Online coaching from pro/popular gamers in demand?

[kkelis2784]

Hi all

First time here!

I have a question and i would appreciate any feedback on the matter.

Do you believe that online coaching from pro and/or popular well known players for various games i.e. lol,COD,WoW etc would be something in demand? Not just prerecorded videos like some other sites offer. Im talking about 1 on 1 live stream/chat training and perhaps even webinar stream for 2+ people.

Lets face it... you need to be born with the mind and skills to grasp a game quickly and effectively. Other people may potentially have the talent to get to the competitive phase but lack the actual benefits of learning from the real pro's or understanding some mechanics. Ive tried in the past to learn from various videos... even paid,prerecorded videos from pros... it helps but nowhere near of having a chance to compete or even be recognized as a good player. I always had questions, that were unanswered, I posted forum questions and private messages, it took forever to get a reply .. .and when you did get one, you were made fun of .. or just simply didn't get a good enough reply. And something else would pop into mind.

Considering all the different scenarios in any game, strategy, skill and quick thinking is a necessity. Which take time and practice to master, but no matter how much time and effort you put, the majority won't get anywhere because they're constantly moving in the wrong direction. Hence, what helped me out TREMENDOUSLY, was when a pro player was watching my stream and talking me through some arena games in WoW back in the days i use to play. It opened my eyes and it became MUCH easier. From a 1600-1700 rated team I went to 1900 in a couple of months. For the first time ever other players were inviting me to various teams that were 2k+. My self confidence went through the roof and i new i was getting good. My mind was then committed 100% to getting better.

Props to the guy helping me out at the time.. was very generous and stuck with me for a whole week pointing out my pros and cons and how to anticipate various situations. It wasn't easy after and it required a lot of hard work and dedication. He basically put the missing pieces of the puzzle right infront of me and I put them together. Something I wouldn't have managed to do alone... That gave me the edge of moving up in the ranks. Long story short.. Was 2 years a 1600 rated player, 1 year later, my maximum rating ever was 2350(steady 2.2k rated player)......So, that's when the idea hit me.

So the real question is .... live training sessions from real pro players, offering strategies , advice, real-time action and walkthroughs during your games and after. Something the gaming community would require ? or not?

It would be for a price.. but the people who are willing to pay are the ones who are willing to get more serious in their gaming life/career.

I would appreciate any feedback and looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Aris

 

[Wardawg1001]

I don't know what you mean necessarily by 'in demand', but I can tell you that yes indeed there are people out there willing to pay money for personal coaching by pro players in competitive games. Just head over to Twitch and check out any of the more popular Streams for SC2/LoL/DotA, most of them offer coaching at some $/hour rate. I don't know exactly how often people use these services, but some of the streamers will stream the coaching at times (if the coached player is okay with it I assume), so I have seen people using them.

If you are wondering if there is a business model here, I wouldn't get your hopes up.

 

[kkelis2784]

Hey and thanks a lot for your reply.

Ive studied twitch for a while and have been a member their for quite some time now.

Can you please be so kind as to provide an explanation on why a business model may not be viable ?

Aris

 

[CPA]

If there are people willing to pay subscription fees on twitch.tv just to watch someone play a game, then yes, there are plenty of folks willing to pay someone to get personal feedback, especially if the provider is a "professional" gamer and/or well known in the gaming circles.

 

[kkelis2784]

Thanks CPA

Sounds fair enough.

Massive increase predicted for the gaming industry in the next 5 years. The industry was and still is booming. With the right investment and proper planning, I see this being viable.

Ofcourse i require your feedback in order to get into more details and get my people to do the hardcore research.

Thanks again

Aris

 

[cbrunny]

I've thought about this too, not so much as a viable business model but just something I could do on the side to have some fun and make some extra bucks. I'm not a pro gamer though - just a hobbyist. In my mind though, there are three and only three consumer groups for a product like this:

1. Adults that have a lot of money, like video games, but suck at them.

2. Kids that love video games enough to watch twitch and idolize the serious gamers, who also happen to have rich parents that spoil their kids.

3. Anyone who actually wants to try to make a living on professional gaming.

These three groups combined make up probably less than .001% of all gamers in North America.

Edit: there's also this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAaBbydEMno <- valuable research.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

If Aunty McStinkyBreath can make a bit of extra scratch teaching kids how to play piano then there is a market for this as well.

Top rated players could easily make hundreds per hour tutoring rich wannabes. The trick is getting pro gamers to sign contracts to provide a service and live up to the agreement. What do they need a middleman for, other than to take a cut of their profits?

 

[kkelis2784]

Thanks man .. video is pretty old and irrelevant in most cases but thanks for sharing

Coaching can be for anyone and everyone. Main focus is for pro gaming but anyone can join in Your percentage is actually off by a lot

More than 50% of the US alone play games.... Just like any athlete , you probably won't become pro in your 30's. So the targetted audience will be young dedicated players (late teens - but mostly 20's)

It's not like it will be 1000 dollars an hour to be coached. The payment mechanics are flexible and unique. Very versatile for any kind of budget.

The gaming industry is going to be booming in the next 5 years. More games are coming out.. more people playing games .. more homes buying consoles ... It will sky rocket! with that said, the gaming industry is actually characterized as relatively "new". The more gamers, the more games, the more people want to learn and the more people want to be pro.

Its a long term business with a massive investment targeting the near future.

Thanks alot of your reply!
Aris

 

[kkelis2784]

If Aunty McStinkyBreath can make a bit of extra scratch teaching kids how to play piano then there is a market for this as well.

Top rated players could easily make hundreds per hour tutoring rich wannabes. The trick is getting pro gamers to sign contracts to provide a service and live up to the agreement. What do they need a middleman for, other than to take a cut of their profits?

Well said ! Thats why it will require a new innovative business plan. We haven't even finalized it yet but already have some well known teams interested. We didn't even give them a proposal for agreement... just an overview.

Most pro teams have manager's and i like the Godfather mindset "ill make them an offer they can't refuse"

Aris

 

[cbrunny]

Respectfully, I disagree. But, best of luck to you nonetheless.

That video link was meant as humour - I'm pretty sure it's fake anyway.

 

[darkewaffle]

Hell to the no.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Most pro teams have manager's and i like the Godfather mindset "ill make them an offer they can't refuse"

Aris

Good strategy for getting your foot in the door going through the team managers but the idea is really easy to pilfer. My ho's don't need two pimps. If I wanna have them make a little extra on webcam then I tell them to sit their pretty butts in front of the computer. Private sessions always cost extra.

Tom Taylor, Fatality, and many more have been down that road before neo. They know where it goes.

 

[dguy6789]

delete

 

[kkelis2784]

Good strategy for getting your foot in the door going through the team managers but the idea is really easy to pilfer. My ho's don't need two pimps. If I wanna have them make a little extra on webcam then I tell them to sit their pretty butts in front of the computer. Private sessions always cost extra.

Tom Taylor, Fatality, and many more have been down that road before neo. They know where it goes.

Well said, you can clearly identify the people looking into the future of gaming and not only considering what will happen now from their replies.

But all feedback is accepted

Aris

 

[imaheadcase]

No because people don't want to fork over money for a game to be good at it, especially games that already cost people to much that can't afford extra stuff each month because they live paycheck to paycheck.

The ONLY exception are deep rooted games that have massive followings, but even then, like you said yourself, only certain people have the skill to be good at that ONE game.

You can't teach people stuff no matter how many times you try to. Most people know this is why they don't pay anyone to play a game.


That and ad block, most gamers make money with ads on twitch or whatever, but most people use adblock so it makes no sense.

 

[smackababy]

That and ad block, most gamers make money with ads on twitch or whatever, but most people use adblock so it makes no sense.

No. You make your money from subscribers on Twitch. The ads pay a pathetic amount. For every 1000 people WHO SEE THE AD, you get around $2.00. And, considering, only very few people don't run adblock, you need a lot of viewers to keep this up.


There are HoN streamers (and I imagine Dota and LoL as well) where professional players offer coaching and boosting. There is one HoN streamer and all he does is play with viewers. That is his job. He plays 12+ hours a day and charges like $27 for 4 hours (about 4 games). He has 4 others in each game. Not bad for just playing video games.

I could see a website offering players a chance to contract professionals (or just good players) to coach them. The website could get a percentage of the fee (like 10% or something) and the coach gets the rest. Obviously, there would have to be some kind of rating system, otherwise everyone would be coaching, whether they were good or not.

 

[slpnshot]

Require? Lol, no.

But there is definitely a demand for online coaches.

I remember when Phantomlord dedicated himself to coaching, he would have nearly a month long waiting list for all the people he was hired to coach. But he stopped for whatever reason(headache/time/cost/lack of fun).

I just don't really understand what this business model will do.

If teams wanted their players to coach, why would they need to work with you to do it? If players/streamers want to coach, why would they need you to do it?

Unless you're talking about consolidating the less popular streamers/pro players. Maybe there's a market for the pro players who only get 100-500 viewers and can't find enough people who want to be coached through their own ability.

 

[kkelis2784]

No. You make your money from subscribers on Twitch. The ads pay a pathetic amount. For every 1000 people WHO SEE THE AD, you get around $2.00. And, considering, only very few people don't run adblock, you need a lot of viewers to keep this up.


There are HoN streamers (and I imagine Dota and LoL as well) where professional players offer coaching and boosting. There is one HoN streamer and all he does is play with viewers. That is his job. He plays 12+ hours a day and charges like $27 for 4 hours (about 4 games). He has 4 others in each game. Not bad for just playing video games.

I could see a website offering players a chance to contract professionals (or just good players) to coach them. The website could get a percentage of the fee (like 10% or something) and the coach gets the rest. Obviously, there would have to be some kind of rating system, otherwise everyone would be coaching, whether they were good or not.

Thanks for the feedback, rating system can be in place yes... together with other systems.

Cheers

Aris

 

[slpnshot]

No because people don't want to fork over money for a game to be good at it, especially games that already cost people to much that can't afford extra stuff each month because they live paycheck to paycheck.

I think you massively underestimate how much people are willing to throw away money for games.

In LoL(and Hon/Dota/SC), there's currently a thing called elo-boosting. It's where a high ranked player logs onto another person's account to boost that account's elo/mmr.

It doesn't have anything to do with long term skill acquisition or w/e. There's no coaching involved. Nothing that makes the player in question better in the long term. The shitty player who gets boosted just wants to get some pathetic validation by having fake ratings. And there's actually a market for this.

Until Riot(LoL's company) started punishing boosters, it used to even be publicized by popular streamers on twitch. And these boosters would have an almost never ending supply of people wanting to get elo boosted.

 

[kkelis2784]

I think you massively underestimate how much people are willing to throw away money for games.

In LoL(and Hon/Dota/SC), there's currently a thing called elo-boosting. It's where a high ranked player logs onto another person's account to boost that account's elo/mmr.

It doesn't have anything to do with long term skill acquisition or w/e. There's no coaching involved. Nothing that makes the player in question better in the long term. The shitty player who gets boosted just wants to get some pathetic validation by having fake ratings. And there's actually a market for this.

Until Riot(LoL's company) started punishing boosters, it used to even be publicized by popular streamers on twitch. And these boosters would have an almost never ending supply of people wanting to get elo boosted.

Very good point, something that will definitely be avoided for sure. + I wouldn't want visitors like that in the website anyway. Just people who want to learn from good players. Coaches will be handpicked too.. nothing random. Anyone can apply but a handful will be chosen. I didn't even try to do any marketing yet and found a few people (3 out 7) who are willing to pay for wow coaching...It might not be a "get rich now" scheme but may be well worth building it from now.

Thanks for your feedback

Aris

 

[videogames101]

I've never had a pay a pro to play with a pro, they're just normal people afterall, and usually pretty friendly. It's not to difficult to just... play with them and in that way learn from them.

 

[kkelis2784]

I've never had a pay a pro to play with a pro, they're just normal people afterall, and usually pretty friendly. It's not to difficult to just... play with them and in that way learn from them.

Much easier said than done.

I had friends playing games that were amazing. (ingame friends)
I dont remember ever playing with them . They got their teams , once they log in the start playing with their team. The practice all the time. No time for most of them to sit down and play with someone else who isn't that good.

Sure they can chat with you a lot of the times and help you out... but how much will that really help you? Not much...

 

[arkcom]

How many movie watching coaches are there?

For the vast majority of people (especially in the future) gaming is done for entertainment.

 

[kkelis2784]

How many movie watching coaches are there?

For the vast majority of people (especially in the future) gaming is done for entertainment.

Hi

What do you mean by "movie watching coaches" ?

I agree with you 100% ... but would you enjoy playing a game your not good at? I gave the example of World of Warcraft. I use to love that game and played for hours everyday ... was never really good at PVP though(would be considered average) which requires a good amount of skill to be a decent Pvper. I paid for coaching , I paid for everything .. and why ? because entertainment for me was actually being good in the game i loved to play.

 

[Soundmanred]

I asked a dozen friends if they would pay for this. Only one said he would, but only if it's a hot chick from a small Mediterranean island and she's naked. The rest laughed and said "who in their right mind would pay for that!?".