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See How Much Money Your WoW Characters Would Earn IRL

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Just like in real life, your video and computer game characters usually have to bring in some sort of income to survive. Whether you’re looting gold coins or earning them through trade, you have to have enough gold to get you through the game. Today, I’m going to focus on one of my favorite games, World of Warcraft, and how much money characters from each profession would be earning in real life if they weren’t hustling for in-game gold in Azeroth.

(Photo Credit: Rolo Tomassi/Flickr)

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Blacksmithing, $65,358/year

Back in the days of yore, when iron weapons and armor were in high demand, blacksmithing was a common trade. The modern day version of blacksmithing is called ironworking. The only difference? Today’s ironworkers are focused on creating multistory buildings and reinforcing steel bars instead of working on the latest weapons. Blacksmithing is also the highest-earning WoW trade on our list.

One of the more popular trades in the game of WoW is mining. People who have this job report very high job satisfaction on PayScale’s survey. Unlike your WoW character, real miners have to operate cautiously and safely in order to complete tasks. Mining is a dangerous job, but might be worth it, considering mining salaries can reach over $100,000.

If your characters aren’t doing jewelcrafting, it’s likely because you tried it once, failed miserably, and moved onto a new skill. The tedious work of jewelcrafting isn’t for everyone. Just like in WoW, jewelcrafters (or rather, jewelers) are involved in every step of the process, including finding the jewels, polishing them, creating settings, and metal casting. The gender ratio for this type of job is pretty even, as well: 42 percent female and 58 percent male.

Popular in game life and in real life, tailoring is a very service-oriented position that requires great attention to detail. Although it only takes you about five seconds to sew up a new cloak, it might take a real tailor weeks, if not a month, to do the same. The tailoring industry is 82 percent female-dominated and most people with this job go on to change career paths over the course of their lifetime. (Healthcare is a popular jump.) The biggest difference between an in-game tailor and a real-life tailor is that only one of them is sewing flying carpets.

Tell Us What You Think!

Is there a video game character whose real-life salary you’re dying to know? Comment below or join the discussion on Twitter.


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