Love What You Do

Last time when I waxed philosophical, I went over the Investment Mentality, which is part of my series on how you should approach game economies.  I personally believe you should develop a mindset if you're going to be successful, and I'm sharing an appropriate mindset.  In a recent forum topic I mentioned three things to being successful:  Patience, Consistency, and Creativity.  Argalin added "Passion", which in retrospect is probably the most critical for long term success.

I've been around some top end gold makers over the years, as well as some top end producers in real life, and collaborated with them on what they're doing that the others aren't doing.  It really does come down to being passionate about what you do.  That word has been a buzzword for a while now in the sales world because of what it means.

Passion is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something.  Thank you, Wikipedia, I couldn't say it much better.  It's a prime mover of motivation. 

People have a passion for...  winning, competition, wealth, success, love, charity & giving, sports, a hobby, music, etc.

When I was making a transition from one industry to another, I enlisted the help of a consultant.  We ran down my list of interests and he asked "Are any of these a passion?  If so, you should forget what you're considering and work with any one of these interests for the rest of your life, and it will never feel like work."  I had never thought of it like that before, my dad was an accountant who hated what he did but it fed his family.  He made sure that I had all the opportunity possible to pursue what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to do was help other people.

We all know people in our workplace or schools or even within our own families that approach what they do as "just another day" or "just a paycheck".  Here's a sure way to tell if someone's really passionate about something:  Would they work for free just to do it?  "I would pay them to work here if it came to that!" - told to me buy the number one national producer in a company I was working for.  That seems crazy, doesn't it?  But the person was so passionate about what they did they looked at it as their meaning in life.  It's a rare trait and the reason that they invented things like "President's Circle" and "Top Producers Club" and the same people seem to get the awards every year.


Great, Zerohour, we've determined you're off your rocker trying to compare real life to a hobby.

Not exactly, hobbies are often passions.  This has everything to do with your motivations and what will make you a great producer in the world of online gaming economics.  Hobbies often teach people real world lessons and expand your mind and horizons.  I can drop into any online game, apply my passion to succeed in the economic aspect, and come out ahead very quickly - I've done it for the past 13 years and it's one of the primary reasons I pick up a game.  I have the motivation to at least be successful in everything I attempt, I don't like to lose.

Look at raiders - why are less than 0.1% of the game's population completing relevant upper endgame content so quickly in a game that becomes tiresome for the majority, even though these recruit different people to their roster constantly?  PvP has the same mindset - less than 0.5% of the players in that will see the ultimate title that even step into the arena, and only one group is given the highest title?  Outside of the people screaming "carried" and "no-life" I would bet that they are extremely passionate about doing it perfectly and getting the job done.  The same would apply in what the elite in the gold making arena do everyday.  Those that are truly passionate about it do it for the love of doing it, and not to buy something or just pay for things.

I feel the same way about designing new systems, making new discoveries, and doing what it takes to get the job done efficiently, even if it means something others would regard as being boring, terrible, or awful.  (Funny how this compares so well to real life, "Work?  What?  Screw that!")  It will all inevitably enhance my system and continue my drive to collect as much pixelated currency as possible, with nothing to spend it on.  Remember, I collect it for the sake of collecting it.

Is gold production a passion for you?  Or a means to an end?  If it's simply a means to an end, then you're probably going to fall into the camp that is more interested in getting it done very quickly.  I don't appeal to the get-rich-quick crowd (I never have), more often than not they are one trick ponies, or can do one thing really well but they have no sustaining power and engage in very time consuming activities.  What I deal in is a long term approach that affords me more time away from the game while pulling incredible numbers, giving me a very consistent income and worry less about frustration and defeat and doing what everyone else is doing. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

I don't worry about my competition in any game for very long because I know that the majority haven't the passion to be incredibly successful, nor are they going to stick with anything for very long.  They run out of steam and suddenly they stop posting.  They hit an amount they like and get bored.  They probably will dip in and out of the market, but those of us with the drive and passion will continue and we will deal with them when they return. 

At the end of all things, be passionate about what you do and the money will always follow.

And for the week's wrapup, not too hot this week.  We need a patch to get things going again:

Thanks for stopping in!