How to Make Money Playing Minecraft & 10 Best Payers

If you want to know how to make money playing Minecraft, it’s your lucky day – talk about doing what you love and getting paid for it!

This article reveals exactly how to get paid playing Minecraft, the different ways that really work and some of the best companies that pay you directly or help you get paid to play.

 

Why Get Paid to Play Minecraft

Why not, right?

Especially when you really love playing the game!

No doubts about it, Minecraft is more than a fun pastime. The immersive gaming experience inspires creativity and imagination. These experiences should be encouraged.

Even though the game has been public for many years, new users discover the game every day. You can get paid to encourage their learning.

Moreover, experienced users still appreciate new content for their Minecraft gaming.

Finally, Minecraft has an interesting role in developing new Artificial Intelligence techniques that could impact real-world applications.

Minecraft has nearly 140,000,000 players worldwide. After more than 10 years of gameplay, many people have found ways to get paid to play Minecraft.

This article covers some of the best ways, along with some creative ways that you may not have considered.

 

How to Get Money In Minecraft (13 Legit Ways That Work)

 

1. Make Money Playing Minecraft Competitions

The most common way to get paid to play Minecraft is through competitions.

There are hundreds of competitions, from small-time local and online ones to much larger ones sponsored as educational pursuits or at conventions.

The pay for competitions varies from prizes to cash. Some prizes may even be experiences or internships.

Minecraft competitions are both individual and team-based.

Educational competitions often encourage schools to form clubs or teams to compete, fostering teamwork and cooperation.

 

2. Make Money With Minecraft Teaching Classes

Young gamers often take online classes related to Minecraft.

These classes range from playing on a private server to art classes that are Minecraft-related. Classes can be live or pre-recorded.

If you would like to teach online classes on a private server, consider having a theme for the class.

For example, consider teaching a class about a particular architectural style that starts with some discussion about the subject and building something as a group in the architectural style.

You could also teach coding classes that are related to Minecraft. Or you could teach art classes where you draw or color Minecraft-related art.

You could even teach a baking class where everyone makes a Minecraft-themed treat.

Some of the websites that allow you to develop your own class and teach to students online are:

• Outschool
• Thinkific
• Skillshare

 

3. Be a Minecraft Party Planner

Minecraft parties are still popular. Retailers sell a few decorations, but nothing elaborate.

You can get paid to play Minecraft by developing a full party experience, including a customized Minecraft server for the birthday girl or boy.

As a party planner, you might need contacts who can bake a Minecraft cake, create a Minecraft balloon wall, produce custom Minecraft invitations, and create a custom Minecraft server.

You could also arrange to have a mobile video gaming truck. These can facilitate up to 20 kids playing video games at the same time.

Parents would appreciate your expertise in creating the whole Minecraft party experience and pay you well.

 

4. Self-Publish Books

Minecraft fans love everything related to Minecraft, even books. You could self-publish books related to Minecraft.

The most common self-published Minecraft books are how-to books and fanfiction.

If you have an interesting theme for a how-to book that has not been published, you could get paid to play Minecraft while writing and taking pictures for the book.

You could also self-publish activity books, trivia books, and coding books about Minecraft.

Many platforms allow for self-publishing, such as:

• Lulu
• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Kobo
• PublishDrive
• Smashwords

 

5. Teach Coding Classes

Minecraft can be used to teach coding by assigning functions to the blocks and therefore developing a series of instructions similar to a computer program.

For example, one block might cause a character to continually do an action for a set number of times. This is the same as a for-loop in software.

Organizations like code.org have coding classes that you can teach to students.

Computer teachers for elementary schools can get paid to play Minecraft by teaching the coding classes that are based on Minecraft.

Read this if you are interested in more ways of getting paid to learn coding.

 

6. Participate in AI Research

Universities use Minecraft to study complex artificial intelligence problems. They pay people to play Minecraft in gift cards and other rewards.

Artificial intelligence trains agents to perform tasks from data about more general or similar tasks.

The actual task the agent is learning is not already in that data, but scientists expect AI to learn the new task from that data and add to the data.

University research reveals that AI agents fail to learn Minecraft tasks as quickly as humans. Even young children learn faster than AI.

Therefore, to improve AI, universities pay people to play Minecraft while the scientists make observations on why humans learn faster than AI.

 

7. Become a Computer Scientist

Computer scientists get paid to play Minecraft in a couple of ways.

First, they are usually the scientists conducting AI research.

Second, computer scientists sometimes go on to be game developers for companies like Mojang, the Minecraft development company.

Earning a degree in computer science allows for paid research opportunities during school. If you get lucky, one of these opportunities might use Minecraft.

Computer science is one of the most requested degrees for game developers.

Having a degree in computer science increases your chances of working for top game development companies like Mojang.

 

8. Make Money Joining Minecraft Partner Program

It’s definitely a good idea to join the Minecraft Partner program directly to earn money.

It’s as legit as they come and allows you to make money sharing and selling your Minecraft creations in the massive in-game marketplace.

As of April 27, 2021, Microsoft reports that creators in the Minecraft Partner Program had earned over $350 million. Developing unique and fun content gets you paid to play Minecraft.

If you are very good at the game you can definitely create different items you can sell and make money in the marketplace.

Thankfully it’s very easy to join this partner program, especially if you really love playing Minecraft and are skilled at it.

Visit this link to check out the Minecraft Partner Program.

 

Other Ways of Making Money Playing Minecraft include:

9. Make Money Hosting Game Servers

10. Make Money From Minecraft Server

11. Craft Money in Minecraft

12. Make Money Streaming on Steam

13. Make Money With a Youtube Channel

 

10 Best Companies to Make Money Playing Minecraft

Below are some of the best companies that pay you directly to play Minecraft or help you get paid to play.

 

1. Outschool

You can teach Minecraft classes at Outschool. Outschool allows you to develop your own content and set your price for the classes.

Minecraft-related classes are often the most expensive classes on the platform. They range from $10 to $20 per participant.

Classes usually have four to eight students. The classes are both live and pre-recorded.

Homeschool charges a 30% fee for hosting the classes. So, if you have six students in a class that costs $15 per student, you would earn $60.

For an hour of live class-time, this is a great way to get paid to play Minecraft.

Once you get your private server set up, your prep time for classes will be minimal.

Visit this link to check out Outschool.

 

2. Project Malmo

Project Malmo is Microsoft’s AI research community.

They sponsor competitions and conduct research into reinforcement learning, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence.

You can get paid to play Minecraft through both the competitions and by delivering quality research that can be published and presented at conferences.

The person who successfully trains AI on the Minecraft datasets will likely receive significant recognition and rewards.

Having that on your resume will mean a guaranteed job.

Visit this link to check out Project Malmo

Also See: How to Get Paid to Move & Relocate to Arizona.

 

3. Tynker

Tynker teaches how to code Minecraft mods.

These mods can be used to develop things like skins and texture packs that can be sold.

The courses are for kids five years old and older. The subscription costs between $9 and $15 per month.

Through the Tynker classes, kids develop a love of coding while playing Minecraft.

This leads to them getting paid later in life if they decide to pursue a career in coding.

Game developers earn as much as $125,000 per year.

Visit this link to check out Tynker

 

4. Minecraft Partner Program

The Minecraft Partner Program develops content for the in-game Minecraft store, such as:

• Maps
• Add-ons
• Realms,
• Skins
• Hosted servers

As of April 27, 2021, Microsoft reports that creators in the Minecraft Partner Program had earned over $350 million.

Developing unique and fun content gets you paid to play Minecraft.

There is no age requirement to be part of the program, but creators must have a solid portfolio of work and apply.

Creators could develop this portfolio as they work through classes and tutorials.

Visit this link to check out Minecraft Partner Program

 

5. Arizona State University

Arizona State University pays people to play Minecraft as part of Artificial Intelligence research.

They capture data about how the users search for and rescue victims in a collapsed building.

You are paid to play Minecraft with gift cards.

The data is then used to develop AI, perhaps AI that rescues people in collapsed buildings, or perhaps AI that performs other terrain-based learning.

Visit this link to check this out at the Arizona State University

 

 

6. National Education Foundation

The National Education Foundation sponsors school-aged Minecraft competitions that pay kids to play Minecraft with Amazon gift cards.

The competition lasts a full school year and requires several rounds of activities.

The NEF competition usually has a theme, such as building a smart city sector.

Unfortunately, it appears the NEF competition may not happen for the 2021-2022 school year, but check back in September 2022 to see if it will be hosted in the future.

Visit this link to check out National Education Foundation

 

7. Mojang

Mojang hires people to develop and play Minecraft. Mojang has offices in Stockholm, Sweden, and Redding, Washington, USA.

Many of the game developers are called software engineers and data scientists.

The jobs usually require a degree in computer science and experience with many programming languages.

The quality engineer position, however, does not require a degree and considers being a Minecraft enthusiast a bonus.

Quality engineers usually engage in testing, which requires playing the game. They also sincerely care about producing the best possible product.

Mojang is a smaller company with only about 600 people. But it is owned by Microsoft and has access to the resources a large company provides.

At a company like Mojang, workers enjoy the benefits of a small company and a large company.

Visit this link to check out Mojang

 

8. Planet Minecraft

Planet Minecraft hosts monthly Minecraft contests where players get paid prizes like $50 Steam credit to play Minecraft.

The contests usually have a theme and goal.

For example, one contest asked players to create a mob skin for prehistoric mobs.

The mobs could be cavemen, dinosaurs, or anything prehistoric.

The winner developed a Magma Triceratops skin.

Visit this link to check out Planet Minecraft

 

9. MineRL

MineRL sponsored a competition for teams to train AI agents to learn how to mine diamond and basalt from their datasets.

Sponsors would have given winners awards, except no one won the contest.

The contest proved too difficult to complete. Therefore, this area is still in need of research.

Other companies and researchers may sponsor similar contests in the future because this one showed a need for the research and produced valuable insight into training AI agents using Minecraft.

Visit this link to check out MineRL

 

10. Gametruck

Gametruck is a company that has trucks with 16 to 20 gaming systems.

It comes to your event and allows people to game together as a group.

Party planners who want to wow their clients use Gametrucks as an activity for gaming-related parties.

A Minecraft party with the gaming truck would be a crowd favorite. Party planners get paid to play Minecraft with party attendees in the Gametruck.

Talented Minecraft server creators could sell custom servers for Minecraft parties and use Gametruck to deliver systems to the client’s house to host a Minecraft birthday party.

You would get paid to develop the Minecraft server and host the party.

Visit this link to check out Gametruck

Check out the following for more information on playing games and getting paid:

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Training Needed to Get Paid to Play Minecraft

You do not need special training to get paid to play Minecraft beyond experience playing Minecraft. Competitions do not have background requirements.

To get paid to develop for Minecraft or research AI using Minecraft, you might need education in coding, game development, or advanced computer science.

 

Risks of Teaching Classes in a Minecraft Private Server

People who teach online classes for children on a private Minecraft server must be careful to protect the privacy and safety of the children.

There should be clear rules for playing covered at the beginning of every class.

Moreover, the teacher should understand how to block users and ensure that only those who are allowed enter the game.

Also See: Making Money as a Music Producer & Making Money Selling Song Lyrics.

 

Making Money Playing Minecraft FAQs

 

How do Minecraft Servers Make Money?

Minecraft does not allow selling in-game benefits for real-world money.

However, if you host a Minecraft server, you could accept donations or sell merchandise related to your server.

You could also host YouTube videos playing on your server. You could auction off videos where you let players join you live.

You could also list affiliate links and get paid every time someone buys something through the affiliate link.

 

What is the Most Rewarding Way to Get Paid to Play Minecraft

Researchers using Minecraft to train and develop artificial intelligence have significant, real-world impact.

Imagine an AI that could have rescued people in the fallen World Trade Center.

They could have saved people injured initially and prevented some of the rescuers from dying in the collapse.

Check out the following for more ways of getting paid playing fun games:

• Get Paid to Play Warzone
• Get Paid to Play Basketball
• Get Paid to Play Xbox
• Get Paid to Play Animal Crossing
• Get Paid to Play Candy Crush

 

Conclusion

As this article has revealed, it’s indeed possible and even easy to make money playing Minecraft.

It included as many as 13 different ways to make money playing this game and as many as 10 companies that either pay you directly or help you get paid.

No doubts about it, over a hundred thousand gamers get paid to play Minecraft.

They find a range of ways to get paid, from competitions to party planning.

You could definitely be one of those who get paid anywhere from $5 to over $100,000 to play Minecraft.