Your Wealthy Avatar (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Your Wealthy Avatar

[Daffy Duck]

Excellent!

My girlfriend and I recently started playing World of Warcraft in some of our spare time, so it was funny to see the references.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

Excellent!

My girlfriend and I recently started playing World of Warcraft in some of our spare time, so it was funny to see the references.

FWIW I've never played WoW.

[Daffy Duck]

You mentioned Azeroth though. Did you get that from Google?

[faheeta]

Hey, Steve you stole my idea for a blog post! Seriously you beat me to the punch. One day I often wondering why there were so many wealthy players on WOW and other online games. Why are these players so successful at accumulating millions on an online video game but you know in real life they're in debt up to their eyeballs. I think one reason is because video games are in black and white. What I mean is you only have a limited number of choices of what to do with your income (buy, sell, invest, give). You have financial goals because you are always striving for something in the game. In a MMOG you work together with others to achieve a common goal. In a video game it's hard to fritter away your money foolishly, become addicted to gambling or alcohol or use credit. Sounds like all the ingredients for success without the pitfalls! Oh yeah you'll be hearing from my lawyers Mr. Pavlina

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

You mentioned Azeroth though. Did you get that from Google?

No, from Warcraft II. I figured WoW would recycle it. Guess I was right.

[TaylorLord]

Very well put Steve, a lot of times we end up exerting tons of energy into something without realizing we could be applying that same energy into real things in the real world, Things that could better our situations completely.

I think people like to resort to video games because a. they are entertaining of course and b because it allows them to be something great without the risk of killing their real self. Its escapism/fantasy and it’s a lot easier to die when you can just hit the reset button. So therefore the failure that can occur isn't permanent. Just like its much less embarrassing to slip and fall in front of real people than to slip fall with no one around.

we live in the simulation generation

[Hyperchiller]

I liked this Steve:

You can create stuff and sell it. You can be a trader (buy low, sell high). You can get paid to support and/or optimize other people’s wealth building systems. You can acquire income-generating and/or appreciating assets. You can bring people together for lucrative deals in exchange for a fair cut. You can become a performer or entertainer. Real life has more wealth building opportunities than all the virtual worlds combined.

It's so true. Thanks for the great post. I don't know if people will like this article with all the gaming terminology - but I sure enjoyed it! It was well put.

Haha this was good too:

So why do people take on those risks? Why do people keep fighting dragons and risking their character’s lives to do it?

Mainly because it’s a lot of fun. To play sheepishly makes the game boring and pointless. It’s better to play full out and risk death now and then.

[Plato]

You can take on quests... Or you can be a troll.

I enjoyed this article.

[bigadam]

When you see a quest that scares you but also excites you, that’s the best kind of quest to accept. Those are the really fun ones.

Awesome!

Interesting to note that there are two primary strategies that people use to earn gold and level their characters in WoW:

1. Questing - completing goals that reward you with gold and experience at the end.
2. Grinding - killing monster after monster in the same tiny area, taking any loot they drop and the small experience bump that comes with it.

Most people in this world are grinding. Only a small few are accepting quests.

[vMike]

Good article!
I'm not into games, but I like your analogies, Steve. The way you use them in articles it always makes everything crystal clear and even .. makes you feel stupid for never thinking about things in a similar light.

[Rose of Cairo]

Cool article!

I spend a lot of time completing quests that are a lot of fun, but not profitable. They will be at some point in the future, when I have learned better skills, but they're not yet. The profitable quests available to me at my current level of skill are not that fun. The more time I invest into them, the less time I can invest into training my skills for the fun quests, and the longer it'll last until the really fun quests become profitable.

So what to do? Put all my energy into a profitable but not that fun quest, or focus on the fun quests that are not profitable yet?

[carenkh]

Loved this article!

It's funny, I was just watching my youngest play a game, and he said he was trying to get a higher ranking. I noticed he wasn't with the group he had joined, he was just running around an empty field.

I asked, "Don't you have to kill creatures to go up in rank?" and he said, "That's one way, but if I just wait here, when the rest of the group completes the quest, my rank will go up. If I kill creatures, I can level up faster, but this is to get a higher ranking."

At first, I was thinking, "But that's WRONG!!", then I thought, "Hey, if that works for you, go for it!". It was pushing all my "you must work hard to get rewarded" buttons. I let him know at some point his group might get mad that he wasn't helping, and he said he knew, and he was probably going to join them soon. Or, he might not, and they'd kick him out, and he'd find another group to join.

My sweet funny son, trying on the darkworker way! I love that he found an easy way to get his higher ranking - a ranking that will let him get better weapons and more money, so he can be a better fighter when he does fight. He knows he's a good fighter when he needs to be.

[cuinlalaland]

It's hard to compare real life to a game. As has been pointed out games are relatively simple and once you figure out the formula you can earn unlimited gold, or beat virtually any quest with ease.

But the single most important difference is the ability to reload. In a game you can try anything and if it doesn't work you just restore where you were. In real life you have no previous saves to go back to so people are a lot more cautious about their decisions.

Google DiD (Dead-is-Dead) which is a style of gaming where you're not allowed to go back to an earlier save point. If you die, that's it, if you make a mistake that costs all your hard-won gold...too bad. Read some journals of people attempting this style of game and you'll get a much clearer glimpse into the way people 'play' real life. Most don't get anywhere because they take the same risks they would take if they had a safety net, so they die quickly. Others survive by hiding under a rock.

Just like in real life, only a tiny minority have both the courage to truly play the game and the prudence to stay alive.

[Froztwolf]

Excellent article, very creative.
I have worked in the MMO industry myself and seen literally hundreds of people are superstars in MMOs and down and out in RL.
In fact I have a couple of good friends whose noses I will be rubbing with this article...

[Andrew Gubb]

Thanks Steve, another article which was eeriely in sync with my current development.

When you die everyone's going to want you to be their spirit guide... can I get dibs if I ask you now?

[Michael Campbell]

This article is what I needed. I joined the forum because of it.

Thanks Steve.

[ballhit2]

Be brave, everyone. Save your current progress and start a new game in the second save slot.

Ditch the negaspeak, get rid of the batteries in the remote, and set the wireless card to Off in the computer.

Play with your sleep. It'll change your brain just like all the other desire-based activities did.

Get faster. Get stronger. Get more gold.

Gold.

Change the gold into time to learn magic spells. Cast spells for gold.

Gold.

Make a website.

[Beuford]

Steve, you could write a book, "Personal development for World of Warcraft players". If you started playing on my realm, I promise I won't give you any gold until level 30

But, being a bit more constructive now, I've always wondered "If only we could treat life as a game". Sure, in a game you can run through the town jumping everywhere like you have no shame, but in the real world, apparently thats socially unacceptable. For a while now, I've thought it would be so much more efficient if we just ran everywhere instead of walking. We'd be so much more fit too. But people must have a fear of "I better not run everywhere or people might look at me and judge me poorly" which can be true, but I can imagine after running everywhere for a while, you'd feel like walking is just too slow for you. Similiarly, try walking in World of Warcraft, you can't do it for long. You've been automatically running all this time, that when you start walking it is just too slow. How about a 30 day run instead of walk everywhere(except maybe in your house) trial.

[Dev]

Hor newbies on this forum, it would help to read this article too Leveling Up

[nin64]

Steve mentioned about how he love to be a fighter class (berserker?) in many games he played and he also love to be a fighter type class in real life. Courageous hero who go around and confront enemies head on.

So, my question is, can you discover who or what you want to be from playing video games? Or what you like? Something like those.

I think I should tell you guys some of my gaming experiences as well. And I have played a lot of games.
In one MMORPG I've played (actually, in many RPGs that allow it), I chose to become a guy who go around mixing stuffs and creating new items, armor, weapons etc. Chemist or anything similar. I choose it because, well, I like it. I remember going collecting raw materials and then trying to create items from them for 3 hours straight. In the end, I have zero raw materials but I ended up having some cool items, and some of so-so items.
And a lot of failures, gold + gold = iron dust (wth) really suck. Besides, golds are quite rare.

So, what do I do with the items? Sometime, I gave it to my party members, other times I sell it. I have never been rich in any MMORPGs because I ended up using all my money for purchasing raw materials, easier than mining or hunting. The funny thing is, after I used up all my materials, and selling my items, I always get like twice the amount of my original money. Come to think of it, I can be rich if I wanted to.
And I'm no good at selling stuffs, I always sell stuffs at places like deep forests and never notice it before it's too late.I learned from games that locations and marketing are important for business.

I usually sell my items cheaper than many vendors because I want to free up my inventory faster to get some more materials and to do some more experiments (seriously). I don't remember all of my customer's or party members reactions though, but I do get a lot of thanks, and some virtual hugs and kisses as well.

Any of you've played Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)? Basically it's a game centered around farming (supposedly). But I ended up treating it as a cooking game (the game allow players to own a kitchen, mix some stuffs, create foods, you know). The farming part become less important and end up as only a way to get potatoes, melons etc for my kitchen. rofl.

I don't like to pick fighter, healer, druid, white mage, blue mage, thief. Believe me, I've picked them before and I don't really enjoy them. I'm no good at fighting (obviously) because I usually suffer in term of STR, DEF, HP, SPD, VIT, CON. And to make thing worse, I usually become the enemies first target (damn those games that don't allow party formations) and I hate being a sitting target.

So, how about it? Should I allign my real world avatar like I did in virtual world? Or should I conclude that "reality" world and virtual reality are two different worlds?

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by nin64

Any of you've played Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)? Basically it's a game centered around farming (supposedly).

I played Harvest Moon 64 years ago. Sounds similar.

So, how about it? Should I allign my real world avatar like I did in virtual world?

Maybe. I like to play villains in video games sometimes, or a mage that can throw ice spells at enemies. But neither of these two things are something I'd like to make a career out of.

[Alexi]

Steve,

In the Avatar article you wrote:

If you’ve been stuck in a state of financial scarcity for longer than you’d like, it means you haven’t yet put in the time to master one of real life’s wealth building strategies. There are many to choose from, so pick a strategy that’s fun for you....You can create stuff and sell it. You can be a trader (buy low, sell high). You can get paid to support and/or optimize other people’s wealth building systems. You can acquire income-generating and/or appreciating assets. You can bring people together for lucrative deals in exchange for a fair cut. You can become a performer or entertainer. Real life has more wealth building opportunities than all the virtual worlds combined.

Aren't some of these out of line with the advice in your book where you talking about the concept of "mooching":


"Taking advantage of market inefficiencies to extract money without contributing any substantial value"

I'd been interested in real estate and/or stocks but found your opinion on these in your book to be quite valid. Just wondering if you might explain this further.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by From Steve's article

For example, sometimes I’m too aggressive, and I have to learn to tone it down a notch. Years ago, Erin and I were playing the MMORPG game City of Heroes. I played a martial arts scrapper character (a tough fighter who inflicts a lot of damage), and she played a healer. While waiting for our teammates to arrive before embarking on a mission, I grew impatient and decided to run in solo and get a head start on bashing enemies. Erin’s character remained in the street waiting for the rest of our group. She sees me enter a warehouse filled with enemies, and about 30 seconds later, my character comes running out the door and immediately falls flat on his face at her feet — dead. With my last virtual breath, I typed, “Do NOT go in there!”

Hahaha, I laughed out loud at the bolded statement.

Seems we have something in common, Steve. Statements such as that are strangely familiar. "So... ah... those guys are pretty strong" describes my party-enraging, lone charges into a hoard of enemies.

Luckily I'm good at teaming up with people who are really good support characters. There's usually not too much healing going on, but we find tricky (and exciting, cool-to-try) ways to make things work.

... which is kind of insightful. I've not realised that before. I kind of teamed up with people like that automatically without paying much attention. Such people aren't only good support characters in games, but also in my life. They're also probably my most enduring friends.

I love the company of other warriors, but we almost always end up on going on different adventures after a short time together. Our fiery passion and clear callings usually lead us on different paths. "Tagging along" isn't really in our vocabulary... it has to be "leading," "charging forward," or nothing (although I'm sure there's room for at least a few more terms--some other styles that are in our vocabulary--that I can't think of).

Interesting!

Originally Posted by From Steve's article

The best part of going on quests is the fascinating people you meet along the way.

Indeed.

Thanks for the article, Steve. I enjoyed that one. Helped cheer me up when I was feeling a little down.

[Inthon]

Great article, as usual. Keep it up!

[Manomanman]

Hey Steve,

I posed the original question in the business forum because I've been going to school for 22 years now and the "carrot" has never materialized. I told my parents I was going to quit grad school next year (6th year) and they sort of flipped out. We go our whole lives believing in the lie that a happy ending awaits us if we just obey (our teachers, our bosses, our parents), and then we end up battling the emotional fallout that arises from the dissonance between our need to grow (get the HELL out of school and do something meaningful), and our need to be secure (i.e. be obedient, be safe, and get the next cookie/degree).

I read about 100 of your blogs in February, changed my perspective on life, and began writing my own blog content. I fell into my (hopefully last) depression and started gaming in April (due to a misalignment with my subconscious sense of self and my physical body), and snapped out 7 days ago. I have VERY limiting belief that real-life will always be emotionally painful, and the game world exists as an escape from the painful real world. This is in part because I had the Steve Pavlina prison experience --- except that I didn't actually commit the crime. (We have a frighteningly high number of things in common - I chalk that up to the fact that we fit into an evolving-human archetype that clashes with the "herd").

My brother gave me the perfect analogy for why people can't seem to snap out of their fear-based thinking about finances: When people get lost in the wilderness, it's not lack of food, water, or shelter that kills them. They are typically surrounded by abundance. What kills people is the fact that they give up hope of being rescued and find a good place to die. They fail to load up the appropriate perceptual software (i.e. seeing abundance) for the environment that they're in.

The entrepreneurial world is a jungle. Domesticated pet-people, like myself, have no idea what to do when we're taken away from the safety of our pet-masters (the bosses, the teachers, the authority figures telling us what to do, and scolding us when we do it wrong). We fail to see basic opportunities right in front of our faces, because of our psychological focus (namely, "Just get a job.") In reality, our thinking translates to, "Sacrifice freedom for security."

When I posed the original question, I had about 100g in my MMO. By the time I quit, I had over 600g playing the Auction House. Top-level-epic-uber items costs about 30g, and I only needed 7 of them. So I started buying things for people, and playing with others more. The moment I stopped playing the AH, I snapped out of my addicted state. It wasn't a large amount of gold I was really after, it was the challenge of making it (learning/growth), and the glory I could bask in with the new-found power from the items I bought. In other words, MMO's have been fulfilling a need that I'm not meeting in real-life, the need to make money FOR MYSELF in order to put myself on the path of growth. (i.e. $$$ allow me to play the game on my own terms, not the guild master/boss's terms).

I'm using the analogy of making money in the AH to help me build the mental architecture necessary to launch my real-life money-making schemes. In the game, I was making about 1g per transaction at the start, but I KNEW I could do better. So I started speculating on certain crafting items, and ended up making 10-20g each resale. I just had to have the cajones to step it up a notch and take that ONE intelligent risk: my finances exploded.

The most important lesson I've learned from the game is that once you've calibrated yourself to think adaptively about a new environment (such as the wilderness, the auction house, or in this case, the entrepreneurial world), all you see is opportunity rather than danger.

If I had one piece of advice for people contemplating making this kind of transition, it would be to study Do It Now by Steve Pavlina until you can recite it from memory, and then to bring it back out on the first of every month to make sure you're still running the mental software. That article is like a wilderness survival handbook for the entrepreneurial world.

[jasonwisdom]

I read this post with interest... I spent most of my teenage years, and pockets of my 20s & 30s, playing different strategy computer games.

Some were MMORPG (Diablo II), some were RTS (Command & Conquer Red Alert), but most were turn-based strategy (Master of Orion, Civilization, etc).

I like the idea of building oneself to become far more powerful than one began. I also like the idea of harnessing resources early (money, research, etc), to create the most effective growth spurt possible.

In fact, I have often thought that managing an empire's resources in the beginning, is much like managing an early-stage company's resources, or managing a person's resources... and that early, smart choices would lead to later, great results.

My problems with this analogy have been two:
1) Playing computer games in general is unhealthy for me... I find the time has been wasted, when I could have been doing something that would benefit me far more (socializing, exercising, etc). After playing them for 2, 4, or 12 hours, I feel extremely spaced out & ungrounded. So I've quit altogether.
2) "Personal Health" does not ever seem to be an issue in computer games. There is no financial co-efficient to factor in organic food, personal trainers, bodywork, health insurance, etc. The combined costs of taking care of oneself are huge!