Game Coaching for the Win

1up.com has a feature on the growing business of videogame coaching. From the article: "This is where Tom Taylor comes in. He's one of the rising stars in the Halo 2 world and leading the charge for one of the first console videogame coaching sites: gaming-lessons.com. 'I've given lessons to people who [are] looking to go to tournaments or people who are just looking to brag to friends,' Taylor says, adding that he guarantees I'll beat Shoe after my training session. He's gotten offers from gamers in Europe and Australia for some schooling-his rate: $40 for a one-hour session-but today he'll be training a simple guy who just wants to beat his boss once."

Comments

Bobby Knight is my new VG coach.

[Errandboy of Doom]

Tournaments, Sponsors, Coaches... we're almost there. When will we get a station to televise gaming competitions with half-decent in-game footage and literate (let alone charismatic) announcers, preferably hosted by people who aren't retarded?

Re:Bobby Knight is my new VG coach.

[daranz]

Hell, now that these things happen for console games, we might even see stuff like that on TV. A tournament for Tribes, UT or CS would never get televised, but your average Joe actually knows what Halo is, and therefore if he saw a Halo tournament on TV he wouldn't be as confused as he would be if it was a CS tournament.

I've seen people offering lessons in CS before, but now it's just going "mainstream" - into the console market.

Re:Bobby Knight is my new VG coach.

[Anonymous Coward]

When will we get a station to televise gaming competitions with half-decent in-game footage and literate (let alone charismatic) announcers, preferably hosted by people who aren't retarded?

I think G4 is your only bet for any televised gaming for quite some time. That said, it's hard for me to imagine a game that could make for compelling television. Sports usually have it much easier, their arena is well defined and simple (usually just a rectangle). The action is also typically very narrowly focused (on a ball).

Compare traditional sports with a FPS or RTS where the popular maps are never simple, at least compared to a rectangle. The action is rarely focused on a single object if it's focused at all. Even when there is an object to focus on (like in capture the flag), there might not even be anything going on around it. The flag spends half its time just sitting in a base. When someone is actually carrying the flag, they're usually trying to avoid anything that would be interesting to a viewer. The only games that are well suited for television are Fighting and Racing games. If you're interested in watching fighting and racing on tv, you'd probably rather watch the real thing (boxing or motorsports).

Maybe they've figured out a way to make compelling tv out of it in S.Korea, but I can't picture it. The only worthwhile shows on G4 are the review/preview shows. Anything else, I'd rather be playing than watching.

Re:Bobby Knight is my new VG coach.

[MBraynard]

I've pondered doing a show and syndicating it. The rule for hosting will be that if you look/sound like you might be on G4, you are disqualified.

I used to write for Warcraftstrategy.com

[CrazyJim1]

I got paid $50 for a couple page article. It was ok money, but mainly I did it because it was well recieved. People always liked my strategies as I got tons of tells about it. I've done some MMORPG selling too. Theres money in video games... But I think Korea has it best with making video gamers super stars on par with pop stars... I really should have went out there when I was invited, but I never knew it was that big.

Re:I used to write for Warcraftstrategy.com

[Stoopid-Guy0]

RE the little bit you link to in your sig. Ever heard of a guy named Jonah? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah

Very interesting.

[bynary]

While part of me thinks that this is wrong, that games should "just be played", part of me says "Hey, you can hire a coach for everything else. Why not video games?" The problem is now those of us who had found our niche in videogames are being pushed out. Gaming is quickly becoming just another thing that "cool" people do. What will we nerds come up with next?

Re:Very interesting.

[Idealius]

"A life?" :P

Re:Very interesting.

[interiot]

Upside-down extra-sensory skateboarding. With suction cups instead of wheels.

Oh, more realistically? Okay, convince more women to become geeks. (if even that is realistic)

Re:Very interesting.

[GlenRaphael]

Gaming is quickly becoming just another thing that "cool" people do. What will we nerds come up with next?

Don't know about anyone else, but my answer? Powerisers! Bounce around town for a bit - you'll get the strangest looks. And if that ever catches on with the masses I'm sure I'll be able to find something else that's just as weird.

There's also using videogames to get in shape, as per my .sig - that hasn't really caught on yet either, the success of DDR notwithstanding...

Re:Very interesting.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, I have to warn you: The cool thing to do these days is breathe. Breathing is really popular. All the cool kids are doing it, and I do mean all the cool kids. Every last one.

So be a real nerd, and don't breathe.

Or better yet, stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and do what you enjoy. Got a problem with gaming coaches? Don't fucking hire one. People who hired gaming coaches are better than you are at the game? Improve your skills. They don't know anything you can't learn.

Or vice versa.

tip hotline?

[brandanglendenning]

hasn't this sort of thing been around in the form of 900 numbers for about 20 years? and here i thought it would be a neat write-up about the roles of 'coaches' in big name gaming clans.

Victor DeLeon III.....

[B3AST!]

....is 7 and making $30 an hour?? aren't there like, child labor laws or something????

maybe......i really just hate to see someone 16 years younger than me, who's barely started school, making more money than me

i bet he eats mac 'n cheese because he LIKES it, not because he can't afford anything else

Re:Victor DeLeon III.....

[Idealius]

nice one about the mac'n'cheese :P

Oh boy

[FidelCatsro]

" he guarantees I'll beat Shoe after my training session."
I don't doubt he could train someone to beat a bunch of loafers , but what about stilettos or Doc-Martins , they can be pretty tough . All he seems to be offering is map tips and a private game for 40 Per hour .. I don't really see how this can be worth the money .
Though fair play to him if there are people willing to pay this .

Re:Oh boy

[Idealius]

Any game or construct whose complexity is beyond complete human understanding which involves competition person vs person (rather than person vs cpu) deserves coaching. People tend to care about winning versus other people. The rationale is if you beat another person it's proof you're unique out of the billions of humans on earth, so you feel better with each win. The best part about this kind of reward is you automagically have an audience to confirm your godlike skills (hint: your victim.) The fact that the game is beyond human's complete understanding means no person can truly master it, but they CAN master other people.

I've mastered Jedi Knight Academy (aka JKA, JK3, JK2: JA) as well as it can be, and most of the reason I played was so I could train all my clanmates. It's cool you can have a version of turf wars online with clan matches and such. Instead of virtual turf, you fight over clan name and personal name recognition. It sounds immature, but man competing versus his peers I feel is somewhat of an elemental necessity, too.

Morihei Ueshiba, the creator of Akido is stirring in his grave right now, but the way I see it is there will always be a bully regardless of the steps we take to prevent it, so learning to defeat our peers shouldn't be considered immature or necessarily immoral... it should be considered ambitious, and noble in the right context. But yea... about this soapbox..

Re:Oh boy

[Lucractius]

whats interesting is that ive had similar thoughts myself. Ive contemplated selling my services to teach total n00bz how to play games at a level above "smacktard" before but the problem is the market, i dont have one. I know i could do it, and i know some would pay for it, but there arent enough for me to actualy get any buisness, thefore the effort per unit $ returned by trying to get people to pay is low, low enough i dont particularly want to bother.

awesome

[Gogo0]

Good for this guy and all the suckers he ropes in.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Re:awesome

[Lisandro]

You know, i thought exactly the same. I feel kinda uneasy about it, but yes.

girl gamers

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are all the pro girl gamers hot?

Be yourself

[xplenumx]

The problem is now those of us who had found our niche in videogames are being pushed out. Gaming is quickly becoming just another thing that "cool" people do.

What's wrong with gaming becoming 'just another thing that "cool" people do'? If you enjoy gaming, great - why is your enjoyment so dependent on how other perceive gaming? If gaming becomes "cool", are you all of a sudden not 'counter culture' enough? Are you afraid that you're friends are so shallow that they'll abandon you for, in their eyes, 'trying to be cool'?

Way back when I was still in high school I had a friend that was a huge Nirvana junkie and owned all of their albums (and tons of bootlegs) prior to the band hitting the mainstream. The day my friend heard a Nirvana song on the radio, he tossed out all of his Nirvana tapes and gave up on the band. It's funny really - he was trying so hard to be counter cultural that he ended up being more of a slave to the culture than the people he was fighting against. If you enjoy gaming, then enjoy gaming. Don't let others dictate what you like and who you are.

Re:Be yourself

[AuMatar]

Because when you get the big crowd playing games because its cool, you'll end up with mass market MTV schlock games, with crap gameplay and no innovation. Oh wait, its already happened.

Re:Be yourself

[Castar]

What's wrong with gaming becoming 'just another thing that "cool" people do'? If you enjoy gaming, great - why is your enjoyment so dependent on how other perceive gaming? If gaming becomes "cool", are you all of a sudden not 'counter culture' enough? Are you afraid that you're friends are so shallow that they'll abandon you for, in their eyes, 'trying to be cool'?

I can't speak for the original poster, of course, but here's my problem with it: I have nothing against gaming becoming cool, but for the fact that it affects gaming and changes it from what it was. Once companies are targetting the cool people instead of the geeks, we lose out. Instead of more post-apocalyptic RPGs or space colonization games, we get more football games and urban hip-hop subculture shoot-em-ups.

Sony's target demographic is someone they're referring to as "urban nomads" - the kind of people who like modded cars, hip-hop, celebrities, and cellphones. I don't fit that demographic, and consequently, they're not making many games for me any more.

So I wish gaming had stayed the realm of D&D geeks and anime fans, because I know they'll be the ones making dragon-flying games, space conquest games, alternate-history flight sims, and turn-based war games. I like those better than gangsta games, or underground street racing games, or urban basketball games.

Uggg Waste of Money

[Reapy]

Coaching, in an fps? Arrrrg, what is this world coming to?

There isn't much to learn in an fps. Here, who would like to pay me $50 for this complete coarse to dominate any 1 v 1 fps game?

1. Learn the maps routs and where weapons /items spawn.
2. Learn the weap/item respawn times (does halo even have this? )
-------------
You can do the above on your own on empty maps. Below, you can do by joining a second player to your game and having it stand still.

3. Learn where the hitboxes are (wheres a headshot actually need to happen)
4. Learn the weapons, how they shoot, how much damage they do.

------------
Here is the hard part now, where you have to get online and actually work:

5. Practice, practice, practice. Preferably, practice against people better then you, all the time. This is true for everything. Stand next to someone who is amazing at an activity, and you will see your playing level go up. I find this true for myself when I play volleyball, and I found this true for myself when I used to play a lot of online games.

I really don't see what this guy can offer that isn't already free and published all over the net, besides scheduled play time vs a very good player. And perhaps that is something of value to sell at least.

I dunno

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno about all this. It just seems weird to treat the tactics and techniques that go into good gaming as commodities. The whole point of gaming-community landmarks like gamefaqs and fora and so on is that this stuff gets disseminated as widely as possible for free and we end up with increased skill across the board; this looks like it could lead to more calcified and widely separated tiers of ability, with more casual gamers even less able than ever to catch up to those willing to shell out for tutoring.

Oh, and that seven-year-old Halo pro kicks ass.