How to be a Cheap Ass Gamer

Now if you are a frequent visitor to IBeatItFirst.com you know that I am quite the frugal person (and damn proud of it).  And the number one question I get all the time is:

“Jason, you are so amazing and extremely good looking.  How do you go about getting all these awesome games while still being a cheap ass dood?”

-Direct quote from some guy I made up.

Well, if you have the time and are interested in doing a little mindless work, I will show you how you can do some really simple stuff on the internet and get paid with little to no risk!  Click the Read Moar to learn moar!  *Cheesy Smile*

Here is my “OH GOD I NEED THIS GAME” check list.

Step 1.  Do I have other games I can sell?

I grew up in an age where video collecting was the thing to do and have always kept every single game I ever owned, until now.  Now I may sound a bit arrogant when I say this but, Games made before the year 2000 are more collectable and may be worth holding onto, where games made after 2000 are not, plane and simple.  Now of course there are some exceptions to this rule, but your used copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops is never going to be worth more than it is right now, so sell that shit once you are done.

TL:DR  Sell your used xbox 360, PS3 and Wii games as soon as you are done with them.

Aside from the obvious GameStop there are some fantastic alternatives to selling your games.  Amazon, being the top runner, Amazon usually  gives you more for your used games but also sells used games for cheaper than the average GameStop.  So really its a win win.

Step 2.  Do I have a lot of time to kill?

Mturk.com.  Mturk is a working marketplace where people can request small tasks to be done in exchange for money.  Usually the tasks are surveys, search tasks or other small mindless requests, and I’m not going to lie…they are extremely boring.  However pop in a movie (or when you are “watching” you wife’s favorite tv show with her) you will find that the money can actually pile up pretty quickly.  In less than a month I have earned about $100.

Jason whats so different from Mturk and other Working Marketplaces out there?  Well the biggest thing I like about Mturk is that its through Amazon, makes me feel a little more secure.  Also you don’t have to enter in your Tax information if you stay under the tax threshold,  I believe the threshold right now is around $500-$600.  Finally all of the money you earn on Mturk can be used on Amazon directly so there is no need to provide your bank information as well.  (plus Amazon = cheap games so again win win).   What I also like about Mturk is that the “Lister” has to fund his request before Amazon approves it, therefore you don’t really run into bum listings where the Lister doesn’t pay.

TL:DR Mturk.com

• Don’t enter Tax information or SSN
• Don’t enter Bank information
• Collect payments as Amazon digital gift cards
• Check out Reddit.com/r/Mturk for fantastic FAQs

Step 3.  The “on going” grind.

Bing Rewards.  I know,I know, just saying Bing.com makes some people want to hate on you but hear me out.  Bing has had a rewards program going on for awhile now to get people to use it.  blah blah blah.  Long story short Bing allows you to earn points that can be traded in for an assortment of “rewards”.  The two rewards that matter are Xbox Live credits and Amazon Gift cards.  Bing limits the amount of points you can earn a day so don’t expect to be ranking in the cash but follow these steps to get an easy slow flow going.

• Create multiple Bing accounts.  The accounts will have to use different information but they dont seem to really check this or care.
• The most points come from searches, ie do 30 searches a day for 15 points.  Instead of doing random searches just search 0 *zero* over and over again,  you can search 0, 00,000,0000, pretty quickly and can usually crank out all the searches in a few seconds.
• Have one of your accounts use IE.  Bing’s cookies will check to see if Bing is set as your homepage and/or default search provider and will offer you “bonus” points every once in awhile to change your default search provider or homepage to Bing
• Change your Default search provider/ homepage back.  After you get the points from making Bing your homepage and DSP change them back to whatever (Google) it doesn’t matter as its not like you are using IE anyway but now Bing will prompt you later on to change them again for MOAR bonus points.

With two accounts you can usually bust out about $10 a month in Amazon/Xbox Live credits, usually just enough to warrant getting a silly Download game or a Stormtrooper costume for your avatar :p

TL:DR Bing. Don’t bother if this was too long to read,  As your ADD brain wouldn’t make it long enough to see any money.

Happy hunting gamers, let us know if you have any awesome ways to make some cash for your gaming addiction.