Earning money is somewhat of a necessary for everyone once we reach a certain age. We all want to have our wants and needs and the only way to achieve that is when we have money. Especially in the times of this pandemic, we need to find ways in order to sate our buying impulses of new games and new gadgets to use to play our favorites. With options limited, we need to start thinking outside the picture rather than our usual 9-5 jobs, luckily, there are resources on how to earn money while having fun! Let's talk about that.
Below we list down various jobs to do while playing video games, sure some of them are pretty obvious but let's deeper in each of them and see if you find anything that you fancy.
YouTube Channel
The most obvious one and also the most crowded one. Being a Gaming YouTuber has a lot of things to keep in mind while creating one. The standards are high now since the area may be oversaturated. But don't fret too much as there are ways to beat it. First, you need to make sure that you have a focus game or game genre when making one.
A general one can be an option but you will not have a dedicated audience built because you have a lot of games to handle, for starters, one game or two can work so that the players of that game will follow you and watch your content more.
Ofcourse, you can do more than just simply creating guides and highlights, people like Yongyea and Jim Sterling do commentaries about the latest gaming news and issues that come across it, making him popular since he has an unbiased opinion when comes to those stuff. You can be a gaming reviewer as well but that requires more popularity when it comes to that stuff since your reputation will carry through and if they find it worthy then your review will definitely be considered.
Overall, having a YouTube channel is a great way to earn money while playing, but do remember that you need to have done a great deal of work in your channel and gain audience before it pops off.
Livestreaming
Why not just literally play while earning money. If you have the charisma, equipment and will to do it. You can start livestreaming your games and share the world what you're playing (as long as it is Safe For Work, ofcourse!).
There are a lot of streaming platforms that you can dive in and test it out, but the more prominent ones are Facebook's stream functions and Twitch. Apply for their programs and make sure that their requirements are met so that you can start it out.
Streaming games can have various results since others are more attracted to a certain genre than the rest but don't let that discourage you from playing a game that you like, there's no point in earning money playing games that you do not like, sure the flow might be bad from the start but once you get a solid audience you can get more followers if you just do everything right.
Testing Video Games
Now, this one is a bit rare and hard but this is a viable option too. First off, you can search for certain gaming companies that are searching for Game Testers and apply for the role, as a game tester your mission is to find bugs, replicate and send it to the company to avoid the bug showing up in the final release of the game. We all know we hate bugs in the official release.
That's the more corporate way to do it. You can also do this on the side if you have a great social media reputation, like if you did either of the first two options, some companies might ask your help in their game and if you do, then you'll get the dough, pretty neat if you ask me.
Game Development
A little bit more of a technical side, why simply play, expand your horizon and create games! While you're basically developing a game, you still play-test it so therefore you're still playing! But this requires a lot of work to be done, the rewards are worth it if you pull it off!
There are various indie developers that started to create their own games and now have gained a massive following and ofcourse, money. So this is a way to go if you are enduring and want to establish a mark in the industry, who knows this may be your path.
You need to have an idea to what game you are planning to do, mostly you have a lot of ideas for a video game, therefore, a basic to intermediate knowledge of coding is a bare minimum to make one, know your genre, the mechanics and such.
Find more tutorials in game development and learn from there, it might take you months and years but if you make a great one, you're off to a good future as a game developer.
Selling Accounts
Now this is a bit of a forbidden area to do in some games, since there are terms of service that you need to follow and some do not allow the buying and selling of accounts as it have led to a lot of failed and fraudulent transactions. However for those games that does not indicate otherwise, this is a great way to earn money.
The account will ofcourse come from you, a lot of games have always introduced a great way to start in the game. Some need some meta heroes, others require a certain goal so you can coast, etc.
If some players want to skip the grind or get a quick start, then you can sell them the accounts, just make sure that you have a failsafe option if the buyer suddenly flakes out. Honestly, this option is risky with a lot of ways. So be careful!
Gaming Journalism
Why not just do what I do too? HAHAHA. Going into gaming journalism is a great way to do write-ups if you like to write and you want to play games. Got the latest news about a certain game you like? Share it so the people that play can also know too. You can also share insights that can truly help each other out. It's a great way to earn money as you also expand your writing skills and your brain power.
Just make sure that the writings you do is non-agenda filled. As a journalist, it is important to have an impartial opinion so that your writings will not be filled with biased opinions and to be fair for all.
Get Into Esports
The more skilled gamers can go into this route if they want either a fulltime job as an esport player or more of the support of the esport player. As an esport player, your skill level in a certain game must be high that you can challenge the pros and veterans of the game, at least in your region or area. You need to be scouted by those who have an esports team so that you can get to play in one.
Fame comes along with it. The more famous you are in a certain game because you're good at it, nets you a higher chance in playing with an esports team.
Making an esports team or finding a job does not mean you get to play video games all day but you're involved in it. However, one of the perks of it is having the time to bond with the team and one of those bonds are playing video games.
You can also be a coach and therefore might need to play the game in order to find strategies and tactics for your team. Either way, getting into an esports team might be an interesting aspect for those who want to explore the industry even more.
Coaching and Tutorials
Finally, one obscure way is to be a coach or offer tutorials about the game. Getting in on Fiverr and Udemy to offer videos and live tutorials about a certain game can really net you money, as long as you have the skills to communicate and ingame skills as well, you can pull it off.
I see a lot of people offering their aid to boost some players via coaching and the results can be shown once the player really invested in what their coach said. It may not be that easy to get some customers while you are starting but then again, it's a long way up as usual.
Conclusion
Of course these are just some of the ways to earn money while playing, there are a lot of other options that you can do in order to get a living while doing the things you love, but always remember to search for every corner for opportunities, who knows if you are the next big thing!
Below we list down various jobs to do while playing video games, sure some of them are pretty obvious but let's deeper in each of them and see if you find anything that you fancy.
YouTube Channel
The most obvious one and also the most crowded one. Being a Gaming YouTuber has a lot of things to keep in mind while creating one. The standards are high now since the area may be oversaturated. But don't fret too much as there are ways to beat it. First, you need to make sure that you have a focus game or game genre when making one.
A general one can be an option but you will not have a dedicated audience built because you have a lot of games to handle, for starters, one game or two can work so that the players of that game will follow you and watch your content more.
Ofcourse, you can do more than just simply creating guides and highlights, people like Yongyea and Jim Sterling do commentaries about the latest gaming news and issues that come across it, making him popular since he has an unbiased opinion when comes to those stuff. You can be a gaming reviewer as well but that requires more popularity when it comes to that stuff since your reputation will carry through and if they find it worthy then your review will definitely be considered.
Overall, having a YouTube channel is a great way to earn money while playing, but do remember that you need to have done a great deal of work in your channel and gain audience before it pops off.
Livestreaming
Why not just literally play while earning money. If you have the charisma, equipment and will to do it. You can start livestreaming your games and share the world what you're playing (as long as it is Safe For Work, ofcourse!).
There are a lot of streaming platforms that you can dive in and test it out, but the more prominent ones are Facebook's stream functions and Twitch. Apply for their programs and make sure that their requirements are met so that you can start it out.
Streaming games can have various results since others are more attracted to a certain genre than the rest but don't let that discourage you from playing a game that you like, there's no point in earning money playing games that you do not like, sure the flow might be bad from the start but once you get a solid audience you can get more followers if you just do everything right.
Testing Video Games
Now, this one is a bit rare and hard but this is a viable option too. First off, you can search for certain gaming companies that are searching for Game Testers and apply for the role, as a game tester your mission is to find bugs, replicate and send it to the company to avoid the bug showing up in the final release of the game. We all know we hate bugs in the official release.
That's the more corporate way to do it. You can also do this on the side if you have a great social media reputation, like if you did either of the first two options, some companies might ask your help in their game and if you do, then you'll get the dough, pretty neat if you ask me.
Game Development
A little bit more of a technical side, why simply play, expand your horizon and create games! While you're basically developing a game, you still play-test it so therefore you're still playing! But this requires a lot of work to be done, the rewards are worth it if you pull it off!
There are various indie developers that started to create their own games and now have gained a massive following and ofcourse, money. So this is a way to go if you are enduring and want to establish a mark in the industry, who knows this may be your path.
You need to have an idea to what game you are planning to do, mostly you have a lot of ideas for a video game, therefore, a basic to intermediate knowledge of coding is a bare minimum to make one, know your genre, the mechanics and such.
Find more tutorials in game development and learn from there, it might take you months and years but if you make a great one, you're off to a good future as a game developer.
Selling Accounts
Now this is a bit of a forbidden area to do in some games, since there are terms of service that you need to follow and some do not allow the buying and selling of accounts as it have led to a lot of failed and fraudulent transactions. However for those games that does not indicate otherwise, this is a great way to earn money.
The account will ofcourse come from you, a lot of games have always introduced a great way to start in the game. Some need some meta heroes, others require a certain goal so you can coast, etc.
If some players want to skip the grind or get a quick start, then you can sell them the accounts, just make sure that you have a failsafe option if the buyer suddenly flakes out. Honestly, this option is risky with a lot of ways. So be careful!
Gaming Journalism
Why not just do what I do too? HAHAHA. Going into gaming journalism is a great way to do write-ups if you like to write and you want to play games. Got the latest news about a certain game you like? Share it so the people that play can also know too. You can also share insights that can truly help each other out. It's a great way to earn money as you also expand your writing skills and your brain power.
Just make sure that the writings you do is non-agenda filled. As a journalist, it is important to have an impartial opinion so that your writings will not be filled with biased opinions and to be fair for all.
Get Into Esports
The more skilled gamers can go into this route if they want either a fulltime job as an esport player or more of the support of the esport player. As an esport player, your skill level in a certain game must be high that you can challenge the pros and veterans of the game, at least in your region or area. You need to be scouted by those who have an esports team so that you can get to play in one.
Fame comes along with it. The more famous you are in a certain game because you're good at it, nets you a higher chance in playing with an esports team.
Making an esports team or finding a job does not mean you get to play video games all day but you're involved in it. However, one of the perks of it is having the time to bond with the team and one of those bonds are playing video games.
You can also be a coach and therefore might need to play the game in order to find strategies and tactics for your team. Either way, getting into an esports team might be an interesting aspect for those who want to explore the industry even more.
Coaching and Tutorials
Finally, one obscure way is to be a coach or offer tutorials about the game. Getting in on Fiverr and Udemy to offer videos and live tutorials about a certain game can really net you money, as long as you have the skills to communicate and ingame skills as well, you can pull it off.
I see a lot of people offering their aid to boost some players via coaching and the results can be shown once the player really invested in what their coach said. It may not be that easy to get some customers while you are starting but then again, it's a long way up as usual.
Conclusion
Of course these are just some of the ways to earn money while playing, there are a lot of other options that you can do in order to get a living while doing the things you love, but always remember to search for every corner for opportunities, who knows if you are the next big thing!
