Make Money Playing Free Online Games

MMOBomb Staff
By MMOBomb Staff,
Share:

I think it goes without saying that the only thing better than playing a game for free, would be playing a game for free and actually making money off of it (well maybe playing a game for free while beautiful, scantily-clad women massage you, feed you, and encourage you would be even better, but maybe that’s just me). Well that’s exactly what you can do with just about any free online game on the market. So if you have a hole burning in your pocket that demands to be filled with cash, read on to find out just how to do.

You can make money off of virtual objects

What many gamers don’t know is that virtual money, items, characters, etc. in every free MMO game on the market have a real world cash value. Every time you level your character, acquire a new weapon, or gain reputation with a faction, the real world value of your account is increasing. While I wouldn’t advise it as a career choice, there are people who can make a modest living off of playing MMO games, simply by building up characters, items, etc. and then selling them.

If you have any interest in selling virtual items, remember that the value of your virtual item may fluctuate based on your reputation in the game world (which savvy buyers may look into). Remember also that lots of games don´t allow sales, conducting any type of transaction involving their intellectual property is against the TOS and would likely get you banned from the game. It’s up to you to be sure whether or not what you want to buy or sell is allowed. Even if it is allowed by the game, it may not be allowed for example by Ebay, or vice versa.

The best known example of this is Second Life: According to eBay Second Life is not considered a game, and thus the sale of Second Life virtual items is not prohibited. Some “Virtual Worlds” (Second Life, IMVU, Planet Calypso, etc.) include user product creators programs that allow users to sell and purchase products which they can use in these environments. These Virtual Worlds encourage users to be creative and sell their goods using the virtual currency. Take, for instance, what just went down on Planet Calypso, where one of Entropia's wealthier players has sold off his interests in a "Asteroid Space Resort" for an eye-popping $635,000 real world dollars.

Do You Have the Write Stuff?

A great way to make money off of your favourite free to play game is to write about it. Gamers are always on the lookout for tricks, strategies, and techniques. You could start a blog about your favourite game and then sell advertising space as it grows in popularity and readership. This will require a (free) blog account such as Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal to get started. In order to earn money you'll need to display ads on your blog and the easiest way to do this is to sign up for a free Google AdSense account. Once you get rolling, you could also look into becoming an affiliate for relevant products and making additional money through your blog by promoting those products.

You could also apply to write articles or make videos for some of the large game portal sites like MMOBomb.com, which are always on the lookout for great writers and content (and most will pay a set rate per article).

MMO strategy guides are also big business right now, so if you feel you have what it takes to write a comprehensive guide on your chosen game, that’s certainly an option. Guides can be massive depositories of knowledge and tactics for the entire game, or can be smaller offerings focusing on just one aspect of the game (such as raiding, PvP, or building up a specific character class). You could either go it alone and write and release the guide yourself (which would also require some marketing and possibly web development knowledge as well), or apply to write a guide with one of several MMO portals like MMOBomb.com or MMO Guide sellers.

Go Pro Yo

One of the biggest realms of gaming money making to be found is in professional tournaments and gaming leagues, and this unfortunately is a realm that Free to Play MMO’s have failed to penetrate thus far for the most part. Most MMO games simply don’t have a viable way to conduct any type of online gaming league or tournament.

Still, there’s hope on the horizon for free MMO players, as RuneScape has enjoyed a successful one year run with Major League Gaming thus far, the most prominent gaming league in North America, and the free League of Legends has also been added to their stable of games. It’s hoped that more free MMO’s will add options to their games in the future that make them suitable for cash tournaments or leagues, such as PvP arena modes and the like.

Don’t be Afraid to Test Your Luck

When it comes to sweepstakes, giveaways, contests and the like, there’s generally two schools of people. The ones who can’t be bothered to enter for the most part (unless the prize is really compelling), feeling their chances of winning aren’t worth the effort, and those who enter every possible contest they can get their signature, real or virtual, affixed to.

Most MMO publishers run occasional contests and giveaways, and unless the contest is asking you to draw a picture of your character and you were born without a visual arts bone in your body, or asking you to write an essay on the relevance of MMO’s in modern society and you don’t even know what relevance means, there’s really no reason not to enter, as your odds of winning are probably not all that bad.

While you may not win any actual cash, you could win some cool gaming gear, such as clothing, collectibles, or electronics. You could also win cash shop money to purchase in-game perks or items with, so if you’re a regular cash shop money purchaser, that’s just as good as extra cash in your wallet (or on your credit card, or in your Paypal account, or in your… I ran out of ideas, never mind).

If you usually don't have luck, you can easily get BombGold coins, and you don´t need any luck for that. BombGold coins is a virtual currency from MMOBomb.com that you win just for having fun participating in the MMOBomb forum. When you have some BombGold you can exchange it for virtual goods from your favorite games, among other cool things that you may find in the MMOBomb Shop like paypal gifts.

Conclusion

These are just a few ways you could profit off that free MMO games you enjoy, and there are probably many others besides these (like making videos). Yet while making money is great, don’t let the drive to earn money off your gaming experience tarnish the actual experience itself. Trying to put a price tag on something that is priceless is a recipe for disaster.

Share this Article:

Discussion (34)

Talha 5 years ago
nice app bro

Rosaura 9 years ago
What's up, yeah this article is really pleasant and I have learned lot of things from it about blogging. thanks.

Democratus 9 years ago
i am Lineage2 Professiona Bot Specialist and programer
i can make any he want to a succesfull and professional farmer
earning money from a game without spending alot of hours
last 6 months sold all my 60-80bots and earned 8000$ + Gold from game
Skype: Democratus3

View 1 reply
Jason 10 years ago
I have many, many, many MMO accounts that are just sitting there, not being used. i might have to look into selling them (played mmo's for about 5 years, every day, all day all night) lol

Royal Jose 11 years ago
Jesus

PIE5 11 years ago
I got a 4 year old runescape account and it's worth 400 dollars, 4 year salary for 400 dollars very very good money lol

deep 11 years ago
good

how to make money online fast 11 years ago
naturally like your web site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the reality then again I'll certainly come back again.

janine 11 years ago
how to join here?

Cretanis 11 years ago
Does this mean that I could actually make money off my old Runescape account? Please clarify?

666 666 bigeggs 11 years ago
Hey :D

I have played Entropia Universe for about 8-10 years now and have put some Real cash in to it (well about £1500) an it has not all been a total loss for the most part i was losing cash or PED because i just didn't have the skills to do anything or the knowledge. I would say i used about £500 in 4 years just getting skills up and getting to know the game (yes i am a slow starter :P) after i joined a decent SOC or society in the game i got tips an to go out on hunting trips and i started to learn what must be done to get a return. I as of when this post was done have had (1x8000ped tower = £500 and 1x16000ped tower = £1100) while mining + loads of other stuff i have only ever withdrew £500 tho as i kept most of the PED i won in game and bought better skills and items for my avatar.I think even if i didn't win anything i would still play this game as it is fun an there are lots of people to talk with an just have fun with :D
Anyway they changed the game so that new players have a good understanding of what the game is about and how to do it + you get some free stuff :D
i know a guy that is doing quite well an never deposited anything he must have about 7000 ped now from sweating and trading materials.(sweating is no fun ) :D lol

View 1 reply
moon 11 years ago
do u really get money.if yes how mch and how please reply:-)

sachidanand yadav 12 years ago
please sir, how can i get money? what i have to do?

lah 12 years ago
Quick question.
How do i sell stuff i mean, how do i sell accounts and the expensive or rare items in the game into real life? who would buy it? o.O

Name (Required) 12 years ago
i do have a world of warcraft account i hit lvl 85 on one of my char his gear is ok its not the best but its a good char

Naz 12 years ago
I make money playing MMORPG, and plus with the fun.

UDONTKNOWMEH 13 years ago
Ehhh... I know that some people see games as... DeviantArt. It's not really popular and well-known choice in order to make cash, but it works none the less. It usually happens in forums however. There are some people out there who want their characters drawn, wrote about or maybe edited onto where they can show the character off (e.g. signatures) Some people understand this and announce that they will do so-and-so for money, especially for art. It's really big in social games like Gaia or TinierMe, but I've seen it happen in the forums Audition and Getamped 2.

You improve your talent and get money of it as well: It's like killing two birds with one stone X3

jiong 13 years ago
as an avid player of entropia universe, i can tell you right now that john neverdie jacobs (the old owner of the asteroid) did not simply wait for it to go up in value. he made tax every time someone mined or hunted on that property (and seeing as it was the main site for high level mining, thats a lot). entropia can be played one of two ways. like a casino, or a business. it also takes a lot of patience, but everything in game has a real cash value. every 10 ped is 1 USD. it is a difficult game, but its fun.

powerbot 13 years ago
best way to make money is grab bots/cheats on game and upload it on PPD Sites like sharecash then promote it on youtube :P

View 2 replies
ltzh0f17 13 years ago
Isn't this ripped straight out of the e-book you guys distribute? I'm just wondering why it's been put up here when supposedly everyone reading it has read the book as well. (Although surely some people just downloaded it for the gold; I certainly did, but then decided to read it anyway.)

View 1 reply
ghostsai234 13 years ago
There are a few problems with these ideas.

1. Selling in game accounts/items is against the rules (which you mentioned) in the majority of online games. Plus you're getting multiple characters to a high/max level with good gear over and over and over. It takes time, a lot of time.

2. I believe the person who bought the property on Planet Calypso waited years for it to go up in value. Not quite the best idea for fast cash.

3. Writing an in depth guide requires in depth knowledge of whichever game the guide is for, which usually requires a lot of time spent playing. But if you already know a lot about a certain game give it a go.

4. Pro gaming is like telling someone to become a major league baseball player. It's great, but it's not the most realistic goal (you need to be an exceptionally good player).

The best (and most realistic) way is to make a blog as stated. Even then it's no walk in the park. A game related website is also good if you know about web development. I'm not trying to be a downer, but making money by playing games isn't as easy as this article makes it sound.

View 1 reply
arvinfilth 13 years ago
Nice article :D
I've always thinking about making a gaming blogg..... so i just startet one :D
The name is Gamesplorer :P
Please support :D
http://gamesplorer.wordpress.com/

vvvv8119 13 years ago
Hello!, this article is pretty interesting, I might actually try some of these, but, I have a question, does this mean I can possibly play some game and get really good at it and then sell my account and start again? o.o - Thanks for this article!, MMOBomb.com is becoming something big.

View 1 reply
Ero-Shinigami 13 years ago
Interesting tips, I already made a lot of money selling some accounts in MMOs, but there have some tips that I will enjoy too, good topic.

View 1 reply

Read Next

Women, Sex and MMO Games

You want to start a new MMORPG, so you have two options to choose which one: a recommendation from a friend or looking around the internet to read about others opinion about the best Free-To-Play MMORPG out there.

By MMOBomb Staff -

You May Enjoy

Top 8 MMORPGs For Low-Spec PCs

If you're a bit behind the current PC top-tiers, here's a few MMORPGs you can still probably enjoy.

By Michael Byrne -