Full Time Job Trading In Virtual Video Game Goods
from the sounds-risky dept
Just as we were talking about the virtual auctions at There.com comes the news that some guy is trying to make a living buying and selling virtual goods in Ultima Online, the popular online game. That's right, his full time job is now hanging out in the game (and on eBay and other sites) and trying to buy and sell things for real cash. This seems to have at least a slightly larger chance of succeeding compared to There.com. In Ultima Online, at least characters increase their "value" by doing stuff. In There.com, it's entirely about consumption of virtual goods. Still, I wonder how sustainable this is. In a test, the guy said he made $1,000 in three weeks - though, they don't indicate how much time he put towards the test. Of course, $1,000 in three weeks is not a lot to support a wife and a kid while living in San Francisco. He's also worried that if his account gets hacked into and he loses everything, the police really aren't going to care. Well, with so much going virtual these days, maybe he should buy himself a "virtual" insurance policy. Now, there's a business opportunity.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Julian Dibell
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
busted!
The 79th Richest Nation on Earth doesn't exist. The population is 225,000, the hourly wage $3.42. Welcome to virtual paradise, where a carpenter can live in the castle of his dreams - if he doesn't mind an 80-hour workweek double-clicking pig iron and hoarding digital dung.
It's a pretty interesting story about people making a legit living selling cyber realestate and goods. It makes you wonder why the game makers don't develop their own exchanges and cash in on the deal. Is it possible that ebay is so enchrenched that everyone has given up on creating their own niche auction/sales sites?
DPG
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: busted!
Techdirt had the story about the size of the virtual gaming economy (actually before the Wired article...).
We also had an even earlier story about a game that was setting up their own auction system.
;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]