This Guy Makes 100k Per Year Off A Virtual Island? WTH Am I Missing Here?

14 years ago

I got started in MMO (make money online) playing Entropia (the game referred to in the article). I actually was drawn to the fact that I could make money playing video games.

The people that really earn(ed) in it fell into one of a few categories

1 - Those that got in early and got skillz/equipment that could be used/resold later as the market inflated
2 - Earlycomers like Deathifier or Neverdie who made big early investments
3- Latecomers who invested incredible amounts and flipped it before the market caught up

its a giant top down pyramid/casino system disguised as a video game...
quite genius actually.

In the end I "invested" about 5k with no returns so I wrote and sold an ebook on how to do arbitrage on the auction house and doubled my money and got out of dodge.

something to be learned there...

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Lloyd Buchinski 14 years ago

It is really surprising to me too. Investing in virtual 'real' estate? That's just slightly real estate. It reminds me of a saying that no one ever went broke by underestimating people's intelligence. But for as long as it lasts I guess there is money in it. Maybe I could become a virtual drug dealer. No judge in the world could convict me and if you give the stuff a nice sparkle...

Originally Posted by Greg Jacobs

its a giant top down pyramid/casino system disguised as a video game...
quite genius actually.

I hadn't thought of it that way but can see what you mean. I'd replace the genius with nasty.
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JayXtreme

14 years ago

It's a lucrative niche...

WofWarcraft has been in my stream for a while now.. and others are on the fringes. It pays to stay in touch with nieces and nephews who can really educate us on this kinda thing.

Peace

Jay

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TheRichJerksNet

14 years ago

Yep many have been doing this for years using Second Life, I looked into it but got bored course that was Nov 2007 so I am sure the game has greatly improved since.

James

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reapr

14 years ago

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Yep many have been doing this for years using Second Life, I looked into it but got bored course that was Nov 2007 so I am sure the game has greatly improved since.

James

Second life I remember this article ... about a virtual realtor
Second Life realtor makes $1 million - News at GameSpot

So to the OP yeah it is hard to believe but its happening.

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Matt Bard

14 years ago

There are some pretty big Madden Football forums that have the good players selling ebooks on how to play better and win big.

Some books on winning "plays", "playbooks", "Offense", "Defense"...

Can probably do this with any popular game.

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Slin

14 years ago

I had a friend who used to play a popular computer game called counterstrike.

His team was sponsored and he was payed to play.

It's kinda crazy, I don't know if I could ever play a video game for money.

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Obilex

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Slin

I had a friend who used to play a popular computer game called counterstrike.

His team was sponsored and he was payed to play.

It's kinda crazy, I don't know if I could ever play a video game for money.

I was sponsored on a Cal-i team back when i was 15. Got like 500 bucks a month to play a game I already played. That ruled

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Poglia

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Rod Cortez

The World's Most Expensive Island--Online - Plugged In - Yahoo! Games

The article above fascinated the heck out of me. This guy paid over $26,000 for a virtual island and it helps him earn $100,000 a year in real money in virtual taxes? WTH am I missing here? I used to have a friend who make about 4k per month just selling stuff and characters on WOW, but this blew me away.

Any other Warriors into this kind of revenue stream? Can you do this stuff on 2nd life? (I've never played it before which is why I'm asking). Man, the possibilities online are endless.......

RoD "No-Way-I'm-Drinking-Virtual-Coffee" Cortez

Yeah, videogames can profit a lot, I'm in that niche too. I highly doubt your friend made $4000 per month just selling characters or gold in WoW though, this is impossible unless he was a scammer and used stolen accounts.

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JayXtreme

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Poglia

I highly doubt your friend made $4000 per month just selling characters or gold in WoW though, this is impossible unless he was a scammer and used stolen accounts.

Ummm.. no it's not.

It's VERY possible. No scamming or stolen accounts required.

Jay

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soltzer 14 years ago

It's amazing how much you can make off of games. Back in my Everquest days there were people who did nothing but farm items and platinum all day long and sell it via paypal. They were making bank because the reality is people are lazy, and there are always going to be some willing to pay rather than earn it themselves.
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Silas Hart

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Poglia

Yeah, videogames can profit a lot, I'm in that niche too. I highly doubt your friend made $4000 per month just selling characters or gold in WoW though, this is impossible unless he was a scammer and used stolen accounts.

$4,000 a month is Nothing in that market. I was making over $12,000 a month selling gold, leveling, and selling characters, and I could have expanded into $25,000 a month or more if I didn't lose focus and try to create an offline business to mesh with my online business which was an Internet Gaming Center. I was a multiboxer (before it became even remotely popular) who ALSO used the advanced stages of undetectable automation software. When I first started out, I was making $300 a DAY doing the same "levels" (WoW calls them Instances) over and over while people sat at the computer and gained the experience and gold.

Hell, I knew a guy that made $160,000 in just 5 months releasing a public version of the automation software. All word of mouth, no advertising at all. If I said the name of the software, people would be like "Oh, I've heard of that."

Its a massive market, but now its also extremely competitive. One person in the U.S. now can no longer compete against 30 people in Asia doing the same thing for less of a price- combined.

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ChaibiAlaa

Banned 14 years ago

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Richard Tunnah 14 years ago

TBH I have never played any of the virtual world games. However I saw a report recently about people making a lot of money by buying prime 'virtual' office buildings and renting them out. It also talked about commercial companies now wanting to pay to have 'virtual' billboards with their company logo on it.
A bit surreal to me!

Rich
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TheRichJerksNet 14 years ago

Originally Posted by ChaibiAlaa

Why would I buy something virtual ? Just to play ? Can't find out how those businesses works but they always do !

I think this should explain why - Buy Land: FAQ | Second Life

There are many that have made a very nice income buying and selling virtual land...

James
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- Matthew Moyer 14 years ago
  
  If you think it isn't possible to make $4k selling accounts because
  it takes a lot of time to level up a character then go search
  multiboxing in google images.
  
  It's where people have a whole mess of computers running a progam
  that controls a whole bunch of accounts all at once.
  
  It allows a player to basically be stronger many times over then a
  single character based off of shear numbers.
  
  Unless you actually have the money to be able to afford all the stuff
  to make it happen you aren't going to be able to do what multi boxers
  can do.
  
  As for Project Entropia the game where that island was sold on Greg Jacobs
  has it exactly right with the points made especially number 3.
  
  I spend about 6 months in that game except I had no money to invest in
  it and you literally either have to have people give you things or do the
  only thing you can do in that game which is called sweating.
  
  I'm not gonna explain what that is you can look it up to find out if your actually
  interested in playing it. I wouldn't suggest playing it with any hopes of making
  any money and as for it's gameplay it's okay at best.
  
  Thanks
  
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big_t

14 years ago

I'm still amazed at all this.....
I had no idea things like these were going on.

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butters

14 years ago

Back in the day when I used to play Wow etc... I could of made a couple of K probably, at the time it never interested me to sell my stuff though, so I didn't

. Oh and to the guy who said its impossible to earn 4k in a month from wow, lol... No it isn't...

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eflo

14 years ago

I used to sell diablo 2 characters after getting some great equipment sets, but nothing like 100k a year!

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Rod Cortez 14 years ago

Originally Posted by eflo

I used to sell diablo 2 characters after getting some great equipment sets, but nothing like 100k a year!

I used to do that too! Man, that seems like so long ago. I think the last game I really got into was Everquest II and Horizons of Istaria. Then my addiction changed to IM. In fact, I find it a lot more fun and rewarding. I appreciate everyone's feedback. It's cool to see these virtual economies and wonder if they are going to evolve over time.

RoD
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Johnny Slater

14 years ago

People pay money every day for virtual stuff. Ever since the very first MMO's people have been paying real money for in game characters or equipment. With games like Second Life and Entropia Universe it's been taken to a new level.

I remember 10 years ago I played a game called Hostile Space. There were only about 300 active players but it was nothing to see someone sell a character off for $500 to $1000.

I was once offered $1000 for one item I had because it was a beta item and almost impossible to create again.

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Lawrh

14 years ago

All of the above is trivial compared to China. The amount of virtual currency exchanged was in the billions of yuan. The Chinese government had to ban the use of virtual currency for offline use because of fraud, money laundering, violent crime and organized crime.

Here's a couple articles -

Virtual currency restricted in China? | Ecommerce Journal

THE STORY BEHIND THE CHINESE BROUHAHA: LOST IN TRANSLATION INDEED | WoW Gold Facts

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Matt Gannon

14 years ago

now for wow you don't have to do anything you can run bots and multi accounts at once and they will build up for you, then just sell them when they have gotten big.

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Stefan Sthlm

14 years ago

What happened with 2nd Life. It was a lot of mess around it a couple of years ago. Nowadays you don't hear anything about it. Is anyone still using it?

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LetsGoViral

14 years ago

You are missing that he had enough money to invest in the island in the first place.

If you have good 3D/CG skills, you can work on creating objects for Second Life and earn money with that. I know there's a lady who creates professional looking houses and furniture and people buy it for their Second Life homes. More like no life, am I right? But still, it gets the money in the bank, so why not?

Hell, I knew a guy that made $160,000 in just 5 months releasing a public version of the automation software. All word of mouth, no advertising at all. If I said the name of the software, people would be like "Oh, I've heard of that."

Was it glider? Didn't that guy get sued?

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Silas Hart

14 years ago

Originally Posted by LetsGoViral

You are missing that he had enough money to invest in the island in the first place.

If you have good 3D/CG skills, you can work on creating objects for Second Life and earn money with that. I know there's a lady who creates professional looking houses and furniture and people buy it for their Second Life homes. More like no life, am I right? But still, it gets the money in the bank, so why not?

Was it glider? Didn't that guy get sued?

No, different guy, but the guy you are talking about made several million and did have to repay 2 million I believe. I've also personally met the guy you are talking about when I lived in Phoenix, he lived about 8 stories above me.

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r4i

14 years ago

I got interested when I read the book "play money" about how to make money in the strange world of online role playing games. I tried redmoon at that time and indeed people were buying and selling rare and unique items and high level chars for loads of money. I think the best one can do is to see if a new game is launched and then jump in early to collect as much as possible to sell later.

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WriterNick

14 years ago

we are in whole new era now,
even virtual estate can be taken as investment.
All the while i only knew people selling off their Wow Accounts instead of buying a virtual estate.
This is really something fresh =)

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jweby 14 years ago

Its not only wow accounts they are selling, they are also farming gold and selling it to earn money.
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- WriterNick 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by jweby
  
  Its not only wow accounts they are selling, they are also farming gold and selling it to earn money.
  
  But do you think this can be taken as a stable income?
  Hmm.
  
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  Prisqua 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by WriterNick
  
  But do you think this can be taken as a stable income?
  Hmm.
  
  The people that have managed to build brand names are the ones making a regular and stable income, not sure on WOW, but certainly on Second Life.
  
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  Coffee in the mornings is a must! Work sometimes demand that I tweet, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. I Hunt and Shoot Aliens as therapy a few hours every day. I am experimenting with healthy eating, and I enjoy LIFTING apart from tennis, which I have loved from goddess knows when. Apart from Coffee, I love cheeses and wine, as French do.
  The Complexities Of Life Simplified
  
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GSX Enterprises

14 years ago

For the amount of time invested, if you focused on Internet Marketing, I think you'd have a much more viable business that is far less dependent on game producers and game popularity...

-Safe Travels

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jweby

14 years ago

Originally Posted by GSX Enterprises

For the amount of time invested, if you focused on Internet Marketing, I think you'd have a much more viable business that is far less dependent on game producers and game popularity...

-Safe Travels

quite right about that one. Because if a game becomes obselete, you'd really have a hard time making money on it. Invest time on internet marketing, and you'd be surprise of the earning you will get from it.

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lacraiger

14 years ago

i think theres more money invested and made in secondlife.com
ive heard of people even getting married and having children on there. lol

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Prisqua

14 years ago

I am a "Second Lifer" and yes there is money to be made but like anything else, to start a business you need money...

One of my friends, who is a full time blogger so she has time on her hands kinda - she started off buying cheap sims (islands) that people can no longer afford and rent out the land and she has no vacancies... Her virutal estate is pretty small compared to others.

And of course the early comers make more money than new comers...

If you can create, then you might be on to something... my boyfriend was just telling me last night that one guy created a pair of glasses on Second Life and made $1 million by selling them... There are brand names being created... like the Moody shoes... expensive stuff but you have to own a pair of Moody! It might sound crazy but that's the way it is.

And look at the latest craze Second Life latest craze: Ozimals Bunnies | Second Life® Slex & The City , and from what i have seen so far, the creators are making huge money by just selling the virtual food...

Yes, virtual life can bring you a real life regular income or create a hole in your wallet...

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WriterNick

14 years ago

This is indeed something fresh and worth learning =)

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Anonymous Affiliate

14 years ago

This is nothing new. It's been going on for over a decade on different online games.

I was already making around 10k a month back in year 2000/2001 selling on eBay items+characters from EverQuest, the game that was popular before WOW came out.

And I personally know two guys who became millionaires (literally millionaires) doing just that to a large scale, employing hordes of Chinese guys playing and harvesting the game 24/7.

It used to be a VERY profitable activity, and I guess it still is.

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enwereuzo 14 years ago

So the video game industry is a money making niches.
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- enwereuzo 14 years ago
  
  Can someone tell me many ways to make money from your video game site/blog.
  
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Michael Truong

14 years ago

This is a very lucrative industry indeed.

If you check out what some of the facebook apps/games make (in profit turnover) you will be in for a big shock. It's a multi-million dollar industry.

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Marakatapolis 14 years ago

I miss games, I never have time for them anymore.

Back in high school I played Merchant Empires, Utopia, Americas Army, Counterstrike, and Nukezone.
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The Copy Nazi

Banned 14 years ago

I broke this story about a real-life island money-making venture - "Tribe Wanted for Fiji Island" - in "The Sydney Morning Herald" four years back. The island's site appears to be down but its on Google.

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Spot the Ball 14 years ago

I play a game called Eve Online, very addictive and pvp focused but also not everyones idea of fun. You either get it or you dont, no inbetween players.

CCP, the developers allow gamers to trade in-game currency for game time to pay the monthly subs.

Players can also buy game cards and sell them to other players for in game currency, the business is huge.

The actual eve universe has a very complex player driven economy desiegned by economists, its a proper sandbox game played by mostly adults.

I have Eve friends who would regularly be spending 100 dollars a month for the in game goodys.

Yep, gaming is big business.
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- Intrepreneur 14 years ago
  
  Exscuse my ignorance but what is the game he bought this Island on?
  
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  discrat 14 years ago
  
  This sh*t is definitely fascinating. It really is cool. Honestly though, I think IM is a better area to concentrate your resources in making money.
  
  I can see myself getting wrapped up in the virtual real estate thing and getting addicted to it. Especially as it involves interacting with other players and bartering and selling etc...
  
  I just soon stay away because I have an addictive personality !!
  And this stuff sounds very addictive !!
  
  Thanks
  
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Anthony_Hall

14 years ago

I'm a huge fan of online comics since I was 16 and although there's not a ton of people making a living from them they do exist and cover lots of subjects. Here's a couple just so you get the idea.

Penny Arcade - One of the biggest if not the biggest online comic out there. They have a yearly convention that thousands attend and even helped attorney Jack Thompson disbarred in Florida. The whole comic is based around video games and gaming culture.

XKCD - This guy is a CNU graduate in physics and used to work for NASA. He now draws stick figures for a living.

Just goes to show that the online world can take people to some interesting places.

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paulie888

14 years ago

This is really nothing new. Online gamers have traded virtual currencies (i.e. gold or some other currency) or game levels for real money for quite a few years now. This has expanded into Facebook with the myriad games such as Mafia Wars, Farmville, and various other sci-fi themed games (Zynga seems to be pretty successful with its many releases) all pretty much based on the same concept (trading real money for virtual goods or currency).

The key is to get in early with these games and amass whatever it is that can be traded freely. Alternatively, you could try your hand at creating a Facebook game application that might just take off beyond your wildest dreams. The risk really is minimal as a simple game can be created without too much of a time or money outlay.

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AndyBlackSEO

14 years ago

I tried 2nd life once just out of pure curiosity. For the 15 minutes that I was online walking about this 'GUY' kept following me around talking oscene gestures to me so I logged straight off never to return. Very weird but some may love it. That 'guy' obviously did. (Come on... who was it?? Was it someone from here? ;-) )

I had heard though that some people have made over a million on that platform buying and renting / selling property. I'd like to know who these muppets are that are 'losing' all the money. Mental.

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hollyvelance

14 years ago

I love all these stores about how you can make money from these kinds of things. Sometimes, it's the simplest things which bring in the bacon