Wired News: Be a Gaming God for Dollars a Day

"Want to play massively multiplayer online games, but don't want to spend time building up your character's stats? A new service launched Tuesday gives anyone the ability to bypass the countless hours it can take to advance deep into online games like World of Warcraft by renting the use of such characters by the month.

For years, despite a ban on such behavior by most publishers, people have been able to buy fully developed accounts to play online games. But the new subscription model from GamePal of Belmont, Michigan, takes lack of commitment to these games into virgin territory.

GamePal customers pay a $300 deposit, $150 for the first month and $130 for each subsequent month for access to their choice of 50 accounts (available initially) for 14 popular MMOs, including EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes and Ultima Online." (full article at the link)

---

The gaming companies shouldn't care, they are getting their monthly subscription fees (if that's their angle), so no worries. I can see if you level high enough or get tired of playing, renting out your character would be a neat way to pick up a few shekels on the side.
--