I’ve never really met a gamer that didn’t dream of being paid to play video games. I mean, as far as dream jobs go, playing games and getting paid for it is up there with exploring space and making porn. In a perfect world, you could do this at home, games would be sent to you for free daily, and you’d receive a large paycheck at the end of the week. Unfortunately, this job doesn’t really exist. Playing games isn’t supposed to be profitable; it’s supposed to be fun, and as much as we would all like to believe it to be true – having fun and making money simply don’t mix well. Any form of profit is going to require you to work; the trick is to find a way of working while you’re playing games.

So how does one work while playing games? This is a question that has bothered me for years, as although the answer was obvious I had never really seen it planned out before. So it is my intention with this article to show you the 4 major ways of making a profit through playing games that I have discovered over the years – and to give you some basic tips on how to get started in whichever path you deem most suitable to you.

Game Tester

Although being a Game Tester is considered by many as the easiest path to profit in the gaming industry, it is actually one of the hardest. Due to the scare of games being leaked onto the internet, most developers have now decided that their game testing must be done in-house, meaning that you are required to go to the office to test the game. Therefore unless you happen to be living near the developers head office, or are willing to re-locate – then you don’t have much of a chance in testing games.

The recent flood of MMOs however has opened a lot of doors in game testing. Almost anyone can become a Beta Tester for an MMO now, although you won’t be paid for it. However, this has also made room for more dedicated testers to stand out above the rest – by posting bugs and being active in the community some players have earned themselves paid testing roles and are now working professionally in the industry.

Testing games professionally can be a tough job though, as you will be required to search every part of the game to find even the smallest bugs. It can be a long and tiresome role, but there are many out there that enjoy it. If this sounds like you, then I recommend you begin testing Beta MMOs as often as possible. Become known in the tester community, get good at finding bugs and errors, and prove your worth to the developers.

Game Reviewer

Game reviewing is as old as games themselves, the idea being to provide readers with the information they require before purchasing a game. You simply need to demonstrate ability in writing, the determination to succeed, and be comfortable living on $10 a week. That’s right, Game Reviewers rarely make a lot of money – but instead have the opportunity to travel all over the world, meet game developers, and score free games. 

There are several ways to join the ranks of the Game Reviewers, and most of them require some form of College Degree to succeed. There are however alternatives – one such alternative being to simply start reviewing and promoting your work. MMOSite is the perfect place for this, and you can begin right away. Simply play a game, write a review and promote it in as many places as you can.

Professional Gamer

Becoming a professional gamer is simple; get really good at playing games, and when I say really good, I mean really f**king good. The FPS (First-Person Shooter) genre is great for this, with games like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty 4 holding regular tournaments with prizes upwards of $100,000. You begin by dominating the game online – winning every game by more than 20 kills, never missing a headshot, perfecting every weapon and so on. Then you find a clan that intends to play professionally. If you’re good enough, you’ll get into a good clan – and then into a gaming league.

The downside of playing professionally is that it literally requires thousands of hours of game time, unwavering determination, and the ability to act under pressure. You only get paid for winning too; losers take home nothing making it a risky way to make a living – but a hell of a lot of fun.

MMO Merchandising

I couldn’t find a preferred term for this category, so MMO Merchandising will have to do. This is the newest of the group, and also the closest thing to actually getting paid for playing games. The basic idea is to sell your in-game items for real world cash – and although the idea may sound ludicrous, it has already been named a billion dollar industry.

This is mainly done by large Asian-based corporations, but many people have begun doing it in the luxury of their own homes. Unfortunately, there’s not a great deal of information regarding how one would go about doing this themselves – most likely due to the fact that it is for the most part illegal.