6 Ways to Legitimately Make Money Playing Games

6 Ways to Legitimately Make Money Playing Games

It is hard to make money in online video games.  You need to be dedicate and be really really good at what you do.  However, it is definately possible with hours and hours of practice.  Below are some of the ways that you can legitimately make money with games.  However, you should check with the game that you are playing to make sure that these tips are still applicable.  The world is changing, and the gaming world is changing faster.

I do not promote any of the following methods.  You still have to use your common sense.

1.  Trading in Online Games with Real Money Tied Currencies
You could buy and sell lands in Online Games such as Second Life and Entropia.  These games offer great opportunities with vast choices and interesting economy.  However you need to beware of these methods because similar to investing, you may lose lots of money if your decisions flop. Buy great in-game land and develop interesting properties to sell it to the highest bidder for great profit.

2. Become a Professional Gamer
Professional gamers play a wide array of games at tournaments.  However, you should conduct research to which game is the most popular.  Typically those games have a better potential of hosting great fan base compared to others.Some bigger tournaments offer great payout to the top competitors.  For example, you will have a better shot at earning great money playing StarCraft at its peak competitively compared to Hello Kitty Online.

3. Play Online Cash Games 
like Bejeweled 2 and Dynomite where cash prizes are given out daily.  However it should be noted that most of these cash prizes are really sponsored by the Ads that the websites serve.  You may be bombarded with offers and ads quite often.  The cash games are also pretty limited in payout so it will take a while before you will earn any money.

4. Become a Video Game Tester
Test video games for gaming companies. Video game companies need people to test their games for bugs and defects.  However, these jobs typically offer lower wage and the competition is more fierce.  To find these jobs, go to the official sites of gaming companies to see if they are hiring.  It should be noted that because the global economy is growing, you may have an edge to obtain the job if you do speak several languages fluently such as Chinese.


5. Mine and sell characters and gold on most of the MMORPG games.
Many people will mine for different metals and artifacts within the game and sell them to other people. Selling a character with high stats is another way to make money in MMORPG's.  Note that the majority of companies have guidelines that forbid buying and selling in-game properties directly for cash.  You usually would have to go through third parties and trade via underground route.  It is VERY easy to be scammed when you try to make money via this way.  However, the payout is quite lucrative if you are the best in your server that you make consistently good ingame money.

6. Ask for Donations. 
Offer yourself, your knowledge, and your time to other players to make money.  Think of yourself like a consultant or physical trainer.  By assisting lower level players and higher level players alike in the game of your choice, such as tanking mobs and support healing, you could ask for their donations to you.  Because you do not exactly ask people for money for your items, it is quasi-legal for the most MMORPG's.

This method is hard because most of the players that you may encounter will "donate" nothing to you.  It takes lots of work, time, and luck to find players who will be happy to donate to you in exchange of your services. In addition, this method is still borderline against the Company's policies because you are making profits by the games that Video Game publishers are providing.