Online Gaming
We're all guilty of it, some more than others, but I don't think I've ever met anybody who didn't play at least one video game. Now, playing video games has become the most popular past time in America; and it's getting a lot easier to play them too. It seems like any game you want is out there, and now you play them on your phone!
I remember my very first video game experience; it was at a Pizza Hut when I was a kid. I just won a free personal pan pizza for a reading contest I had won; and my dad took me down to redeem it. While we waited, in the corner was a little table console with Galaga and Super Mario Bros. Ah the Classics, I miss those days; but I digress. My father gave a dollar in quarters and I sat down to play. This was a time when a quarter got me 1 play and 3 lives; and this being the first time I had ever played any console, it's a good thing it was so cheap. I had no idea what to do, I had seen friends play and heard them talk about it, but playing was different.
From the very first time I smashed an evil toadstool and kicked my first empty turtle shell; I was hooked! Only one problem, my parents were very anti-gamer/game system. They believed it would rot my brain and turn me into a looser. To be fair at this time there were no celebrity gamers who made money from playing the games, so it was a sorts justified view. Just like that my video game career was over; I didn't see my next gaming system until my father happened to find a Gameboy in an empty apartment and brought it home for me to try. Once again I was in love.
Sad to say this was the extent of my gaming experience until high school when I would gather at a friends house and play the latest version of WWE on Super Nintendo or the "Brand New Nintendo 64" (remember that system). I didn't buy my first real console until I was 26 and married to my wonderful wife, and that's when I really got into gaming. I would spend hours, days even, sitting at the tv smoking bud and playing games. Some would say it was like living a dream.
Now, I am a father of 2 girls who have more technical know-how in their little fingers than I did even when I became an adult. I was amazed at how well they were able to pick up and figure out the electronics my wife and I had. They could use our smart phones at only 2-3 years old, they were playing Wii better than some adults by the time they were 5; and now they are creating their own youtube channels to do reviews on their toys and makeup! What a world we live in.
Cell Phone Gaming
It was my girls that opened my eyes to online gaming, and gaming on our smart phones. At first it was simple games like fruit ninja and angry birds, but eventually they moved on to first person shooters and strategy games. All on a little phone, and these game had graphics that are better than anything I ever played with at that age!
My first cell phone had maybe 3 games on it, one was called 'Smake' (I think) and there was another that was like playing a 1 player version of Pong; and I can't even recall the other (probably something like hangman). These game stunk, even at the time when they were 'cutting edge' I knew that it was only a matter of time before I'd be playing Playstation on my flip phone (member those).
Well, minus the flip phone, I was right; most game now have an option to play online, and many can be played from an app on your phone. But with all the games out there, how do you decide what to play, how do you find new games that you know you're going to like, and how much money do you spend on those games?
That last question is a really big one. There are some many games online and most of them are free. These games make money through in-app purchases and through the advertisements shown on the game screen. So you may download a free game, get really into it, and then before you know it; you're spending money to buy upgrades and special packages that you don't really need. Why should you have to buy more stuff for a game you are already playing? I hated the idea and when I bought stuff I always regretted it (but it didn't stop me from still doing it)
Then a revelation, what I was to get paid for playing these games instead of the other way around? There's no reason I couldn't, after all, it is in there advertisers best interest to get me to watch their ads over and over. So I went looking for ways to make money through gaming. At first I found a lot of information about hoe to make money with gaming reviews. That wasn't me because it meant having to spend money to buy the gaming software in addition to the console. Then I saw an ad for FitPlay.
Getting Paid to Play
At FitPlay they give you various recommendations for gaming apps that it thinks you might enjoy. All you need to do is download the games and start to play. As you are playing the game, FitPlay pays out in tokens for how long you play the game. Fun games are going to pay more because you don't notice that time is flying by as you play. While the rates may vary depending on the app you are using; for the most part they all pay out pretty well.
What do you do with the tokens? Well you can trade in the tokens and get a variety of gift cards or if you wish, you can purchase a Paypal pay card for different amounts. The benefit in doing this is simple, while it isn't going to make you rich, you can still get paid a little bit for playing a game that you would already enjoy playing. If you don't like the game you've downloaded; no problem, simply uninstall from the FitPlay app and then from your phone. You still keep the rewards and you can add another game to replace it. So far I haven't reached a limit for how many game you can have active.
Some of the Games I've tried include:
Angry Birds 2
Fishdom
Slotomania
and GardenScapes
Of these 4 games, I still play 3 of them, I got rid of the Slotomania game because I kept running out of chips and didn't want to pay anything in order to keep playing. So if you're bored and if you're going to play games on your phone anyway, I recommend trying FitPlay.
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