Virtual Entrepreneur

Ideas – Making Money In A Virtual World

August 9th, 2006 | Author: MrsMoney

Prostitute
The world’s oldest profession has made quick inroads into virtual life. You can make a quick buck if you’re willing to accept in-game money for sexual services – whether that’s just dirty chat, or full-on animated action. For example, Khannea took her 1st client on her very 1st day in Second Life, and since then has been busy working many days per week, several hours per day. She dresses her avatar in provocative clothing, and simulates sexual activity using a variety of animated actions and pre-recorded sounds.

‘I do this for fun, because I am exceedingly good at it, and because I make relatively easy money,’ she says. Khannea charges 750 Lindens (about $3 at current exchange rates) per half hour ‘of varied activity,’ but clients generally tip more. On one occasion a man in game paid her 5,000 Lindens, but, she says, ‘I expect he was taking revenge on his [real world] girlfriend by spending her virtual money. It takes all kinds.’

Gold Farmer
If you don’t mind mind-numbingly repetitive game play, ‘gold farming’ is an easy way to make some cash. Players concentrate on fighting monsters that drop lots of money or carry valuable weapons, and spend hour after hour fighting and collecting. The gold is then sold on eBay or another Web site for real money. Gold farming is popular in parts of Asia, where companies pay employees to work eight hour or longer shifts in game, and then sell their accumulated wealth to players in Europe or America.

Power Leveler
Plenty of folks want to get in on the fun of games like World of Warcraft – but don’t want spend dozens of hours building up their characters. Enter the Power Leveler, who will play your game for you. Lee Adams runs EZGamers, a service which will log into the game as your character, and play it to advanced levels or make you money. Prices vary but generally cost about $25 for a full 24 hours of focused play. Adams started off as a player in World of Warcraft, but got frustrated when he realized that folks who had time to play all day long dominated the scene and gobbled up all the honors.

Merchant
People are just as obsessed with possessions in the virtual world as they are in real life, so why not make a quick buck selling weapons, clothes or other goods? In many combat-oriented games, characters can develop skills that allow them to craft special items like magic weapons, potions or armor. Once manufactured, they can sell them in game or on auction sites like eBay. Other games, like Second Life, allow programmers to create whatever items they can imagine. Players in that world sell everything from appliances to furniture. And after the 1st item is coded, it’s all profit: Just copy the file and sell as many as you can.

Sell Your Character
So you’ve put plenty of time into a game and advanced the ranks. You’ve pretty much done it all, and now you’re just plain bored. You may never get the lost time back, but a well-equipped, high-level character can sell for a bundle on secondary markets like Yahoo! Auctions. Last February, University of Virginia computer science student Brad Wells sold his World of Warcraft character on eBay for a $1200. ‘The character is valuable due to the time and effort it took to create,’ says Wells. ‘120 days online is a full time job which wasn’t always enjoyable. Not many people have that amount of time to throw at a game.’

Designer
Got an eye for fashion? Players in the world of Second Life will pay good money to dress their avatars in custom-designed clothes – or to buy beautiful bodies and faces.

Stores like the Second Life Boutique sell clothing and body parts, but manufacturing goods is a relatively simple process in the game, accessible to anyone. Clothing sells relatively cheap – a pair of designer jeans goes for 150 Lindens, or less than a dollar. But zero manufacturing costs make it a high-profit business.

In June, Los Angeles-based clothier American Apparel, launched a store in Second Life, offering 20 styles of their logo-free casual wear, including basic T-shirts, tank tops, undergarments and swimwear.

Beggar
Got no stomach for labor? Maybe you could make a living as a virtual bum.

The economies of nearly all online games allow players to give each other cash or goods if they feel like it. Asking strangers for money may be rude, but it’s not entirely uncommon. We tried this money-making scheme out in World of Warcraft, randomly asking folks for handouts. After an hour of concerted begging, we made 9 silver pieces – slightly more than a penny in dollar terms. But more enterprising mendicants might have better luck.

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