Who ever said video games do no good? Lately I've been immersing myself in the first MMO to grab my attention in a while, Aion. Through playing myself and especially from watching friends play, I've discovered many different ­­gameplay elements with skills required that can be brought into - and applied to - real life (maybe haha), so here they are some light-hearted observations:

Economy

The old business jargon of 'buy low, sell high' comes into play a lot if you are one of those people who love to sit around the trade broker, mastering the market all day. If you're truly willing to learn what people are in the market for and what you can exploit, there's a tonne of fun you can have making money with very little effort.

An effective method is to find an item with high demand and with a relatively high price. By searching for this item and buying all those items belonging to those people who are wanting to sell the items quickly and most of all cheaply, and then reselling them for a higher price, you stand to make a very healthy profit.

Of course there is always the risk of losing out using this method, however the risk is definitely worth the reward and if you truly put in the effort there's no reason you can't dominate Aion's economy.

Oh yeah�� sell everything at the trade broker (minus junk loot). Never settle for the quickest, easiest option. Do the research and you'll find you're making more money than you would pawning off things to the general goods merchants.

I've got a friend who makes a living off eBay. No job, just carefully selling things on eBay. Trade broker, eBay�� what's the difference?

Math and Memory

Those of you into the higher end crafting, don't worry, I know you use the calculator to work out what and how many materials to buy and use for specific items. Don't be ashamed.

Many items require that you craft in order to craft in order to craft in order to craft�� so on and so forth. It can become confusing.

I'm not ashamed to say that I've written down how many of each material I need to craft certain items and then again factoring in how many of those crafted materials I can spare in order to create more. High-fives to anyone who can grab the Work Order quests and remember in their head the amount of materials required for each.

It becomes a game in itself, juggling all the numbers and working out the equations for each item you need to craft.

The crafting system is very much a risk-and-reward system also. There's nothing liking spending hundreds of thousands of Kinah only to end up with a white dagger that didn't proc.

Although based more heavily on chance, be wise about the system and you'll find yourself with some great items and a healthy supply of Kinah.

Learn where and how you can spend your kinah, and do it wisely and with restraint. Replace kinah with dollars, and you've got yourself a life lesson right there!

Teamwork

This one is a given in just about any MMO. With the variety of instances and 'rift quests' in the game it is absolutely essential to be useful to the group you're in.

You're not useful and you're going to cop a lot of flack. No one likes wiping, and if it's your fault for generally being a shitty player, you're going to hear about if from the group, that is, of course, if you're still in the group and they haven't kicked your incompetent arse out.

You have to learn when to "omg run", when to pass on a roll (though most people roll on anything. Greedy, greedy!) and when to ask for rests, so on and so forth.

The game requires you to be able to operate in a group to be able to succeed, basically, and if you fail to learn this teamwork you can most likely expect countless lonely hours of grinding.

Not unlike maintaining most jobs, if you're terrible and interaction with your co-workers, don't expect to hold the job long.

Shape up or ship out, Daevas!

Time Management

This is arguably the most important thing of all when it comes to MMOs. When to do what and for how long?

"Should I craft for an hour and minimise Aion and do some homework, oh wait�� for that I'd need some materials, which means I'll have to grind those Balaur for about an hour or two. Oh, and I need to hand in those quests on the other side of Morheim. What, the guild needs help with a fortress raid? Can I join your group for Ice Claw!? I'm a bit busy! No, I can't help you with an escort quest right now! Where's the trade broker? Find it yourself. I'm busy!"

That scenario sound at least a little familiar? It should. There are definitely a lot of responsibilities you almost unknowingly take on when dedicating yourself to a game like Aion.

I have to admit, I'm definitely guilty of putting off real-life commitments to get some Aion duties out of the way. It's just more fun, right?

Of course it is, but still, I find myself now organising my time with my real-life commitments in the same way I would organise myself in Aion and you can too.

There is no reason (and this may sound a bit silly) you can't look at your responsibilities like quests in a game. Setting yourself a reward helps, even if that reward is: I'll play Aion after I finish this assignment/article/chore.

Grab a potion (coffee), sit down and starting questing (writing, cleaning, whatever!), and after a while you can grab that reward (free time to play Aion).

Time is the same, no matter what you're doing and organising is absolutely vital to success. To succeed in Aion, organise yourself properly and stick to plans, to succeed in life, organise yourself properly and stick to plans!