Get Paid Playing Online Games
A few months ago I blogged about how people make money from mining gold and other activities in various online games (The Hard Life of a Virtual Gold Farmer), and now I'm posting again after reading an article about taking it to the next level.
BBC News has an article called Cash Card Taps Virtual Game Funds that's about an ATM card that let's them access their virtual cash from a game called Project Entropia.
As I said in my earlier blog post, I don't play these online games, but the description of the virtual economy in this game sounds more developed than anything I've heard about before. Not only are people making money by buying and selling virtual real estate (one guy bought an island for over $25,000 and another bought a space station for $100,000 -- and I'm talking about real US dollars!), but they're also collecting taxes from other players who want access that virtual real estate for their own money-making enterprises.
For example, one way to make money is by hunting animals for their pelts. Then the hunter sells the furs to another player who uses them to make clothes, which are then sold to other players. But as I understand it, the hunter may have to pay the land-owner a fee (or tax) to hunt on their land. To make things even more interesting, game objects don't last forever. Clothes, tools, and weapons wear out or get broken and need repair. So that provides yet another opportunity for other players, and the game company, to make money.
And now with this ATM card, players can not only top up their online accounts when they need to, they can withdraw their PEDs (Project Entropia Dollars) in real money. So a hard-working an resourceful gamer could make money in the game and then use it to buy things out here in the real world. And I think that's totally freakin' cool!
BBC News has an article called Cash Card Taps Virtual Game Funds that's about an ATM card that let's them access their virtual cash from a game called Project Entropia.
As I said in my earlier blog post, I don't play these online games, but the description of the virtual economy in this game sounds more developed than anything I've heard about before. Not only are people making money by buying and selling virtual real estate (one guy bought an island for over $25,000 and another bought a space station for $100,000 -- and I'm talking about real US dollars!), but they're also collecting taxes from other players who want access that virtual real estate for their own money-making enterprises.
For example, one way to make money is by hunting animals for their pelts. Then the hunter sells the furs to another player who uses them to make clothes, which are then sold to other players. But as I understand it, the hunter may have to pay the land-owner a fee (or tax) to hunt on their land. To make things even more interesting, game objects don't last forever. Clothes, tools, and weapons wear out or get broken and need repair. So that provides yet another opportunity for other players, and the game company, to make money.
And now with this ATM card, players can not only top up their online accounts when they need to, they can withdraw their PEDs (Project Entropia Dollars) in real money. So a hard-working an resourceful gamer could make money in the game and then use it to buy things out here in the real world. And I think that's totally freakin' cool!
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