If only real-world mining were as simple as those incredibly complicated games played on the internet.  Here is my take on two.  I have sent this piece to my grandkids who will likely enjoy the games more than I do. 

First there is one of those dark sites that look like a bad Hobbit’s dream; or a Hobbit’s bad dream; it amounts to much the same.  You know the sort: mostly black with misty blue hills enmassed in smoke and mist.   There is a baroque castle and a wicked-looking fellow resembling the offspring of an angel and Osama Ben Laden.  The pusillanimity of the world they inhabit is well captured by the idiotic simplicity of the actions they scurry around performing.  For example, here are two Q&As re mining—something pretty essential to building castles, fighting dragons, and rescuing maidens. 

• Q:  What do I need to mine a mineral node?  A:  All that is required to mine a node is a mining pick and the right amount of skill for mining the node.  (Kind of tautological, illogical, and roundabout avoidance that would make a politician proud.)
• Q:  How do I mine minerals?  A: To mine minerals, you will need a pickaxe, the mining profession, and to right-click on a mineral node.  (No wonder they sit at a screen and do not engage in real life.  Probably the best place to sequester them.)

More advice on how to make money from mining in this game is to be found at this link.

The second is a site called Second Life.    There appears to be Mining Guild with 16 members.  I could find no way to join, but that, I suppose, is the essence of a guild—you have to be invited to join.  I did establish that it costs $9.95 per month to play, but after that you can get rich by dabbling in real estate.  No indication anybody has yet opened a mine and gotten rich.  Maybe here is an opportunity for some benevolent mining company to sponsor a youth group to try out new mine development strategies.  Any profit can be converted to US dollars and be sent to folk who live around closed mines.   And the mining company can apply the strategy in real time.

The 30-something-year olds who told me about these sites swear they (the sites) are good for the brain, for the brawn, and, if you are smart, the pocket.  Let me know how you, as a miner, succeed.