Pay to play... better?

My sister is a private music teacher. She teaches kids of all ages how to play instruments better, heck she is even teaching me to play the Guitar. People that play recreational sports often pay to go to camps to get better at Football, Soccer, Tennis, etc. All of these things don’t necessarily make them any more successful at life; they are just getting better at a hobby. (That .01% that goes on to be a professional doesn’t really count)

Considering how much time we spent in video games, pouring over strategies and theory crafting new ideas, how much would you pay to be better at World of Warcraft or whatever your respective video game is? Someone who spends 20 hours a week playing their video game of choice is just as enthralled with their hobby as the person who plays on a Soccer team once or twice a week. Wouldn’t it then be fair to assume it is socially acceptable to pay someone to teach you or coach you to play that video game better?

I only say this because one of my friends has recently done this. He found one of the best Warriors in WoW and paid him for an hour of his time. My friend is very pleased with the amount of performance and the tips he received from this lesson. As the 4 of us in Ventrillo continued to talk we all felt that is was a good idea and would consider doing the same, if nothing else to be told you are in fact playing your class to its highest potential.

One only has to look at the amount of traffic websites like WoW Head and Elitist Jerks gets every day to know people want to play better. You can only learn so much by reading it. My sister bought me a beginners Guitar book and after 2 weeks I thought I was doing better. She came by for a visit and showed me some pointers, pointers I never would have thought to ask about and she would have never mentioned if she didn’t see me play.

Considering how many people have tried to make money off of WoW I’m amazed I haven’t heard of more people charging for lessons. I don’t see how it would violate any EULA Blizzard has put in place. You aren’t selling items, only advice. When my guild was pushing Zul’Aman back during the Burning Crusade I was having a tough time improving my performance. I had surpassed everyone in my guild’s knowledge of a priest and I still felt like I was lacking. I really could have used a professional lesson back then, even if only an hour.