What are those games you've made some money? does it like you're selling items in-game? There are in-game and real life markets that have been built through these games.
And other than that, they also built friendship and connections in real life through it. I have friends that even found the love of their lives and got married and the place they've met, is through an RPG game.
Let me share mine, I used to be someone who you call a PILOT user, someone who would handle others account to increase their rank/MMR for a set amount of price in each division. The higher the rank/MMR, the higher the price. I also do "boosting" services if the client wants to take part in the process, and it is almost for the same price, but they can negotiate it unlike in Pilot service.
And as you mentioned, the market-place is a great way to earn money, selling rare gears and stuffs online can give you a great fortune. It is just that, I am not that kind of gamer as I really liked collecting these kinds of stuff for my very own happiness
That's much preferred if you're doing this you prefer and at the same time, you're happy with it. It's the best feeling, right? The pilot and boosting service, I see them and many are doing it in different games.
If the game management allows that, you have no problem. But even if they prohibit such activities, you'll still see players do it because they make money from it.
Actually, game developers actually hated this kind of money-making as this is really annoying for the opposing opponent. So in this kind of business, you must be considerate on how you carry the game. You must learn how to be down to earth, and not arrogant to the opposing opponent, through chats or emotes. As a matter of fact, it is really annoying when you grind on your real account and someone from higher ranks do the same, it feels unfair and unreasonable.
Im talking about online strategic games, such as dota 2, league of legends, Valorant, CsGo, Etc. Otherwise like RPG, it is pretty much not of an issue compare to those games.