“Time is money” is one of the most repeated adages in history, the metaphor refers to the value of our time but today we could perfectly change the word gold for “a Counter-Strike object”. And it is that you only need to take a look at the Steam community and its flea market, right now a CS: GO cosmetic is worth as much as an ounce of gold.
That is to say that by being lucky in the game you can suddenly get an ounce of gold, about 1000 dollars, and the worst thing is that it would not even reach you for a graph today. Video games seem to have turned the market upside down, video games move a lot of money, especially black or dirty, so there are many interests involved.
Exchange of time and money
What does not change is that time is worth and precisely those who have more are those who are using it to generate extra profits. On the other hand, those who do not have time use their money to buy it and thus one of the most lucrative businesses for a player begins.
It all starts with a player who works from 9 AM to 5 PM and can barely play, his chances of getting gold, items or skins are greatly reduced. But at least his wallet fills up at the end of each month, with this money he can pay for the time to one who invested that same month playing. In the end, time is changed for time.
The relationship between one player and another is simple, but there is no shortage of intermediaries who made this a business. Mercadolibre and Ebay showed the way and Steam itself has taken the example and it is this that communicates one player with another to exchange a golden CS: GO submachine gun for real money.
Sure, the money goes to the seller’s Steam account, so if you want to make a living from this and buy more than just games you will have to exchange it for real goods. Then they move on to the second phase, selling Steam balance to those who want to avoid the taxes of buying on Steam with a credit card. So every sale has a meaning for the someone.
In addition to Steam there are other platforms, some dedicated to the sale of playable elements of many titles such as PlayerAuctions or some dedicated to betting on objects of SwapLounge. In PlayerAuctions you can sell from FIFA coins, through World of Warcraft accounts and even sell yourself to level up an external account.
PlayerAuctions remains a part, of course, but it is also the one that unites both parties and the one that will ensure that there are no scams. It even deposits the money in a bank or virtual accounts, although always following the laws of each country, so it is not the best option for those who want to launder money.
For its part, Lounge is a different world. The website lets you exchange DOTA or Counter Strike objects, but also bet on Esports games. This modality even lets you earn money without having touched a video game control in your life, such as those who bet on any sport.
Adults and children trading
This type of market has a lot of grays (and blacks). To start, only PlayerAuctions sets an age limit (you need a bank account), while the rest allow children and teenagers to trade or gamble. In addition, there are many scandals like the CS: GO Lotto that fixed the results of the matches so that the house always won.
Steam incluso has had to restrict the sale of loot box keys in your market, but this has not avoided the problems by far. And the problem is the psychological factor of loot boxes with random content that fall into the hands of vulnerable people, adults and adolescents. A problem that has already been talked about a lot and that, for now, is still present in a generalized way in the industry.
Time is virtual money
In this way, the next time you hear that someone makes a living from video games, you don’t necessarily have to think that they are a developer, a producer or an Ibai Llanos. Some just play, have fun and sell their surplus virtual winnings and they have enough and enough to live.
In this sense, the most lucrative are MMOs like WoW, since there are always people buying gold. Counter-Strike: GO, DOTA 2 and Team Fortress follow because the boxes are obtained by playing even casually. Also, those games run on any PC, so it is easy to enter this world.
Nor should we forget sports such as FIFA, in Ukraine more than 3000 PS4 j discoveredundoing automatically in a warehouse. The objective? “Farm” in-game gold to sell for literal and real gold prices through PayPal.
As you can see, making money with video games is easy as long as you have the time and choose the right game. It’s certainly not the best way to spend time, as it is a volatile market and developers may turn off the tap eventually (not a career for life). However, it is clearly a viable option once you discover which gold is worth your time, WoW or FIFA?
