EPTIf you enjoy playing this game and enjoy being the best you can be I don't see why not. You say that the lessons you've seen its very basic advice for silver, gold players that they can do on their own but even if someone knows what to do if they don't have the motivation they won't fix their problems as easily. Having a coach just helps you get going and its no wonder there is a good demand for it right now. Like if you ever played an instrument I'm pretty sure you can become pretty decent self-taught but people still pay for lessons. If people really thought it was a waste of money they wouldn't keep on continuing lessons. They've seen the results after taking them.
Why do people pay for "coaching?" - Page 2
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Ilikestarcraft
Korea (South)17727 Posts
If you enjoy playing this game and enjoy being the best you can be I don't see why not. You say that the lessons you've seen its very basic advice for silver, gold players that they can do on their own but even if someone knows what to do if they don't have the motivation they won't fix their problems as easily. Having a coach just helps you get going and its no wonder there is a good demand for it right now. Like if you ever played an instrument I'm pretty sure you can become pretty decent self-taught but people still pay for lessons. If people really thought it was a waste of money they wouldn't keep on continuing lessons. They've seen the results after taking them. | ||
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dere
United States153 Posts
On July 28 2011 04:19 Trumpet wrote: I think this would be why I have been considering coaching. I've been in Diamond for all 3 seasons now and I'm marginally better than when I started. I'm under a time constraint... married, job etc. I want to believe that I can improve more efficiently by being shown how to improve. I've heard many pros state that they can quickly get back in shape because they know how practice. I would love for them to share that with me! | ||
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dtz
5834 Posts
As for why silver and gold players do it, people go for tennis or golf coaching, piano , violin lessons and all sorts of things even though they will never be professional. If they have the money , it is natural for some people to want to improve and do better. | ||
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
These threads keep popping up and I suppose they always will. Coaches don't have some magic elixir. Yes you can get the info for free and on your own. No you won't get it as fast and no you won't get all of it. Having someone concisely tell you exactly what you need to focus on to most immediately improve your game IS HELPFUL (depending on the coach obv). Spending time with someone that does this 10 or 100x more than you DOES help. It isn't a question of "does it help" or not. It's a question of "are you willing to pay to expedite a process you possibly could do on your own?" Absolutely you learn faster with a coach. Absolutely you may miss stuff they cover OR misunderstand stuff that you read/see on your own. If these things are worth your money then you will do it and benefit. If you don't have the money or prefer to do things on your own it will take longer and you may never get there but you will save money. | ||
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Kuzmorgo
Hungary1058 Posts
In sports, if its a team sport you obviously need a team. You need a team captain for coordination, and its generally better to have someone who actually knows that sport well. Also try learning i dunno ski jumping on the internet. I don't think it would be easy. However, for SC2, you can find everything on TL for example, ask what did you do wrong, if you can't find it, and a lot of strong players will help for free. I think by the time you really would need a coach, you should already be in a team, which probably provides free coaching via stronger teammates. So in conclusion, I don't really know, why would you want someone to coach you for 50$, except probably for the experience of talking to a pro! Or being on a stream!... Or being stuck, and too lazy to figure out your problems on your own, I mean, if you wanna get better, spending some time searching for a solution is really not that big of a sacrifice... | ||
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Ilikestarcraft
Korea (South)17727 Posts
On July 28 2011 04:29 Roe wrote: I thought that with the economy people would spend money on more necessary things, like gas which they always complain about, but they always spend money on the worst things. Because these "unnecessary" things are what keep people going in their lives. | ||
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rsvp
United States2266 Posts
On July 28 2011 04:31 Kuzmorgo wrote: Music lessons are different. A trained ear can hear very small mistakes, that you wouldn't notice by yourself. Also, music existed before internet was widely spread. And than you couldn't look up a piano, or guitar training schedule, or music via google, you had to get a teacher to train you. So partly I think its a habit to have a teacher. In sports, if its a team sport you obviously need a team. You need a team captain for coordination, and its generally better to have someone who actually knows that sport well. Also try learning i dunno ski jumping on the internet. I don't think it would be easy. However, for SC2, you can find everything on TL for example, ask what did you do wrong, if you can't find it, and a lot of strong players will help for free. I think by the time you really would need a coach, you should already be in a team, which probably provides free coaching via stronger teammates. So in conclusion, I don't really know, why would you want someone to coach you for 50$, except probably for the experience of talking to a pro! Or being on a stream!... Or being stuck, and too lazy to figure out your problems on your own, I mean, if you wanna get better, spending some time searching for a solution is really not that big of a sacrifice... Music lessons are not different. A trained ear can hear very small mistakes, a trained SC player can see small mistakes in your play that you wouldn't notice by yourself. For every music, sport, activity, anything out there there are detailed guides and instructional videos to teach yourself. SC is no different. | ||
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Hypertension
United States802 Posts
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micronesia
United States24680 Posts
Market values are generally determined by supply and demand so keep that in mind. | ||
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OpticalShot
Canada6330 Posts
Here's my opinion: if people want to get better, getting coaching (and paying) is not a bad idea. They potentially save time by having someone else of higher skill and insight point out the mistakes instead of spending hours figuring it out themselves. Coaches not only correct mistakes but share their personal findings and somewhat transfer their style also, exposing the trainee to ideas that he/she never thought about before. Of course, simply paying a coach is not the path to success - the trainee must have a certain minimum level of competence, and also have to put in a fair share of effort. I've never paid a coach for SCBW (and I don't really play SC2 too much anyway). But I do see why people would pay for coaching. The exact fair price is something I can't really comment since I never had experience with this. | ||
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Yammiez
Canada186 Posts
I've never been coached before, but would only consider it for some alternative reasons. One, as a Thank You for streaming; some of those people have kids and they're playing games for your entertainment! Sure they get Ad revenue, but they go through a lot of shit to get it (re: Destiny and the DDOS incidents -.- that sucks). And two, for a short amount of time, I can buy access to the 'best' minds of the game. If I really want to grow as a competitive player, I'd try to confirm my understanding of the game by talking it out with them, and maybe try to beat them. In most other cases, I agree with it being ridiculous to hire somebody to work on simple things. If somebody has spare change with no free time, hire a personal trainer. If that same person has time AND money, just play it out, read the forums, and find some friends. | ||
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Ruyguy
Canada988 Posts
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StarStruck
25339 Posts
On July 28 2011 04:02 N3rV[Green] wrote: You are not alone sir, I also do not understand why anybody would pay more money to play this game.....I mean, some circumstances would allow the buying of multiple accounts depending on your need (I.E. progamer that needs to have access to all servers) But for the average joe diamond, coaching, or even buying a second account seems incredibly silly to me. Agreed, but it is there money so they'll do what they see fit. I certainly remember coaching for free in BW and I did a whole lot of it. On July 28 2011 04:54 Ruyguy wrote: i would honestly pay for coaching just to hang out with that player for an hour more than coaching itself. That was never a problem either. Heck I used to manage a lot of them. | ||
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underscore
252 Posts
It's not talked about in public but many customers sit naked in front of the PC and touch themselves while getting coached. If you were spiteful you could say that Starcraft coaches are whores. | ||
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freddyy
Sweden56 Posts
On July 28 2011 03:58 urasheep wrote: While on the topic of coaching, I find it ridiculous anyone would pay anything more then $5 an hour for coaching. Do you think your coaches payed someone $50 an hour for advice? Probably not. Anyways, this blog isn't meant to diss "coaches." I just want to know why people would pay someone $50/hour to do something they can do themselves. I don't know where you are from or how old you are - which affects the view on money - but for me as a 30yo with a steady income, $5 is a very low amount. Even if it is tax free, it is too low to make a decent living off. I could never with good conscience take up someones time for that amount. $50 might feel a bit on the high side for me. But I also recognize that some people have worked hard for a very long to get where they are (in Starcraft), and this is a vital part of their income. For a highly trained specialist to take time from his day to help me out, I would value it pretty highly, if I were to look for coaching. And I guess there are plenty of people out there like me - who are busy with work, make a decent amount of money, and want to invest some of it into the community by using coaches instead of spending the extra hours required to figure the same thing on their own. | ||
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Pooshlmer
United States1001 Posts
But seriously, for some people the money is not a big deal, it's the equivalent of buying a soda or something. Would you pay $1/hr for coaching? $.1? Well, that's how much it feels like to them. Not all students, but enough to provide a market. A few people have paid IdrA, right? | ||
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Jonoman92
United States9103 Posts
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TzaTzers
United States589 Posts
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Servius_Fulvius
United States947 Posts
On July 28 2011 04:26 urasheep wrote: Even though I did have people help me though, I still learned myself, and watched my own replays. You get better game sense when you learn things yourself and figure out why you should do something yourself. I agree, you definitely learn things a lot better when you're going through the motions yourself. You know, you can do that in a lot of situations... Take for instance my engineering education. I could have gone through all the books myself, studied the material myself, and passed qualifying tests like the Fundamentals of Engineering exam without paying for five years of undergraduate education. Sounds like a great deal, right? Afterall, I wouldn't have had to put up with all those lousy professors I learned nothing from, anyway. But would I really be where I am now (second year grad student) without my previous instructors? There were some teachers who completely changed the way I thought about a concept. There were also some teachers who I disagreed with and spent a lot of independent time trying to disprove them. Either way, I would not be here with my present skill-set if it wasn't for the fact I paid highly trained experts to educate me in my chosen field. Now take SC2. You can start at the ground up and rediscover all the strategies and tricks that have been theory-crafted and practiced a thousand times over. Some people (probably yourself) really enjoy this style of play. Others would rather learn what has already been discovered and use this as a springboard. They can learn about the discoveries through tournament replays, threads on TL, and talking with pro players who probably conceived the strategy themselves. And here lies the demand for coaching. You can spend hundreds of hours engaged in trial and error, or you can spend some money, get all your questions out of the way from a pro coach, and spend the hundreds of hours getting even better. If your goal is improvement the latter seems like the most reasonable solution (unless, of course, your goal is to have fun paving your own way). I may have spent five years under engineering instructors, but they helped me understand over a hundred years of research and developments without having to rediscover them myself. Next comes the question of "when should I pay for coaching?". This does not have a straightforward answer... Are you the kind of person who has the most fun rediscovering the wheel? If yes, then coaching is not for you; go have fun! Are you having trouble getting out of silver league and think a coach will help? They would help, but not as much as practicing your basic strategy and working on macro mechanics. Admittedly, I don't think these people are at a point where pro coaches would make a huge difference. Will a coach help if you plateau'd in high diamond, have basic macro mechanics down, and need help analyzing your game? For many people, this is a yes. Could you get the insight of a mid-masters friend for free? Yes. Would the pro coach know better than your buddy? Maybe. It all comes down to whether you want to trust a good player for free, or a professional player (who banks their success in the game off their knowledge) for a fee. Personally, I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so I will use pro replays and analysis available here. I have glaring macro issues that need fixing, and I have plenty of knowledgeable resources who can give me pointers. I won't consider coaching until I have a bunch of questions that don't have satisfactory answers. | ||
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andrewlt
United States7702 Posts
Now, I understand why professional teams and top amateurs have coaches. I just don't see how bronze and silver league players would benefit from it in Starcraft. | ||
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