No. It would feel weird. It would feel like a waste of my mind, for one thing, but for another, I don't want to play video games. I don't want to practice. I have a full life. There is practically unlimited challenge before me, as a programmer in this world.
I don't want to learn the Mythic mechanics of fighting Devos in the Spires of Ascention Shadowlands dungeon, when I can be learning how the Internet Protocol works instead. One of these enables me to assist a business in this world (which may happen to be a video game company), and one of these only allows me to provide assistance to four other people in a make-believe fiction universe. Courage informs both of these endeavours, but the Warcraft one is unnecessarily fabricated. People pay money to a video game company, to Blizzard, to have a good time in one of these make-believe worlds. I would rather work at Blizzard than get paid to play World of Warcraft.
Even if four people wanted to pay me to tank for them in a dungeon, it would be a misuse of my time. It is not the way I want to demonstrate to coworkers that I can contribute to their team. You sink an enormous amount of time into WoW, and you can't take that game knowledge elsewhere with you in this world. That knowledge is confined to only that game.
I can conceive of some players making money tanking in WoW, but it's weird. Why would you pay money to someone for something that is supposed to be make-believe. Why would you pay someone to face you in a boxing match? If you're entertaining others, I can conceive of paying someone to be on your team in a baseball game. But paying money to do something that is supposed to be beyond money is weird. The honor of participating in a dungeon run does not come from money. It is something you do for free.
I played World of Warcraft for eighteen months because Blizzard's products were like a home to me, and WoW was proxying for all of their products. I also played it because there was honor in playing it, and because it was beautiful. But none of these reasons is sufficient anymore. I can make my own home now. I do not need to tank or do quests to demonstrate to myself that I am honorable - there are other ways that my life affords. I know what beautiful is in the real world. I don't need WoW to show it to me.
I can also imagine a person who makes a living playing video games for game companies. He tells them whether their game is enjoyable to him. He would be like a "taste-maker" (lol). His opinion would be valued like the villain in The Devil Wears Prada. Such an occupation is not something I am interested in doing. Because again, I am not in search of an emotional home, honor, or the beautiful.
If a game company wants to hire such a person inhouse, that is a little different. At that point you're not playing the game for enjoyment, and you are providing a service, and you have a job that relates to consumer demand again (like me and my software development career). I could fathom doing that but that is no longer playing a video game for its home-making ability, honor in gameplay, or beauty.
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