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Hire a Game Coach Online
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Expert videogame players, many of them teens, are forging professional careers as coaches, finding clients — many of them in their 20s or 30s — online, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some gigs pay $65 an hour. From the article: 'Gaming-lessons.com says its youngest "Halo 2" instructor is 8-year-old New Yorker Victor De Leon III — better known by his online gamer name, Lil Poison — who has given several lessons a month since late last year, fitting the classes in after he has done his homework. His father, also named Victor, says his son has used some of the money he earns from lessons (hourly rate: $25) to buy a hamster, named Cortana after a character in the game.'"
I've heard of life coaches. But get-a-life coaches; that's something new!
Where were you when the voynix came?
While 1-1 coaching will always have its place, there is more and more help getting available to on-line gamers in form of communities (gaming help websites) and some automated tools. If you are looking at making this your profession watch out for these help options as your competitors!
I bet his hamster could beat you though...
When I have a kid, I want to put him in one of those strollers for twins and then run around the mall looking frantic.
Back in the era of the NES and SNES Nintendo Power used to advertise official game company 1-900 numbers where you could get rad tips for some crazy per-minute charge. I never called one, but I imagine a lot of children drove their parent's phone bills through the roof.
That's really quite interesting. Too bad they only offer classes for first-person-shooter games. I've gotten good enough at City of Heroes/Villains that I could probably earn out some great rates giving hourly instruction in that game. I wonder if there are any other sites where a game guru could offer their teaching skills for hire. (It would certainly be a better value for the money than those "pay-for-PL" sites.)
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I'd laugh at how huge a waste of life this is, were I not actually guilty of calling a Nintendo "game counselor" once during my childhood. Still, this would have been my dream job at that age, and a friend of mine in 8th grade actually made a few dollars selling VHS videos of him beating whatever NES game in his collection the customer wanted to see. Screw selling lemonade or delivering newspapers...
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"What's next, degrees and certifications?!"
For the degrees, you don't need coaches. You just buy them from grade-farmers in China.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Why's this pathetic? Is being a PGA instructor pathetic? After all, knowing the optimum golf club for a shot, or how to correctly use a 3-wood is useless away from golf.
Some people enjoy their leisure activities more if they're good at them (especially when the activity is competitive). Stands to reason the market would provide facilities to help people improve. I wouldn't spend my money on something like this, but I'm not going to disparage the people that do.
Not if I have a microwave.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
that is the gheyest thing I've ever heard. Paying a kid $25 to get good at Halo is pathetic to say the least.
For the past two decades the second highest market behind selling the games themselves has been the selling of magazines with cheatcodes, screens, etc. All of which may not actually make you a better player. Having someone to actually point out the things you do which are wrong and better ways to achieve results is nothing less than Big Business spends tonnes of money on every year, so why not avid gamers? Just because it doesn't work for you, don't dis everyone else.
One method I learned, years ago, was to play games at their hardest levels or accept the highest degree of difficulty missions. I'd get slaughtered, but at that pace I picked up better sends of timing, anticipation and reaction. Then returned to the easier levels/missions and I learned enough from them to actually beat/complete all levels/missions.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I think "Kicked by console" must be some sort of certification or something, because I'm pretty good at CS and I get that all the time when I play and do well. Also people call me a "wallhack" and "aimbot", I don't know exactly what this means but I figure it's analogous to the title "Doctor" IRL.
Jolt Cola, Mountain Dew, Coffee.
Hamburgers, Tacos, Pizza - lot's of pepperoni and sausage - need that protein!
Skittles, Gummi Bears, etc... - sugars for the brain.
Cross training across platforms: alternating days of: PS/2, PCGames, Nintendo, etc...
I know NOTHING, I know NOTHING
Doesn't anyone find it a little odd that an eight-year-old is making money playing an M-rated game?
Not if you have a groundhog digging up your yard and you can't seem to chase it off. It doesn't see the golf ball coming. The surprise shot usually sends it off for days.
There are other cross sport uses, too. For instance, baseball helped improve my bowling skills. Ever since I started bowling overhand, I'm not wasting frames trying to adjust to the lane conditions.
> People actually pay for lessons for skills that are useless away from video games?
So it's mostly just like college, then.
Oh please. How is this different than:
1) Coaches in every sport imaginable
2) Exercise consultants in the gym of your choice
3) Music teachers
I mean, to learn piano, all you need is to buy a piano and then just plunk away at it until you're playing Chopin, right?
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I mean, to learn piano, all you need is to buy a piano and then just plunk away at it until you're playing Chopin, right?
You seem to be implying that learning to play a video game well is equal in difficulty to learning to become a skilled pianist. For that matter, do you think that becoming a skilled basketball player or swimmer is no more difficult than becoming skilled at Halo 2?
I don't think all activities are equal in difficulty, particularly given that video games are created specifically to be playable. The piano wasn't created to be easy to learn. Video games are.
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