The gamer's stock market edge

I’ve spent the better part of my life playing games and avoiding work. The natural combination of the two would be some how turning my skills at games into money. Unfortunately, that was a dead end. As much as we hear about those professional gamers with their endorsements and competition checks, I’m enough of a realist to know that would not be me.

So I got a job folding boxes – which only furthered my resolve.

Fortunately I really do believe the stock market is a lot like a video game – albeit a soul crushing, potentially ruinous one. For all of you gamers out there, here is why:

Acceptance: You need to be willing to accept strategic and not-so-strategic loses. Sometimes shit happens and you need to be willing to keep playing so you can make up for it.

Information: Have you ever played a SquareEnix game? I mean Christ, they are so complicated I feel like a genius whenever I remember how to heal my damn character. With the difficulty and complication of games these days, don’t you think I could figure out a system that’s been around for over a century? I would hope so.

Quick Reflexes: Being able to sort through lots of information very quickly makes gamers unique animals. Once you hone that skill, you can start using it to your advantage.

Facility with Technology: Games are all about winning with the right tools – just like investing. A gamer’s keen adaptability to the tools of the trade fit perfectly with stocks.

Quick Studies: Learning a bunch of different tools quickly will make investing a snap – knowledge is power.

Killer Instinct: Don’t kid yourself investing is a competition. The players out there are out to make money, and they want it from you. Our innate desire to win drives us to play the game and think less about the money (one of the prime weaknesses of investors).

So you see, it’s not that crazy for me to want to train the gamer nation to win in the hallowed halls of consumerism. After all, if the white-collared analysts can try to learn about games to play EA stock, why can’t we learn their game to take some of their Bentley money?

Technocrati Tags: Video Games, Stocks, Finance, Money