I started playing Diablo III the day of release at around
4:20AM. A month later, I transferred $1000 I had made from the game to my bank
account. This wasn’t something I had planned out from the start: I played for a
couple weeks with no intention of making any money, but hitting Act II of
Inferno made a few things clear: the game just wasn’t much fun at that late
stage; the only way to progress effectively was playing the Auction House
rather than the game; and those high-end items I needed were much better when
they were converted into actual real money for me to spend on something with
more long-term value, like alcohol.