Virtual Lemonade Stands Earn Real Money

Training for the epic flying mount skill in World of Warcraft costs 5000 gold. As I pursued this amount, mainly through cornering the auction house market on various primal cloths (at one brief point I was commanding prices of 95 gold each), I remarked to my wife how nice it would be to make money this easy in the real world.

So it was with interest I read that rather than toiling in RL this summer, some high school and college students are translating their virtual labor into real cash. The Wall Street Journal generated buzz with this article by Alexandra Alter about kids pursuing money making opportunities in games and online worlds rather than flipping burgers or some other typical summer job.

The key site for raking in the bucks, according to Alter, is Entropia Universe, where one teen profiled in the article claims to have earned $35,000 over four years, or about $730/month. Not bad coin.

In the real world, summer jobs are in short supply. Only about a third of teenagers are expected to work this summer, the lowest levels in 60 years, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. Summer youth employment has fallen from about 45% of teens in 2000, a downward trend made worse this year by the faltering economy.

But money-making opportunities in virtual worlds have grown as such sites go mainstream. Research firm Gartner Media estimates that by 2011, 80% of Internet users worldwide will have an avatar, making animated online personas as common as screen names. Such companies as IBM and Adidas have moved into Second Life, helping to drive employment.

The differences between Second Life and Entropia Universe appear to revolve around the need for heavier programming skills in SL. Skilled programmers can design virtual clothing or architecture in SL, for instance. In Entropia Universe, “crafted” items are in demand that involve time on the part of players to develop. These can then be sold to other players, much like “crafted” items in traditional MMORPGs. Activities like hunting, mining, and tailoring are offered in EU.

So, essentially, EU offers many of the activities a traditional MMORPG offers, with the possibility of earning real money from time and effort spent in the world. Users can add or withdraw real money, converting it into or from virtual funds through an ATM card.

Most of the research around the SL and EU economies seem to stem from marketing firms, although SL also has a strong history of academic interest.

References:

Alter, A. (2008, May 16). My virtual summer job. The Wall Street Journal. [Online.] Available: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121088619095596515.html