I spent three hours last week explaining Diablo IV build optimization to my cousin. Just casually breaking down stat scaling, weapon aspects, and why his current setup was basically a war crime against his own character.
When I finished, he said something that stuck with me: “Dude, you should write this stuff down. People would pay for this.”
He was joking. But here’s the thing. He wasn’t wrong.
Your Game Knowledge Has Actual Value
Think about how much time you’ve put into the games you love. Hundreds of hours. Maybe thousands. You know the meta, the tricks, the stuff that takes new players weeks to figure out on their own.
That knowledge is worth something.
And no, I’m not talking about becoming a Twitch streamer or grinding YouTube for years, hoping the algorithm notices you. I’m talking about something way more accessible: writing guides.
Wait, People Still Read Gaming Guides?
Yeah, they really do.
Every time someone Googles “best starting class Baldur’s Gate 3” or “how to beat [boss name] tips,” they’re looking for a guide. GameFAQs has been running on user-submitted guides since 1995. IGN’s guide sections get millions of views.
The demand is massive. And here’s what’s wild: most of these guides are written by regular gamers, not professional journalists.
The Old Way: Write for Free, Get Nothing
For decades, the deal was pretty raw for guide writers.
GameFAQs built an empire on volunteer content. Thousands of people spent hundreds of hours writing detailed walkthroughs, and they got paid exactly nothing. A “thank you” message and maybe some forum clout.
I’m not knocking GameFAQs. That site helped me beat Final Fantasy VII when I was 12. But the model was always a little backwards. The site makes money from ads. The writers make memories, I guess?
The New Way: Actually Get Paid
Things are changing. More gaming sites are realizing that paying creators makes sense. You get better content, more motivated writers, and a sustainable model.
There are a few ways this works now:
Freelance gaming journalism, Sites like Kotaku, Polygon, and smaller outlets sometimes hire freelancers. Pay is usually $100-300 per article. Competitive as hell though. You’re up against people with journalism degrees and existing portfolios.
Medium’s Partner Program, Write gaming articles on Medium, get paid based on member reading time. Realistic earnings: $50-200/month if you’re consistent. Downside is you’re competing with every other topic on the platform.
Revenue-sharing creator programs, This is the newer model. You write for a gaming site, and you get a percentage of the ad revenue your content generates. The more your guides get read, the more you earn. Your content keeps earning as long as people keep reading it.
I’m biased here because we just launched this at Two Average Gamers with our Creator Studio program. But I’ll explain how it works because I think it’s the best model for most people.
How Revenue-Sharing Actually Works
Let’s say you write a guide about the best builds in Palworld. You submit it, we publish it on TAG.
That guide gets traffic from Google. Every time someone reads it, ads load on the page. Those ads generate revenue.
With a revenue-sharing model, you get a cut of that ad money. At TAG, it’s 60% to the creator, 40% to us (we handle hosting, SEO, editing, and all the backend stuff).
Example math:
- Your guide gets 10,000 pageviews in a month
- At a $10 RPM (revenue per thousand views), that’s $100 in ad revenue
- You get $60
Not life-changing money from one guide. But here’s where it gets interesting.
The Compounding Effect
Guides don’t expire. A well-crafted evergreen guide to a popular game can drive traffic for years.
Write one guide that gets 10K views/month = $60/month = $720/year from a single article.
Write ten of those? Now you’re looking at $7,200/year in mostly passive income. From stuff you already know about games you already play.
The math scales. And unlike freelance journalism, where you write once and get paid once, revenue-sharing means your content keeps working for you.
“But I’m Not a Writer”
I hear this a lot. And honestly? It doesn’t matter as much as you think.
The best gaming guides aren’t written by English majors. They’re written by people who actually know the games.
I’d rather read a guide written by someone with 500 hours in Monster Hunter who writes like they talk, than a polished article from someone who played for a weekend and summarized the wiki.
Your voice and your knowledge are the valuable parts. The grammar and formatting can be fixed.
AI Tools Make This Even Easier
Here’s something that would’ve sounded like science fiction five years ago: AI can help you write.
I’m not talking about having AI write your whole guide (that’s a bad idea and produces garbage content). I’m talking about using AI to help with the parts that slow you down.
You write a rough outline with bullet points. The AI expands it into paragraphs. You review it, add your personality and specific tips, and submit.
What used to take 4 hours can take 45 minutes.
At TAG Creator Studio, we built this directly into the submission process. You don’t need to go copy-paste between ChatGPT and Google Docs. The AI assistance is just there.
What Games Should You Write About?
This is where most people overthink it.
Write about games you actually know. Not games you think will get traffic. Not games you played for an hour.
If you’ve put 200 hours into Stardew Valley, write about Stardew Valley. If you know Apex Legends inside and out, write about Apex.
Niche games are actually great for this. Less competition. A guide about “best builds in Outward” has way less competition than “best builds in Elden Ring.” And the people searching for niche game guides are super engaged.
What Kind of Guides Work Best?
Some guide types consistently perform well:
Beginner guides, “Everything New Players Need to Know” style articles. These have massive search volume because every new player needs them.
Build guides, Specific character builds, loadouts, team compositions. Players love copying builds from people who’ve already figured out the math.
Boss/encounter guides, How to beat specific challenges. These get huge traffic spikes when a game releases, but evergreen games keep them relevant.
Tier lists, Rankings of characters, weapons, and items. These are catnip for the gaming audience.
“Hidden” tips, Stuff the game doesn’t tell you. Secrets, tricks, mechanics that aren’t obvious.
Getting Started
If you want to try this, here’s what I’d recommend:
- Pick a game you know well, Not one you’re excited to learn. One you already know.
- Find a topic gap, Google “[your game] [topic] guide” and see what exists. Look for topics with weak or outdated coverage.
- Start with an outline, Bullet points of everything you want to cover. Don’t worry about writing perfectly yet.
- Write like you’re explaining to a friend, Forget trying to sound professional. Your natural voice is better.
- Submit somewhere that pays, Don’t give your content away for free. Your knowledge has value.
The Bigger Picture
Look, writing gaming guides isn’t going to replace your job. I want to be realistic about that.
But it can be meaningful side income from something you’d probably do anyway. You’re already explaining games to your friends. You’re already in Discord servers answering questions. You’re already consuming and thinking about this stuff constantly.
The difference between doing that for free and getting paid is just a little bit of structure.
And honestly? There’s something satisfying about having your guide help thousands of people beat a boss or optimize a build. Your knowledge, making someone else’s gaming experience better. And getting paid for it.
That’s not a bad deal.
Know games? Want to get paid for sharing what you know? TAG Creator Studio pays creators 60% of ad revenue. Our AI tools help you write faster. No writing experience required.
