The Virtual Money Making Business

So there you are. You just bankrupted your cousin in Monopoly and you own half the board with hotels and matched colors all over. Your brother (or sister) is looking at your stack of money and knows that it is essentially over. You smile and think to yourself, "I have 2200 bucks right now, I got this in the bag." A few turns later, you win the game and you feel great. Now what if I told you that instead of handing that money back in, you kept it and you could exchange it for a smaller percentage of real world cash? Well tune in to the rest of this post because I'm going to be talking about how to make real world money from MMO games.

In most MMO games, there are different types of virtual currency with which the users will purchase equipment, armor, skills, and other things. With some games however, there are ways to exchange your money that you earn in the game, and convert it to real world cash. For example, in Second Life, "Linden dollars can be purchased with, and converted into, real world money easily" (Papagiannidis, Bourlakis, Li, 2007). This results in a lot of incentives for users to find ways to make money because it can earn you significant real life cash. In an article on ereviewguide, the author talks about the idea of making that money and advantages of it. The main advantage being that if the primary goal of these MMOs for you is having fun, you can be making money on the side and it is just a secondary benefit of these MMOs. One of the ways they talk about making money on World Of Warcraft for example is by leveling characters up to max and then selling them and moving on to new characters. It is a way for you to not get bored and also play the game the way you normally would. It does however draw much criticism and skepticism. Many users say that "using real money can alienate other users, who feel this is a form of cheating" just by the fact that using your money to gain a "competitive advantage" is not something people take lightly (Papagiannidis, Bourlakis, Li, 2007).

Overall, making money in MMOs is a very systematic thing and it requires you to have the right attitude and knowledge of the rules and regulations. However, if you are able to consistently make money in games and exchange it for real world money, you will be telling your friends that you just play video games for money (and watch their eyes grow wide with confusion). Have a good one and tune in next week! Thanks!

Citation:

Papagiannidis, S., Bourlakis, M., & Li, F. (2007). Making real money in virtual worlds: MMORPGs and emerging business opportunities, challenges and ethical implications in metaverses. Technological Forecasting And Social Change, 75(5), 610-622. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2007.04.007