I played a free game called Team Fortress 2, for PC when I was about 15. I enjoyed it very much, becoming competitive. I realized I innately thought better of those who had better cosmetics. Cosmetics were in-game purchases that did not effect performance, but instead only the appearance. They were rare and expensive, a display of great experience. As I got better I wanted to display my skill before the game even started. This is a more detailed post of "Cosmetic Culture."
I asked myself, how could I acquire these items? The cheapest "high quality" started at around $20 at the times. I was young and did not work. Also, back in those days people did not pay for "internet assets" because they were worthless since real life was still prevalent at the time. Much like how sharing any personal information on the internet was highly discouraged.
I began to ask people who had a lot of items how they afforded them. They let me in on a secret, you can trade in a "barter" fashion, that in the unstructured asset evaluations, could leave you on the upperhand in every case.
So it began. First very infrequent and small skimming trades.Then I learned what people wanted to hear, and I got better in person to person (through internet chats) sales. I advertised in dozens of servers manually, created advertisements on trading websites, and was ready 24/7 to accept a trade invitation. I learned many, many lessons which could be read in my college essay here.
I did this for about 4 months. I turned a $40 account into $400. For more background, the community began placing stable values on "currency" items that held nearly universal value due to the limited releases.
This is why I quit. After I wrote an article on how "keys" were perpetually inflating and an exponential level (lost and never released), I got scared of the market. My "backpack" (where my account worth in assets is measured) was worth only what the market said the items were worth. If the economy tanked, I would lose out too.
The key inflation were scary, but not out of control. However, a very essential commodity, "Buds", was riding the too usual pattern of near 40% (about $10) price swings with lower lowers every time. I took advantage of my knowledge, purchasing on the down swing and selling to less knowledgeable traders at the older higher price. At this point, the low was too low. Something was wrong with the market.
I sold my account at 70% of the price (to deal with fees and also risk associated with asset worth) making around $330. My $400 backpack worth today is now worth $80 due to the economy tanking.
Buds are went from $50 in my time to $3 now. In the graph below you can see in 2013 the dips and blips, and now it is worth nothing. I took a break for 2 years, to eventually begin trading on a website that automated the process and I only needed to work on pricing techniques, called eFalcon.
