To think DS shouldn't do 20 hours of work for £3?

[CherryLopez]

DS plays a game and has offered to level up people's accounts to a certain level where things get unlocked. I'm not entirely sure what it means. But anyway, once he gets it there, he gets £3.

He says he enjoys it but sometimes won't take a break when he normally would because he "wants to get it done". It takes him about a week, as he does have other priorities in his life.

Just seems like I should put a stop to this. He's 15.

Hes getting paid to play games? Smart kid

It's smart to turn something you love into a business but that's not enough for the amount of time that goes into it. Encourage him to charge more. This is the time to talk about value of work and self worth.

£3 an hour or £3 total for 20 hours?

If he is advancing people up to higher levels he surely should be paid more, as he's using his time, and skills to get them there

Smart idea but he should definitely charge more!

He needs to check this isn't a breach of the terms. Gaming platforms are quick to ban people that step out of line, and he could end up with no access at all.

£3 for the whole 20 hours. He says he probably couldn't get more as a few people do it.

£3 for 20 hours?! He's a fool! He needs to charge more or simply stop doing it.

I'd leave him to it. He will probably get bored of doing it for such little return. Just make sure it doesn't interfere with his sleep/school work.

But surely the point is that he's getting paid, albeit peanuts, for something that he enjoys doing for free anyway? I think it's great that he's learning a good work ethic and using his skills in an enterprising way.

When I was 12 I used to get about 20 pounds a week for getting up at 5am every week day to do a paper round. Yes, it's more than your son is getting but it taught me a lot about the importance of hard work and being financially independent. The amount wasn't important.

Also, as your son says, things are only worth what people are willing to pay!

Clever to be paid for something he enjoys, not so clever to be doing it for so little reward. How many days was the 20 hours over? (Over one weekend, that would mean he did nothing else. Over a month, that’s less than an hour day). That’s a long time to be gaming, when there is a whole world out there. Is he keeping up with school work and his normal social routines (or is his social life on the computer?)

I wouldn’t care about the money, he’s doing it for fun, prestige etc and he’ll soon stop doing it when it’s not fun - it’s not like he’s working for someone’s business. I would check how he’s getting paid & make sure he’s not compromising his his bank details though.

But, it wouldn’t arise as there’s no way I’d let my DS play 20 hours a week and yours will be playing a lot more than that with his own game as well.

It's usually over a week. He keeps up with his school work and goes out with friends a couple times a month. He usually talks to people via headset.

He has a waiting list which makes me laugh. Maybe I'll encourage him to put it up to £5

He has earns about £30 so far. I'm unsure if I'm still keen. The fact that he'll keep going to get it done when he'll normally stop for a bit, does bother me when it's only for £3.

What's the going rate and delivery time for others offering the service?

This kind of thing is quite big business; being paid to level up characters or complete certain parts of games.

Has he checked around to see what the going rate is or did he just pick a random figure?

I’m guessing he’s doing it because he enjoys it through, rather than for the money?

If he has a waiting list then he could definitely charge more. Just leave him to it he is not doing anyone any harm, he will get bored and move on eventually.

Nobody should be spending 20 hours gaming, paid or unpaid.

adds to the list of reasons why kids are never getting games consoles

What's the problem with him gaming in the evenings?

20 hours a week minimum gaming is an ridiculous amount of time to be spending gaming. You need to knock that on the head OP. If he was making serious money doing it, or learning to code/design etc then fair enough. But your just sanctioning him wasting his time

Are you sure his only earning £3? My bet his he is either earning more and not telling you or they are buying in things within the game which game is it?

Actually I would try to nip this in the bud.

Twenty hours a week gaming for others plus playing his own games is symptomatic of a gaming addiction. Particularly so if this is World of Warcraft.

If he wants to earn money there are other, healthier ways to do it.

20 hours a week isnt a lot. Mon to thur 1.5 each day after school work and chores. Thats 6h. Friday a bit longer, maybe 3 hours. Thats 9. 5.5 each weekend day split over the course of each day in between other stuff.

Could you offer him £4 a week NOT to do it? 🤣 He probably really can't charge more as he's competing with people in India and China who very sadly do this kind of thing all day every day as their job.

Just no!!! Can you do an outright ban? Your house, your rules?
I'd offer to pay him more (even a lot more) to do jobs he doesn't usually have to do at home.
No one should be gaming this much. He could be achieving a lot more at school, socially or whatever without this. Sounds like he's on the edge of being addicted, actually probably is already?

Meh if he’d be playing it anyway and the hours gaming aren’t causing school work, his social life or sleep to suffer then I don’t necessarily see a problem. If he is genuinely only get £3 per time (I agree that he could be lying about this or using some of the money to buy stuff in the game) then he should definitely put his rates up, especially if he has a waiting list!