If you play online video games, then you could be sitting on a goldmine without even knowing.
In the world of video games, some online accounts can sell for thousands of dollars, leaving the owner very rich. But with so many different video games out there, how do you know if you’ve hit the jackpot?
To help you see if you’re sitting on buried treasure, we’re taking a look at what makes an account worth stacks of cash. From rare skins to rare names, all of these different factors help contribute to the total value of your account. If you’ve been playing an online game for long enough, then you could have items worth hundreds.
Here are some of the top things you should be checking to work out how much your video game accounts are worth.
Account Age
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The first factor when it comes to determining how much your video game account is worth, has to be the account age. As a general rule of thumb, the older your account, the higher its value. As you’ll soon discover later on, the older the account the higher the chance you’ve got a limited edition in-game item. Some of these items can be so rare that one alone can sell for hundreds of dollars. Now imagine if you have two or three of them on your account!
Playing a game from the very start also gives you lots of advantages such as the chance to register a rare name. Or the ability to unlock “legacy content”. If you’ve been playing a game since it first came out, then the chances are you’ll have something of value. These include things such as rare skins, items and limited edition rewards.
Rare Skins / Items
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When trying to determine how much your account is worth, one of the biggest contributing factors are rare items.
Many games such as CS:GO, League of Legends and Overwatch have plenty of rare in-game items and skins that many players want. Since these items are limited edition and are only available for a certain amount of time, if you miss them, then you’ll have to pay a lot of money.
To put things into perspective, in League of Legends there is a very rare skin called PAX Twisted Fate. Released in 2009, this skin was only gifted to approximately 20,000 players at the famous PAX event. Due to its rarity, the skin is very hard to get hold of, and lol accounts with it redeemed can easily sell for over $500.
The best way to check the value of rare skins is to type them into eBay to see what price they are being sold for. If you’re lucky, hopefully, you’ll have an account with a rare skin on that you can sell for some easy money!
Unique Name / ID
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Have you ever tried to register an account with the name Matthew or LeBron but found it’s already been taken? Unique and original usernames like this can be worth hundreds of dollars in plenty of online games.
An excellent example of having a unique username / ID comes from Valve’s online gaming platform Steam. Originally released in 2003, players who register an account are given a unique Steam ID that other players can add them with. Starting from number 1, players who signed up to Steam in the early days got all the lowest digits. Nowadays, these 1 and 2-digit numbers can be worth thousands of dollars! Although these accounts are pretty much the same as someone with an 8-digit ID, there are users out there that want the exclusivity.
If you’ve managed to register an account with a common username or something very unique, then you could be in luck. Usernames can be harder to put a value on as they’re only worth however much someone is willing to pay. Hopefully, if you can prove it’s rare enough, then someone will be willing to splash out the big bucks.
In Game Rank / Titles
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Don’t have any rare skins or weren’t the first person to start playing a game? Don’t worry; there are plenty of other ways in which you account could have value. One of those ways is to do with in-game ranks and titles.
In some online games when you reach a certain rank you unlock a special reward that binds to your account. This means even if you lose the rank in the future you’ll still retain the reward. Back in the old days of World of Warcraft, players who achieved ranks such as Grand Marshall unlocked the title on their account. Although it might have been years ago since they unlocked it, they’ll still have it on their account today.
These rare titles can add a lot of value to an account as everyone wants to be seen as the best. If you have a very hard to get rank or title, then you could be in luck!
In-game Purchases
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If you’re unfortunate enough to not have any rare skins, items or titles, then your account will most likely still be worth something. Especially if you’ve spent lots of money on in-game purchases and content.
Think about it; if you spend $100 buying skins and items then it only makes sense that your account is worth $100. If you’re really looking to sell it then you might offer it slightly cheaper to make it sell faster, but selling it for $10 would be silly.
By adding up all of your in-game purchases you should be able to get a rough estimate for your account. This means if you ever do come to selling your account then you don’t accidentally sell it for too little.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and check your online accounts. You never know how much money you could be hoarding away.