How To Earn Money By Playing Games Online?

You don't have to be a YouTube or Twitch star to make money from games. You could be an ordinary person with a side job. Ask Katie Porter.

Porter is a voice teacher from Texas. He found a lucrative part-time job running online board games through a website called StartPlaying. In a typical month, you'll earn between $800 and $1,500 from people willing to buy seats at your gaming table.

"It doesn't replace my day job right now, but it has a lot of potential," Porter said.

Sites to make money playing games

StartPlaying is one of many online platforms that can help you earn money from games. While few of these sites promise a full-time income, side scammers say they can earn a good $15-$50 hourly rate doing something they love.

Sites with these gigs range from playtesting to gaming sites to educational platforms. And if you're aspiring to be the world's next big game mogul, some of them can even help you build an audience.

Role-playing games

The site to consider if you like RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder is StartPlaying. StartPlaying connects players with professional game masters who manage game rules, maps, and help direct the action.

Game masters don't need illustrious credentials to register here. However, experience in acting and directing relevant games is expected. They also set their own prices, charging $5 to $30 per seat at a table. Since tables typically accommodate up to six players per game, a game master can earn up to $180 per game. But the games can last several hours, and some require a lot of preparation.

Porter says his goal is to earn around $50 an hour. However, he says he sometimes underestimates the setup time needed, so his true hourly rate is likely slightly lower. Sergio Solorzano, a freelance writer, says he earns around $15 an hour. But he still brings in around $700 a month playing three days a week.

"If you love Dungeons & Dragons, it's great to be able to make a living out of it," says Solorzano. "And the best part about turning your hobby into a job is that the things you buy for it can be expenses for your taxes. It's another way to make the side gig work for you."

Test games

If you like video games like Call of Duty and Fortnight, you might want to sign up for PlayTestCloud. This German company helps game developers improve their products by getting enthusiastic gamers to try them out. Much like website testing services, you download software that records your reactions and speech when you complete the test. Tests usually last 15 minutes and cost $9.

You're unlikely to get back-to-back tests, so it probably won't earn you $36 an hour. In fact, users' biggest complaint about this website is that they don't invite them to do enough testing. The good news is that if you get a trial, you'll get paid within a week of it ending.

Teaching game making

Meanwhile, online tutoring website Juni Learning recently launched a lesson creation program. The site, which hires students as part-time tutors to teach coding and math, now allows teachers to create their own courses and put them up for sale. New courses must be approved by the site.

One of the most popular game-making courses is one that teaches kids how to make games using the Unreal Engine, a set of development tools used by many of the world's most popular games. The two-hour course takes kids from concept to completion and promises a playable game at the end of the workshop.

Course creators determine the cost of their course and earn 70% of the revenue. The remaining 30% is paid to June for marketing and collection services.

Teaching through games

Outschool, another popular educational site, also offers game-making lessons. Teachers design the curriculum, set their fees and take home 70% of the income.

Some of the site's most popular game-centric offerings include a one-hour Roblox game-making workshop ($20) and a weekly Pokémon Card Club ($10). Additionally, Outschool offers classes that teach concepts such as physics, playing with Legos, and paper airplanes.

Classes can accommodate up to 14 students, allowing a popular course to pay a generous hourly rate for the teacher.

Going it alone

Some of the highest paid players go it alone. The big names in the game are YouTube and Twitch stars who earn a portion of ad revenue from streaming sites that run ads during their videos. They also collect sponsorships and sometimes earn revenue from subscriptions.

You don't need to have millions of subscribers to stream on Twitch, said gaming manager Claire Haupt. But you shouldn't expect it to be a huge source of income. Haupt, who earned $10,000 as a main player through StartPlaying last year, says he streamed on Twitch during the same time. He raised a total of $700.

However, there is also an opportunity to sell your gaming services through schools and community organizations. For example, Jeff DiOrio started playing paid games at summer camps and working with nonprofit groups. This helped him build a community that was enthusiastic about his ability to teach chess to young people. Now his company EliteChess.net earns six figures with online chess lessons.