Gaming as a Secondary Source of Income during Covid-19

The phrase “make money out of gaming” has been misused several times over the Internet, such as click-baiting people into gambling games with bad graphics.. While that is certainly an annoying way to use the term, we know what you’re thinking of and yes, it is possible to make money through gaming. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about making money playing video games, and some important do-s and don’t-s, along with utilizing gaming as a secondary source of income during Covid-19.

Gaming and Covid-19

Gaming can be especially useful as a secondary source of income during a lockdown. The pandemic has restricted most of the world indoors and gaming, having a natural borderless nature, has seen a massive surge over the last month. Along with being an easy and engaging way to have fun and escape the real world for a while, video games also offer a chance to live inside another world, outside the rooms you are now confined to. There is also the potential to meet new people and interact with your friends via video games, something that people are craving for during the lockdown. With gaming seeing massive growth in these months, it can be easier than ever to try and utilize it as another source of income.

How do you make money playing video games?

The way to utilizing video games as a source of income is to identify the kind of content people enjoy engaging with and creating that kind of content regularly. Being interesting and creating helpful or unique content is what drives people towards content creators. The best part is that you don’t even have to be a professional player! When it comes to PvP games, being at least decent at it does matter a bit, but there are quite a few content creators who are far from the best at their game but still manage to entertain a lot of people.

The term “content creators” probably brings your favorite streamers or YouTubers to your mind, but it’s well beyond that. Content creation goes from fan art and writing articles to creating community content, such as Reddit posts. Some games such as Fortnite also have a “Creator Code”, where once you reach a certain threshold of followers on social media, you are eligible to have a code that your followers can enter in the in-game item shop and reward you part of what they spend.

Video Content

Video content is the most popular and effective form of online content. Vision is a powerful tool, and when you combine that with interesting gaming content, you have a combination that has the potential to generate some serious income. Video content can range from live streams and YouTube videos to Instagram profiles featuring short clips or highlights. Video content often ties in with each other at this point, where YouTube and Twitch profiles feed off each other and grow the channel as a brand. Utilizing live streams can not only help you start gathering income via subscriptions and donations, it can also build you a good community and reward you with a group of friends.

Tips, sizeable donations, and subscriptions are the main forms of income for live streamers. YouTube, however, can be directly monetized to earn money as per the time spent on the video. Video content is inarguably harder to get out there with the competition being so tough right now. Twitch has boomed in the last few years, and video game content has received millions and millions of daily viewers. It can be hard to break in, but if you do it right, create innovative content, have patience, and are consistent with it, the payoff is well worth it. Mixer is another rising platform for video content, popularized by Fortnite streamer Ninja. Speaking of content creators, you can edit content for them as well! It is a challenging task that does pay well if you do it right.

Content Writing

Written content can open a lot of opportunities for you. It certainly did for me! Content isn’t only about being in front of a camera, it can make a large impact when created from behind a keyboard as well. Guides, listicles, news articles, are all very well-received by the gaming community. You might find opportunities on plenty of gaming sites, and you could also start your own blog! Some video content creators also often need help creating scripts and planning their content, which certainly opens several doors as well.

Content is always in demand for gamers. We simply look up a lot of daily/weekly challenges in games, or builds for our favorite characters. Articles and guides allow you to access these quickly without going through an entire video. These articles generally pay by word, or by the hour in some places.

Graphic Art and Animation

While the least popular of these methods, creating concept art for games, or animations, can surely help. Warframe has its own in-game shop called “Tennogen”, used to sell skins created by the community for the community. Other examples include popular Fortnite streamers recruiting Redditors on seeing their animation skills.

Selling in-game Items

Finally, you can make a quick buck selling off any in-game items or currency, for example, that you have accumulated over the years and no longer use. Sites like PlayerAuctions allow you to offload these items to players who may value them more than yourself. You can even sell old game accounts (after using PlayerAuctions’ account calculators to check their value, of course). If you hapatience, you can also farm currency in MMOs such as RuneScape and WoW to sell for cash.

Endnote

Being able to earn via video games, something that has always been considered an unproductive activity by most, may sound like a dream. But it isn’t. Hopefully, our Gaming as a secondary source of income during Covid-19 guide helped you understand the direction you want to pick. There are thousands of people who earn through gaming, and it doesn’t even have to be your main job!

You can utilize your love for gaming to generate a second source of income, even from the comfort of your home during this lockdown and can take the time to create as much content as you want. With gaming and online activity in general seeing a massive surge due to the pandemic, it certainly is an option to consider. All you need to do is be original. Understand your audience and what they would want to watch or read and consistently put quality work out there. You’ll be able to make money playing video games in no time!