Long ago when I was playing Diablo II regularly, a friend of mine gave me an item in-game that he thought would help me out during gameplay. It was some kind of jewel or rock or whatever it was. I found that I didn’t have much use for it and discarded it by dropping it somewhere and moving on.

A few days later, that friend asked me if that jewel/rock/thing helped me out. I said no, it didn’t, and I got rid of it. Then the friend got angry. Why? Because he’d paid 8 bucks for it on eBay. When he told me I really had to hold back laughing in his face. My thought was, "Who would be stupid enough to buy merchandise that only works in a game and nowhere else?"

As I know now, there are people that spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on virtual merchandise which serve no real purpose other than entertainment – but they consider the stuff they buy to be very important, so I don’t make fun of them anymore.

If you think buying virtual merchandise is dumb, you’re not alone, but you wouldn’t think it so dumb if you were the one making real cash from it.

How does one go about making cash from virtual merchandise?

Virtual merchandise is anything that intangible (as in you can’t physically touch it) you can sell that can only exist in a computer. Note that I didn’t say only exist on the internet.

In this arena, you have the following choices:

• Apps (like an app for an iPhone)
• Information (such as a how-to document on how to do something)
• Entertainment (mostly items that only exist in certain games)

With apps and information, you already know how to go about that. The apps are programming by you using the appropriate APIs, and information is sold by writing books or pay-per-doc PDF downloads (or a subscription model).

Entertainment on the other hand is different. A lot different. Certain types of for-sale stuff you can make is relatively easy while the other is ridiculously difficult.

On the ridiculously difficult side are those who sell high-level game characters. These are those crazy World of Warcraft addicts you’ve heard about that spend nearly every waking moment playing the game. Many of those "grinder" type players only play specifically to level up characters to sell on eBay later and make hundreds to thousands of dollars from them.

The payoff from selling high-level characters is nice, and for many it does literally pay their rent. The tradeoff however is that you basically have no life outside of the game. In addition, the competition is fierce.

On the relatively easy side, you can create virtual merchandise that is not game-skill-based but rather art-based. The Second Life Marketplace for example is exactly just that. When you see what some of the stuff in there sells for, you’ll be shocked at first and then think, "Man, there’s some cash to be made there!" Yes, there is.

The payoff isn’t as high compared to selling high-level skill characters in other games, but you can establish a storefront just as you would in real life, develop a customer base and generate stable sustainable income from it.

If you have any interest in art, drafting or the like on the computer, Second Life could be a genuinely source of second income for you.

Is virtual merchandise for everyone?

No, but if you were looking for ways to generate extra income, it’s an option – but bear in mind it’s absolutely not a get-rich-quick thing. It takes time, effort and you have to be genuinely interested in it.

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