There's one benefit to paying the players and that's the slack (big universe you know) they'll cut you once you've proven yourself.Ok, but what you said was a player's "cue can be fit to a player's desire, skill, etc". I just found humour in a cue's build emulating a player's desire for the game, is all.
As far as, encouraging a player to seek out an instructor... I couldn't agree more. I relied on getting my ass kicked for years to learn the game. I much rather would have paid for direct instruction....lol.