Running WOW as a business

It takes a certain type of person to make money in WOW, just as in the real world it takes a certain type of person to make a business work.

I have worked in the banking industry for a number of years and as a result have experience of a multitude of businesses, from the very successful to the not so, from companies that had been going for hundreds of years to ones that had only been running for a few days.

The ones that were successful all had some key qualities in common, and these qualities are all as applicable to wow as they are in the real world.

1. Know your goals
2. Know your strengths and weaknesses
3. Know your market and product
4. Be quick to adapt
5. Welcome competition
6. Customer service
7. Use available resources efficiently
8. Know your value.
9. Be close to your organisation
10. Streamline your market.
11. Have a USP

Each one of these points are probably a blog or at least half a blog in their own right. What I will do over the next few blogs is cover each in turn, and how it applies to the game we all know and love!

To start off though I will look at my first point.

Have Clear Goals

If you don't know why you're making the money the appeal of spending time making the money will quickly fade. In some circumstances purely the idea of becoming Gold capped will be enough to keep you going.

For myself, however, I don't see the point of becoming Gold capped and having a toon running around in his underpants where as he could be riding around in some of the best kit in the game atop either his Mammoth or flying around as a Dragon.

The reason I left wow was due to the fact I got bored of dalies, I got bored of the monotony of doing the same thing over and over and over again. I got bored, I didn't have goals I quit.

In an environment where what you are collecting has no value outside of the game (I can't use my Gold to buy a house after all!) you need to establish WHY you're doing what you're doing.

There is nothing to say that over time your goals won't or can't change, but it is important to have a goal, something to aim for, or you may become dillusioned with the game.

For me as I have suggested earlier it is to have the mammoth, viel of sands and some great kit, and be in a postion where I could do the same for my guild, I already fund all their repairs and buy their first mounts for them, should they want me too!