Our platform allows gamers of all skill levels to get 1-on-1 lessons quickly, simply, and safely (plus at a great pricepoint – $30 for an hour lesson with a pro gamer).
The problem with getting older is that you start to imagine the way things were when you were a kid are “right”. You played soccer, or basketball, or baseball and therefore the way your kid should to learn to be an adult is to do those things too. All social activities have some sort of commercial side to them and so you lean towards supporting, investing, and buying into the industries that helped provide you with your childhood experiences. So you think nothing about buying soccer cleats, baseball bats, and paying for coaches and camps to help your kid improve in the activities you imagine are valuable. The thing is times have changed. Physical sports are not only not as helpful as they once were, but it is becoming clear just how permanently damaging these activities can be leading to life long injuries. At same time video games are no longer about jumping on walking mushrooms and hitting lizards in the back of the head. Military leaders talk of the value of video games experience when new soldiers learn to use drones in hostile environments, the line between VR games and real world actions blur as surgeons begin using telemedicine surgery robots, and a DOTA 2 tournament in Seattle had over $24 MILLION in prize money. The issue that we are running into is that most people learn video game skills simply through trial and error. Imagine trying to run a high school soccer team if no one on the team ever did drills…
GameTrainer.co is an interesting idea that demonstrates a much more interesting fledgling industry. This is a platform that allows aspiring video gamers to book one on one coaching time with video game trainers. So if you are trying to get better at a specific game you can learn from people that have already become good, and not waste time reinventing the wheel as far as learning the mechanics of new games. Just like a soccer coach would give you a boost from their years of experience so can you get the same thing from a video game coach.
GameTrainer.co is a startup, and appears to be a very rudimentary startup at that. A kid could probably code what they have showing on their website with a bit of CSS and javascript. The more important takeaway is that this might be a viable way to make significant money for those that jump into the industry. 8 years ago I thought YouTube was for cat videos, and when I graduated high school in 1994 no one I knew used with World Wide Web! Starting a video game academy or coaching program may seem childish for many, but in 5 years I could see this being a well respected job.
To setup a coaching program you’d need to figure out what video game drills look like. You’d need to learn to dissect play through videos to find strategy flaws. You’d need to figure out what a coaching business would physically look like. Do you do it web based, or do you rent something in a light industrial park and setup 20 stations. For training do you want trainees on 17″ monitors or 96″ ones? For reflexes is it better to drink Monster, coffee, or orange juice? How do you sell it to the trainees, and the people paying for the training? Talk up the high end video game rigs to potential trainees, and to the parents teach them about eSports competitions and how video game proficiency helps with the skills required in a drone based economy.
eSports and Video game coaching is the type of industry that politicians trout out whenever people are worried about job loss through automation. The idea that when jobs are lost new ones take their place. The real world problem is getting people to take the new jobs seriously. There’s opportunity, interest, and a ton of money, but are you willing to feel like an idiot until you’re a success…?
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