a WoW timecard - be careful that you don't buy the wrong amount of timecards.
9. Take out your card out of your wallet.
10. Pay for the timecard(s).
11. Get handed over the timecard(s).
12. Walk out of the store.
13. Walk home carefully, again being careful to not get hit by a car - you could get hospitalized.
14. Search for your keys and open the door.
15. Hang up your coat.
16. Sit behind the computer and turn on your monitor.
17. Enter your timecard code to activate it.
18. You can now log in. Have fun in Azeroth!
I then imagine the board of directors all rise from their seats and a slow clap spread around the room, but it then quickly gains in intensity and speed. Men and women in business suits lift their arms and scream at the ceiling in exultation.
You are a titan of industry.