Introduction

I am no stranger to "blogging."  Back in 1999, I started my first blog and kept it up for ten years, on and off.  It still exists, but I no longer write in it.  In part because I can't remember the password and in part because I've changed so much sense I used to write there.

Two of my friends have started blogs lately.  So in part, I want to response to them.  I've been using a very old aim address in order to comment, but I figure I might as well actually start writing and get a better fitting name.

I've played more than a few mmo's over the years and, I have found I enjoy generating gold.  There's two basic types of gold earners.  Those that want to buy something and those that wish to simply want more gold for no good reason.  Most people fall into the first category.  There's an item or future items that a person wants.  It can be a luxury item like the Sandstone Drake or just gems and enchants.  This person would rather be playing the game than making gold.  Gold generating is means to an end.

The second type of person is not rational.  This type of person wants to make money simply because they can.  Maybe they'll justify this irrational behavior and maybe they won't.  This is the type of person I am.

Of course this is a gross simplification of human behavior, but I digress.  First, I suppose I should talk about why I think I am qualified to even writing this blog.

This picture is actually a bit of a lie.  I've spent quite a bit of my gold since that high point.  Maybe I'll talk about that in a future entry.

For most people, once they reach their goal, then they stop and do whatever they'd rather be doing--running dungeons, pvping, doing achievements, leveling alts, etc.  I am the type of person that is too lazy to bother farming, so instead I do an auction house run each day.  In a normal day, I'll spend about 15 minutes a day doing it, usually in 2 sessions about 7-8 minutes each day.  Additionally, depending on sales, I'll spend as much as 1-2 more hours in a longer session making new things and preparing materials.  This is just a rough number, sometimes my 15 minutes might stretch out to be 30 minutes if there's much to do.  This sounds like quite a bit of time, but even the two hour sessions usually involve lots of watching TV while I hit a mill/prospect macro.

So how much do I make each day?  To be honest, it depends.  When the market is up, I've cleared as much as 7 or 8k in a single day.  When it is down, I've done as little as 500.  Also, competition is a factor.  If it is fierce, you have to constantly undercut increasing your time spend dramatically.  Once you feel out how low your foes will go, you can decide if constant surveillance is worth it or not.  At this point, it isn't worth it anymore for me.  Here's today for example from 8pm to 2am.

If I can work up the interest, perhaps, I'll go step by step into how to do everything I do.  I am leery about giving up all my secrets, especially with Diablo 3 upcoming.  Anyway, happy gold generating!