IceComet

Those days are slowly changing.

With the popularity of MMORPG’s such as Runescape and World of Warcraft, even games such as Neopets, it’s becoming easier and easier for Teens to make money under the nose of their parents without having to deal drugs, or get a real job. Great news, right?

Not so much.

When I began dealing in virtual currencies at the age of 14 (yes, fourteen) I was making more money than I could possibly have made mowing lawns, doing chores, or helping out around the house. When I started asking my parents to buy stuff with my earnings (primarily a new computer desk, and computer (building my own was quite fun!)), they surprisingly encouraged me, not understanding that what I was doing was technically illegal and I could have got into major trouble. What most parents of our modern generation might not understand is the problems and potential benefits of this new form of teen entrepreneurialism at its finest, and while it may seem like they are getting out of having to pay an allowance, what is the cost of the behavior?

Firstly; the greatest problem with this behavior is probably obvious — it will likely lead to wreck-less financial management down the road. If you give a 14 year old money he never thought he would have, just because he was able to play a game successfully, the value of money is quickly diminished. It seems easy enough to earn a nice amount of income with the few expenses you have at such a young age. As a result of this “epiphany” of sorts, the most noticeable change that anyone will see is a greatly lessened interest in School. It is nearly the same theory about taking a break after high school before pursuing a post-secondary education. Once you get the taste of money, it will never leave your mouth and you will always want more. For most modern-day merchants, this is exactly what happens. For me — it meant nearly dropping out of high school in the 9th grade, and it doesn’t stop there.

Aside from the poor management thing for a minute, the greatest part is that an entire generation is learning the ins and outs of copyright infringement and intellectual property…

While I really hate (such a strong word, yes - but it fits) the RIAA, MPAA, and all the copyright fiend lawyers who exist in the world, it does kind of set a bad precedent to see the rewards of such behavior, and with time it will only exacerbate the problem, especially when at the exact same time efforts are stepping up all over the world to be able to enforce intellectual property, copyrights, and the like.

Now that we have bad fiscal management, and law breaking — we now move on to the fun part. Evasion!

While it may seem like a joke, companies apparently do not like having their games undermined to such an extreme and (in some cases) they enjoy sending out Cease and Desist letters. If you wish to survive in the business you quickly learn it’s ‘adapt or die’ time. What does this mean? Simple - offshore hosting, fake domain name registrations, and addresses. Selling virtual currencies really is easy with a little bit of know how, and the money it earns is easily re-invested in all the previous stated methodologies.

Hell! I was the only kid in my class who knew what PayPal was, how to use it, how to use my parents bank cards (Oops, sorry mom!) and stuff to purchase hosting, buy currency, sell it, and such — no real good can come from this knowledge at such a young age, completely ignoring the fact that you’re supposed to be 18 to use PayPal - I had money, what else did I have to care about?

While I’m all for the entrepreneurial spirit, selling Virtual Currencies online may be a bit of an extreme form of enablement, and I would caution parents if they have a teenager who suddenly comes into a large sum of money not to just question if they’re dealing drugs, but if they’re dealing the drug of the 21st century: Virtual Currencies.

It is important to note that some games do not make any objections to virtual currency selling or exchanging and some of the legal risks to not exist in that case, but it’s also important to remember your teenager is engaging in financial transactions online and there are some risks which they may not be prepared for, such as losing money, exposing personal information, and the like. It’s best to keep the situation under control if you do permit your child to engage in this so called “internet black market” as things can go very sour, very quickly. I was never served with legal papers, but I knew people who were. It was all about trying to stay one step ahead of these corporations trying to enforce their copyrights and intellectual property; it was fun, crazy, and incredibly stressful, but I loved being an adrenaline junky. But now, knowing the risks — I probably shouldn’t have done it, but I do credit my modern day success to the foundation I established learning what no one else would teach me - How to do business and how to be successful.

…and it didn’t even involve a scale.