Why does it feel like the money we make online isn't even REAL, like a GAME?

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I noticed this with myself. Consciously, you know the money is real. But subconsciously, it feels like you are playing a major MMO economic strategy game. That's the best way to summarize it. Sure, you have to do work... but most modern, sophisticated games feature certain amounts of "work" as well, such as grinding for items and playing the auction house. For example, when I receive $100 in person in exchange for a certain service, it just FEELS a lot different than receiving $100 over the Internet... even though, consciously, you know it's the same amount of money. It's going to end up in the same place: the bank. Except online, you transfer it from PayPal. Offline, you physically walk into a bank and deposit the cash. The only thing I did that resembles "work" was my Fiverr gig: writing school/college essays for others. But even that didn't feel like a "job" - it felt like "just another stupid college homework assignment I have to do". Ironically, that was the most labor-intensive and LEAST profitable thing I have done online - only got about $200 off of it. Retail jobs are very labor-intensive. You have to spend all day standing up, stocking shelves, pushing carts, bagging groceries, answering customers' questions, etc. After a long day of working retail, you truly FEEL like you've been earning money. But online? You are sitting at home, "messing around" in front of the computer. An entire day of "online work" FEELS LIKE a weekend spent (or rather wasted) web-browsing. And I can't say I've been getting a pittance over the Internet. I have made about $2000 in the past few months - more than I could have possible gotten working retail or fast food (assuming I could even get that job - tough luck with 100+ applicants per position in this economy). And yet, for some strange reason, a single day stocking retail shelves or doing some kind of manual labor - even weeding the garden or cleaning the house - somehow feels more PRODUCTIVE than an entire week of online work. I can say, both when I was working online AND when I was killing time, people have walked up to me and said "get off the computer and do something productive; help us out in the backyard; have you tried looking for a job yet"? Yet somehow, other people could not comprehend how "time in front of the computer" could POSSIBLY be more productive than looking for a job. Anyone else feel that way, like SUBCONSCIOUSLY we are playing some kind of MMO economic strategy game? And WHY would people feel that way???