Pretty sure something like creating an entirely automated gold farm (with measurable production) using your own command and control server, plus other innovations could very well classify as a side project, but it better be damn nice. You better have things like;
Quality web based GUI
Accurate tracking, logging, and visual display of the data (graphs, charts, comparisons of today vs yesterday vs last week, etc)
Continued scalability without losing functionality/efficiency
etc etc
As others have said, simply showing some script work isn't going to do it. You need to be able to show an entire understanding of how programming works as a whole, and moreover, how you can apply it to make their business/company better/richer.