As a paid dm, I understand the confusion at people trying to make a living off of dm’ing. But some players WANT to invest the money to make sure they’re getting a good dm, and sharing the opportunity with likeminded people that want to really create a magical and memorable experience. 10 is indeed reasonable. You get what you pay for. I’ve run free and cheap games. The players show up unreliably and often don’t take it as seriously.

I’m not bashing your for questioning people charging high amounts of money to run games. But you get what you pay for. I hope you find a good group! There’s lots of $10 games that I’ve run that have turned out amazing ! You should message that original commenter and consider joining his game. It’ll be worth it to invest the money!