Three ways to make money playing video games

We bring you some Three ways on how to turn your gaming habit into a handy earner

Everyone knows there are prizes galore to be won if keen gamers decide to take up the slightly bizarre title of “professional gamer”, with competitions offering large financial rewards for the very best.

But what about if you just want to earn a bit of pocket money from your usual gaming habit without making the leap from “amateur” to “professional”?

Video games forums are awash with what are perhaps somewhat embellished tales of the financial rewards available, but there can be more than a few pennies to be made if you are shrewd.

Do not assume this is easy or some get-rich-quick checklist – if making money from casual gaming was then everyone would be doing it.

But away from the lights of video games competitions, here are three ways to turn your gaming routine into a tidy little earner.

1) Game testing

Game testing or “play testing” is where large video game companies employ video game testers, who test games in development and report any problems or glitches they discover.

Although this may sound like a perfect job, approach this money-making scheme with caution.

Websites such as The Tough Life of a Games Tester highlight that this is often not particularly well paid, and that you will not necessarily be able to play games you actually like.

All video games testers sign non-disclosure agreements, so bear this in mind – as well as some of the anonymous comments below – before embarking on a job as a “play tester”.

One tester says: “Imagine your favourite movie. Now take your favourite 30-second clip from that movie. Now watch that 30-second clip over and over again, 12 hours a day, every day for two months. When you've done that, tell me if what you've been doing is watching movies all day.”

Another complains: “They flat-out tell you that what makes a good employee is the number of bugs you find and it is this number that will determine if you are kept on or not.”

Here is one games tester (rather annoyingly) boasting about his job, but also hesitating over what he is able to say.

2) Gold and item farming

The buying and selling of virtual goods is nothing new, but with some games operating a sort of in-game auction house, there is money to be made.

This method arguably exploded with Diablo III’s, the action role playing game in which characters choose one of five classes (Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard, Monk or Demon Hunter), and are tasked with defeating Diablo, the Lord of Terror.

Sadly makers Blizzard have announced that from March 2014 both its gold and real-money auction houses will be shut down, meaning you have around four months to get stuck in.

Blizzard take $1 out of each sale, as well as another 15 per cent when you pay via PayPal, but some players have claimed they have made as much as $10,000 by harvesting and then selling gold on the auction house.

A Reddit user named WishboneTheDog included screenshots of his PayPal account as proof of his apparent $10,000 earnings.

Reddit user WishboneTheDog posted screenshots of his PayPal account to show his earnings

The user writes: “I have never botted, scammed, used any of the number of exploits, or cheated in any way whatsoever.

“Before this game, I never made any money off of what I did because it was against the rules. Investing and trading in the item markets is part of how I have my fun, it wouldn't make sense for me to cheat.”

Blizzard said they were removing Diablo III’s auction house as it “undermines Diablo’s core gameplay”. 

3) Unofficial guides or walthroughs

As I have written in a previous post, as far as I am concerned how-to guides and walkthroughs ruin games, but that does not mean there is not a huge market for them.

Consider yourself an expert? Websites like Killer Guides allows you to write an eBook which you can then sell. You can also try this on Amazon or your own site but the market on Killer Guides is much larger.

Many of the Lord of the Rings game guides – which are often more than 100 pages long, so do not be fooled into thinking it is a quick job – sell for $29.99 (around £18 or £19).