[sdlate]

There are ways to earn a decent return on time spent playing wow, but the prerequisites are quite extensive. For instance, I play on one of the top arena 5v5 teams one of the better (and more populous) battlegroups in the nation (Vengeance).

We leveled up 5 arena teams to about 2200ish rating and started selling weekly spots on the teams for 700g a pop, letting the clowns play 3 games, and us play the remaining 7 to keep the rating up. That way, they got their points, we kept our teams high to continue selling, plus a huge profit. Over the course of the season, I made about 40,000 gold, which I sold to guildies and other players I knew at 1000g for $50, which turned into a decent profit margin. Nothing compared to Poker, obviously.

At the end of the season I plan to end my Wow career by selling my account (Sick geared warrior; full merciless, stormherald, archimonde pants with plenty of extra BT and hyjal gear, plus a full merciless hunter if anyone's interested :P) which should hopefully generate a revenue sufficient enough to justify the countless hours I put into the game. Luckily, I enjoyed the time spent which grants some justification, however it'll be nice if I can pull off at least 2k to feel like I got something out of it ~

All in all, WoW (and pretty much any video game, unless you can be the absolute best and earn a sponsorship) is a bad investment if you're looking to get money out of it. WoW for me has been a nice distraction which will hopefully at least pay for itself in the end, nothing more.