Turning gold into green

When I was younger my Dad used to tell me the key to happiness in your career was to take something you enjoy doing anyway and find a way to make money at it. Actually, my Dad never said that, I think it was a movie whose name I can't remember. Of course if that were true I would be a professional hockey player.

Regardless, Wall Street finance magazine Forbes has posted an interesting piece on the controversial topic of making real money in virtual worlds. World of Warcraft features prominently in the piece, which features a top 10 list of virtual world careers.

The story looks at the growing trend of making money in online games and discusses some of the advantages and pitfalls of such a career move, including the ominous specter of taxation of virtual funds (the IRS is always watching).

Of course in WoW such methods of making money are generally considered a nuisance (think gold farmers), but the growing popularity of virtual worlds will inevitably lead to more and more people trying to make real world money selling the Uber Sword of Awesomeness.