There are usually twice as many farmers as computers so the game is on 24/7, this shows the extent to which gold farming is gaining the needed attention. The salary for farmers ranges from 40 USD to 200 USD per month, you can even find some particular ones in which the farmers are willing to work for free as long as they have a place to live and they can play games for free.
Playing online games for 12 hours is a full-time job for thousands of Chinese workers. They’re accumulating virtual money — or “gold” — which they can sell for real cash. But some still view it as a dull and labor-intensive job with limited payoffs.
Gold farming in China is more pervasive than in any other country, as 80% of all gold farmers are in mainland China, with a total of 100,000 full-time gold farmers in the country as of 2005. Gold farming in China is done in Internet cafes, abandoned warehouses, small offices, private homes and even “re-education through labor” camps. When organized as an actual informal business, they are known as “gaming workshops” or “play-money workshops”.
- Can you Make Money Gold Farming?
- How much Money can you Make Gold Farming Runescape?
Can you Make Money Gold Farming?
Although it may sound like fiction, it is a fact, you can indeed make money selling virtual gold. And right now, the only way to do that is through MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games).
Read Also: Is Gold Farming Illegal?
Virtual worlds have become so popular and financially lucrative that there is even a factory in China that hires young people to play online games like World of Warcraft and Lineage, 24 hours a day. In these games, you can create a virtual identity and interact with thousands of other players from around the world.
Virtual Gold
Even if you are not an avid gamer, I am sure you have heard of World of Warcraft. It’s a game that involves strategy and lots of challenges. The objective is to find and collect items and rewards after reaching certain goals.
The game’s official currency is gold.
That currency has led to other forms of virtual currencies where hundreds of virtual businesses have opened up to buy and sell gold and other virtual commodities. As mentioned, gold is the main currency in World of Warcraft. For you to gain a competitive advantage in the game, you need gold and lots of it.
The problem, however, especially for new avatars, is that it takes an awful lot of time to acquire enough gold. You can get there by going through training and learning how to get more gold.
But that takes a long time.
What if you don’t want to wait that long? Is there any way to get to a higher level without putting all that effort into it?…. Well, thankfully there is a way – you can buy gold from other players who farm gold. So basically, instead of working and earning gold in World of Warcraft, you simply buy it!
Now, the twist here is that you can not buy gold on WOW with virtual money, you have to actually use real cold hard cash! Yes, you read that right, you have to pay real money to buy gold in WOW.
This business is so profitable and popular that there are even WOW gold-making addons and dedicated forums for people to discuss strategies and gold farming techniques.
There are even guides you can download to help you get started. And the best part is that this virtual currency is immune to rescission and will not lose value! But that sounds like spending money, how do I actually make money selling it?
Make Money Selling Virtual Gold
Reverse your role as the buyer to a seller and you are now making money. But how do get all that gold to sell in the first place?… Remember we said you can work and earn gold but it’s time-consuming?… Well, if you have lots of free time on your hand, you can become a gold farmer.
To get started, you have to pay the subscription fee so you can become a member and set up your avatar. Once you have set up your avatar, within a few days you can start farming gold and selling it to make money.
And just like farming out there in the real world, here too, the amount of gold you earn depends on the amount of work and effort you put into it. So the more you work, the more gold you earn, and the more real money you can make selling it to other players.
While you may think playing fantasy online games like this is just a waste of time, consider the fact that there are actually hundreds of thousands of people around the world (especially in Asian countries such as China) who actually make their living by farming and selling World of Warcraft gold.
According to Scientific American Magazine a gold farmer in China who sells virtual currency can earn the same wage and, and in some case, more than what he or she may be able to earn working in a toy factory for 12 hours a day.
While nobody is yet tracking it, the combined amount of (real) money these folks are earning is estimated to be upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year!
How much Money can you Make Gold Farming Runescape?
The Runescape Old School provides its players with a lot of ways of making a profit. These methods range from standard item farming activities present in all MMORPGs, to more unique, and creative ones, like Grand Exchange flipping or converting items. The requirements and profitability of these moneymaking activities differ greatly, and there are a lot of methods with low requirements, that will still net you a lot of Gold per hour.
Gold Farming methods with low requirements
These are easily accessible methods, which doesn’t mean that they will not provide you with a worthwhile profit. They will present you with an easy way to sustain yourself during long hours of skilling, leveling, and questing. A lot of them could also be used as an addition to the high-level methods by more experienced players, for even more potential profits.
These methods are rather safe and even relaxing (or repetitive, depending on whom you ask), so they can be implemented when you just can’t be bothered to do something more demanding, and you just want to take it easy while listening to your favorite music for example.
| 1. Grand Exchange Flipping |
| Requirements – Initial Gold investment (the higher, the better), the Member status (recommended, as it will increase your potential profits greatly, thanks to the additional Grand Exchange offer slots) |
| Description – The Grand Exchange provides players with a lot of Gold making opportunities. Capitalizing on the difference between buy and sale prices of items is one of them. |
| General Strategy – Buy items cheaply, and resell them at a profit. This sounds very straight forward, but in reality, requires some practice and a lot of price research. First of all, you have to check the margins of items which you want to flip. If margins are high enough (for example 200+ Gold per item), you should place a buy order for large quantities of those items, and resell them immediately at a higher price. There are a lot of factors that should be taken into account while flipping the Grand Exchange. These include price margins, daily, weekly, and monthly price changes, item popularities, and so on. |
| Potential profits – This method should be considered as an additional Gold making method, as it requires a hefty initial Gold investment. When done correctly Flipping can provide you with very high and steady profits, in exchange for a really small time investment. The projected profit: 100k – 500k per hour (depending on the Grand Exchange situation, and the initial investment). Please note that you can engage in other activities after your orders are placed, because setting up a flip doesn’t take a lot of time, and most of the process happens automatically. |
| 2. Level 1 Sapphire Ring Enchants |
| Requirements – Magic (level 7), Enchant Spell (level 1), Cosmic Rune (1 per enchant), Water Rune (1 per Enchant)/Staff of Water, some initial investment |
| Description – With this method, you will be enchanting Sapphire Rings bought on the Grand Exchange and selling them at a profit. |
| General Strategy – You should start the whole process by checking the margins (the difference between buy price of the Sapphire Rings, and the sale price of the Ring of Recoil, which is the Enchanted version) to evaluate potential profits. Items required for enchanting are specified in the “Requirements” section, and prices of those items should be taken into account when calculating profit margin (your profit will be equal to Ring of Recoil sale price – (Sapphire Ring buy price + enchant costs)). If margins are high enough you can proceed to buy Sapphire Rings. These rings are rather cheap and sold by players in large quantities, so buying a lot of them at a time is recommended. Now, that you are stacked up on Rings, you should begin the process of enchanting and reselling them |
| Potential profits – Your profits will largely depend on the availability of Sapphire rings and Grand Exchange margins. With a margin of 150 Gold, and if you can Enchant 1000 Rings per Hour, you will make 150000 Gold/Hour. If margins are better, and there is a lot of Rings available, your profits can reach about 300000 Gold/Hour. The projected profit: 150k – 300k per hour (depending on the Grand Exchange situation). |
| 3. Level 2 Emerald Neckale Enchants |
| Requirements – Magic (level 27), Enchant Spell (level 2), Air Runes (3 per enchant)/Staves of Air, Cosmic Rune (1 per enchant), some initial investment |
| Description – This can be considered as a continuation of the previous method. With this method, you will be enchanting Emerald Necklaces bought on the Grand Exchange and selling them at a profit. |
| General Strategy – First of all, you will have to check the margins (the difference between buy price of the Emerald Necklace, and the sale price of the Binging Necklace, which is the Enchanted version) to determine potential profits. Items required for enchanting are specified in the “Requirements” section, and prices of those items should be taken into account when calculating profit margin (your profit will be equal to Binding Necklace sale price – (Emerald Neckale buy price + enchant costs)). If margins are high enough you can proceed to buy Emerald Necklaces. These necklaces are crafted by players in large quantities, as they are quite cheap to make and therefore a good source of skill experience. We recommend you to put a large order for them because of that. Now that you bought a hefty amount of Emerald Necklaces, you should start enchanting and reselling them. |
| Potential profits – If you can enchant 1000 of these per hour with a margin of 200, you will make 200000 Gold/hour. This number will rise a lot with better margins and the number of necklaces enchanted per hour. When there are a lot of necklaces available on the Grand Exchange, and the margin is closer to 300, you can make around 400000 Gold per hour. The projected profit: 200k – 400k per hour (depending on the Grand Exchange situation). |
| 4. Making Ultracompost |
| Requirements – Level 22 Mining (optional), Fossil Island Unlocked (optional), Some initial investment (higher if you opt to do not gather Volcanic Ash by yourself) |
| Description – Ultracompost, the best compost in the game is worth more than its components, so making it will net you a profit. |
| General Strategy – There are two ways of doing this, one takes more time, but lets you make more money, and the second one is faster, but requires a more initial investment, and will provide smaller profits per item (but much higher profits overall). With the first method, you’ll need level 22 Mining and access to Fossil Island. If you have those covered, you should make your way to the Island, and start to mine Volcanic Ash there, the more the better. After you have filled your bank with Ash, it is time to buy Supercompost on the Grand Exchange (divide the number of Volcanic Ashes you have by 2 to calculate how much compost you need exactly). When your order is complete (you can place it before farming Volcanic Ashes to speed up the whole process), you should combine 1 Supercompost with 2 Volcanic Ashes to make 1 Ultracompost. Selling Ultracompost on the Grand Exchange will provide you with a nice profit. The second method involves you buying Volcanic Ash on the Grand Exchange, so it saves you time at the expense of some extra initial investment, and a little bit of risk. |
| Potential profits – Your profits will depend on the method you chose, and on the current Grand Exchange prices. Currently making 1 Ultracompost will net you 132 Gold in you use materials from the Grand Exchange (buying it is a great option if you have enough Gold to invest in is, as it will rise potential profits really high because you could make a few thousand of Ultracomposts per hour potentially), and 264 if you’ll farm Volcanic Ash yourself. The projected profit: 250k – 500k per hour depending on your chosen method, current Grand Exchange prices, your initial investment, and your ability to relocate quickly (if using the first method). |
| 5. Tanning Dragonhides |
| Requirements – The Member status, some initial investment (~750k), Agility skill (optional; it will speed up the process by allowing you to run for longer), Stamina Potions (recommended; they will speed up the process, by providing you with some extra Energy, needed for running around) |
| Description – Dragonhide can be converted into Dragon leather with the help of a tanner, and then sold at a profit. |
| General Strategy – Just like with the other Grand Exchange related methods, the first thing you should do is check the margins. If the price difference between Dragonhides and Dragon Leather is high enough, you should buy as many Dragonhides as you can afford. Your freshly bought Dragonhides can be tanned in the city of Al Kharid. This process will involve a lot of running between the shop and the bank (that is why we have recommended Stamina Potions). After the tanning process is complete, you should proceed to sell your freshly made Dragon Leathers on the Grand Exchange at a profit. |
| Potential profits – your profit will mostly depend on the current item margins, and the speed at which you are able to tan hides. With the current margins, your profits should oscillate around 350000 Gold per hour. The projected profit: 300k – 500k per hour (depending on the Grand Exchange situation, and your speed). |
| 6. Converting basic Elemental Staves |
| Requirements – Level 42 Construction (in order to build a House), Teleportation Ring/House Teleport Tablets (optional – these will speed up the process and increase profit per hour), some initial investment |
| Description – Prices of basic Elemental Staves differ greatly on the Grand Exchange, and you can capitalize on this fact. |
| General Strategy – Firstly, you should compare prices of all basic Elemental Staves (Staff of Fire, Staff of Earth, Staff of Water, Staff of Air), and check the margin (the difference between the buy price of the cheapest Staff, and the sale price of the most expensive Staff). Then you have to place a buy order for the cheapest Staves (if the price difference between cheaper staves is not that high, you can buy more than 1 kind, as it will increase the stacking-up process). Read Also: How to Earn Money Using my PS4 Now that you are stacked up on cheap Elemental Staves it is time to head to your House. In your House, you need to build a Crystal Ball, and then convert bought Staves, into the ones that were the most expensive on the Grand Exchange, with the help of it. After the converting process is complete, all you have to do is sell your freshly converted Staves on Grand Exchange at a profit. |
| Potential profits – Your profits will largely depend on the price difference between different kinds of Elemental Staves, your ability to relocate quickly, and your APM (actions per minute), as there will be A LOT of clicking during the Staff conversion process. If the price difference will be equal to around 500 Gold, and you will be able to convert 750 Staves in an Hour, then your profit will be 375000 Gold/Hour (this is a low estimate). If the price difference will be closer to 700 Gold and your APM will enable you to make about 1000 Staves in an Hour, then your profit will reach 700000 Gold/Hour (a high estimate, the real profit will be somewhere in the middle of the two mentioned values)! The projected profit: 375k – 700k per hour (depending on the Grand Exchange situation, your APM, and your ability to relocate between your House, Bank, and the Grand Exchange quickly). |
| 7. Trading Javelins |
| Requirements – Some initial investment |
| Description – Grand Exchange prices of Javelins are much lower than NPC prices, all you have to do is find the right NPC Trader. |
| General Strategy – Place buy orders for a lot of Adamant Javelins and Rune Javelins on the Grand Exchange. After your orders are complete, head to the Void Knights Squire NPC located at the Void Knight’s Outpost. Open the Trade window and sell 50-100 of each Javelin to the NPC (the buy price will decrease after that, so you shouldn’t sell more at a time), then change the World and sell another 50 to 100 of each. You should repeat the whole process until all Javelins are sold. |
| Potential profits – Your profits will mainly depend on the difference between the Grand Exchange and NPC Javelin prices. The current prices are as follows, Rune Javelin 240 Gold each (NPC price) and 161 Gold each (Grand Exchange price), Adamant Javelin 96 Gold each (NPC price) and 57 Gold (Grand Exchange price). If you buy 1000 of each, you will make around 118000 Gold, and it will take you just a few minutes to sell them, so there is a potential of making up to 1000000 Gold per hour with this method (if the conditions are right of course). The projected profit: 400k – 1kk per hour (depending on the number of the Javelins available on the Grand Exchange, their current price, the speed at which you can sell them to an NPC, the GE and NPC price difference, and the number of other players currently selling these [the more people are selling Javelins, the more world-hopping you have to do, and world-hopping takes time]). |
| 8. Buying Death Runes from the Mage of Zamorak |
| Requirements – The Member status, Rune Mysteries quest completed, Enter the Abyss quest completed, Initial Gold investment (more Gold invested = more profit), food for health regeneration, |
| Description – Mage of Zamorak sells runes very cheaply, so runes bought from him can be sold at the Grand Exchange at a profit. |
| General Strategy – You should start by checking the Grand Exchange prices of Death Runes, if they are worth more than 220 Gold a piece, you are good to go (any lower than that, and your profits will be very marginal). Then, stack up on Food and Gold but remember that there is a risk of dying on your way to the Mage, so you should only take the number of Gold pieces that you are willing to risk. With your resources ready, is time to visit the Mage of Zamorak. He is located around the Southern Wilderness mining site and at the Altar of Zamrok in Varrock (northeast of the Grand Exchange, in level 4 Wilderness). Please be aware that there are a lot of Skeletons surrounding him, and there is a possibility of meeting other, potentially hostile, players. After you reach the Mage, you should open his store and buy Death Runes from him (only buy down to 250). When you are done with purchasing runes and if you have money left, you should change your World and repeat the whole process. If Runes are bought out on a World, there is someone else doing the same thing most likely – it is a good idea to skip some Worlds in a situation like that. After all of your Gold is spent, it is time to make your way back to the Grand Exchange and sell them there at a profit. |
| Potential profits – The Mage of Zamorak sells Death Runes at a price of 195 Gold each, and you can buy up to 250 of them per World. If you manage to buy 250 Runes on 100 Worlds, and the runes are worth 220 Gold on the Grand Exchange, you will make 625 Gold – GE tax per World-change run, and you should be able to complete a run in about an hour. If the price of the Runes is closer to 275, potential profits will rise to about 2000000 Gold (please note that buying 250 runes per World on 100 Worlds will require a total investment of 4,875000 million Gold)! The projected profit: 600k – 2kk per hour (depending on the Grand Exchange situation, availability of Runes, and your initial investment). |
Welcome to the world of gold farming, a trade in which individuals play online games to earn virtual currency and other goods, then turn around and sell them — for real money — to other players looking for a shortcut.
