Video games have grown to provide much more than a simple power fantasy. A game can now be an avenue to create art, a way to meet new people, andeven a venue to hold a wedding. In a recent interview, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell shared his experiences with using gold farming inWorld of Warcraftto make real-life income.
InWorld of Warcraft,as with many MMOs, gold farming is the practice of stockpiling in-game currency to later sell for real-world income. As the practice is against Blizzard’s Terms of Service, gold farmers will go to third-party sites to sell the in-game currency to other players who do not have thetime or patience to earn the currency traditionally.
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In an interview for gaming magazine, Edge, Newell says, “We were always used to thinking about games as entertainment experiences, but then we started thinking of them as productivity platforms. As a sort of proof-of-concept I decided to be a gold farmer inWorld of Warcraftfor a while.” Newell found out very quickly he was making $20 an hour gold farming, which is higher than minimum wage in most parts of the world.
It was this experience that inspired the Steam Workshop, initially created forplayers to share customTeam Fortress 2items. Newell recounts:
“[We were] trying to think of everybody as a content creator. There’s this story of the parents that called us up because they thought we were selling their kid drugs. What happened was PayPal pinged the parents and said, ‘Your kid is exceeding our limits on how much money they can put into PayPal per month. They’re probably selling stolen goods or drugs, because there’s no other explanation.'
“So the parents called us up and I said: ‘He makes items on the Team Fortress Workshop. He’s making $500,000 a year.’ That to us was an indication that this was a helpful way of thinking of games – as platforms – and it’s informed all of our decisions about multiplayer games subsequently.”
Gamers looking up to pick up extra income may have no further to look than their favorite games.
World of Warcraft: Battle for AzerothandWoW: Classicare both available now on PC.
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