Everyone knows what an abundance of prizes in the form of large sums of money are played out during the competition. Such winnings are available to the smartest and strongest players who have managed to reach a level with a rather unusual name – “esportsman”.
Well, what if you just want to earn some pocket money by playing as usual and not going from “amateur” to “professional” level?
The gaming forums are flooded with perhaps a little embellished stories about monetary rewards, but the truth is, if you’re smart and grasp on the fly, you can get a lot more than a few pennies.
Forget even thinking that this is some kind of easy way to get rich quick, otherwise everyone would be doing it.
But let’s not get too hung up on esports and look at six other ways that can turn your gaming routine into a pretty good source of income.
1. Farm gold and items
In some games there is the possibility of making money on speculation in the in-game auction house
Buying and selling virtual property won’t surprise anyone, but in some games, you can make money by speculating in the so-called in-game auction house.
This method may have caused the failure of Diablo 3 , an action RPG where a character is selected from 5 classes (Warlock, Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, and Demon Hunter) in order to defeat the Dread Lord Diablo.
Unfortunately, Blizzard has announced the closure of the auction houses for both real and in-game currency since March 2014, which means you have about 4 months left to dive into the process. Blizzard takes $ 1 off each sale, as well as 15% if paid via PayPal, but some players have reported earning $ 10,000 or more through farming and auctioning gold.
Reddit user WishboneTheDog has attached screenshots of his PayPal account as clear evidence of $ 10,000 in earnings.
Here is what he writes: “I never bottomed, cheated, used exploits or any other way of cheating. buying and selling items in the markets and I saw no point in cheating. ”
Blizzard has reported that the auction house has been removed. it upset the balance of Diablo gameplay.
2. Testing games
Are you good at games? Try yourself as a video game tester!
For “game testing” or “playtesting,” large development companies hire people to look for issues and glitches during gameplay.
This can hardly be called an ideal job; such a scheme of earnings should be treated with caution.
Articles such as “The Harsh Life of a Beta Tester” emphasize that such work is not always paid fairly and you will not be able to play the games you like.
All video game testers sign nondisclosure agreements, so take these factors into consideration before taking on the job of a playtester.
One of the testers says: “Submit your any movie. Then take your favorite part of it in 30 seconds. Now watch this passage over and over, 12 hours a day, for two months. And when you’re done, just try to tell me that you spent all day watching videos. ”
Others complain: “They persistently tell you that good work should be judged by the number of bugs found, and depending on this number, they decide whether you are right for them or not.”
3. Unofficial guides and walkthroughs
Earn money by creating game guides and describing the gameplay.
As I wrote in the previous post, no matter how much I am an opponent of guides and walkthroughs, this does not mean that there is no huge demand for them.
Do you consider yourself an expert? Websites like Killer Guides give you the ability to write an e-book that you can later sell.
You can try the same thing on Amazon or your own site, but the market for Killer Guides is much bigger.
Don’t think that this is fast work – many Lord of the Rings game guides exceed 100 pages and cost about 1000 rubles.
4. Letters
Shoot a video of the gameplay and add comments – your video will be useful to someone.
Perhaps this is already overkill – to shoot a video of your gameplay, upload it to YouTube, and then try to get money out of it.
However, good comments during gameplay will increase the interest and value of your video, as long as you don’t play silently.
As noted on the YouTube help page: “Video game content can only be monetized if it is accompanied by step-by-step commentary, is strictly tied to what is happening on the screen, and is educational or educational in nature. user are not accepted for monetization. ”
The main problem is that there is a lot of competition here. Single views will not bring profit, therefore, you need to gain a large number of views.
Swedish streamer “PewDiePie” says, “I’m a guy who likes to laugh and make others laugh” who posts “playful moments on YouTube with my bros!” At the same time, however, his channel has more than 16 million subscriptions, and his videos regularly gain from 1 million views. It is impossible to say for sure how much he earns on his channel.
5. Video games as a way of training for your future career
Sometimes you can go from the virtual world to the real one, making money on it.
This method is considered the most contrived on the list, but in rare cases, you can make a jump from the virtual world to the real one, making money on it.
Yann Mardenborough, 22, is one such example: A Cardiff teenager was so obsessed with Gran Turismo that he decided to take part in virtual races.
After defeating 90,000 virtual drivers, he earned a seat at GT Academy, an international competition sponsored by Nissan and Sony. He got the chance to drive a Nissan in Dubai during the 24 hour race.
Amazingly, he finished 3rd in his class, then took part in the British GT Championship and the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series, and now also the Formula 3 European Championship.
After the transition from virtual to reality, Yann said: “I feel completely familiar. I have never driven a car before, only in a game. I only controlled it with the gas pedal, absolutely not feeling the difference.”
The less fortunate gamer was 25-year-old John Boyle. In 2006 in Middlesbrough, he decided to take a job as a manager and based on the experience of Football Manager 2005, in which he led the Nuneaton Borough team to the championship in just eight seasons.
However, club chairman Steve Gibson amusingly replied: “You were undoubtedly an outstanding candidate, but we decided to be against your appointment. We publicly acknowledge that our cooperation with you will be short-lived, as your talent will attract the attention of major European clubs.”
6. Selling advanced characters
There is an opportunity to make money by selling your playable character.
This method is ideal for games like World of Warcraft , where characters are enhanced with new skills, weapons, magic and other abilities.
Although prohibited by the game’s terms of use, characters are often sold for between $ 2 and $ 10,000.
eBay also bans lots of characters or game items, but other websites like Armory Bids or Player Auctions continue to exist and trade accounts.
An account that sold for $ 10,000 in World of Warcraft in 2007 was quite a rare event. The dark elf thief under the nickname Zeuzo has been recognized as one of the most advanced characters in the entire game, among millions of players.
