|
Disclaimer: this is supposed to be contructive, maybe start of a discussion, but if you answer, answer in a polite manner, no "caster-bashing" here.
The first week of Kelly
The first week of GSL code A is lying behind us, and Kellymilkies, after receiving a shitstorm of hatred und criticism lacking of any contructive criticism, had her first couple of shows to silence the critiques.
I must admit, I was one of them that stated from the beginning, that my viewers experience of GSL Code A will undoubtly suffer from her casting along with another equaly inexperienced caster. Little has changed in this statement regarding quality of this statement, although if we are honest to ourselves, our deepest fears have not become true.
This first of all results from GOM deciding - or being forced, I don't know - to field Kelly together with an experienced caster, namely Artosis or Tasteless.
Both did a remarkable job of supporting her in their best possible ways and helped her to not be exposed to the next wave of rough barking all by herself. You could already see her nervousness in the first couple of shows even with this support, so it was a wise decision to do so.
Props here to GOM for smoothing out the possible roughness of her start.
On the other hand, and this should not be ignored by any means, Kelly herself performed better than I personally expected. The main point of concern - apart from her being female (which is unreasonable) and having a too high voice level and therefor, as science has proved, it is harder to follow her commentary and the voice gets even higher when she is excited and you cannot understand what she says anymore (which is reasonable) - is her having not the suitable amount of game knowledge required. I think, she proved most people wrong in that, her game knowledge is remarkable compared to the expectations, and she can provide valuable information from time to time.
Of course, she is not in the league of Liquipedia reciting 'this is new amongst top Koreans' Artosis, but let us be honest, whose is?
Enlightment or Embarassment?
So, in the end, did our stomaches ache, or was it a pure revelation? Neither of both, I would say.
Her casting was decent, but the moment she got excited, her voice went 2 octaves up and the speed doubled at the same time, together which her asian pronounciation, this equaled into a puddle of noises which I couldn't understand anymore.
Her expression was ok, although she urgently needs to expand her vocabulary. Significant repetition of some words as "however" or "actually" spoil the overall listeners experience.
Her game knowledge was decent, with some slops her and there but if she starts reading Liquipedia or the Strategy Forums here and talk with Artosis (all of which I expect from her if she takes her job seriously), she will overcome this obstacle.
The thing that maybe bothered me most, was something she sadly adapted from Tastosis: premature GGs and anticlimatic ending of a game. The battles themselves are extreme tense, but once one of the two has to fight in his base, it is stated: "This is over, I don't think he can come back." Not with exaggeration, just as a statement like a weather forecast.
The remarkable difference however, with Tastosis doing this, it is always correct although anticlimatic, in Kellys case, she was sometimes just wrong with this. When it already annoys me when it happens when Tastosis cast, it angered me how Kelly did it.
Where Kelly needs to improve
The most important part of my train of thoughts here, what should Kelly work on, to give her the rewarding feeling of doing her job right and pleasing the audience in the best possible way, and give us the listeners experience we are waiting for?
First of all, lower voice and tempo a bit in tense situation. These properties naturally increase in emotional situations, so manually decreasing them benefits the quality and doesn't take away excitement, after all, gore is in front of us on the screen anyway.
Second, increase game knowledge. I'm fairly certain she talks to Artosis a lot, but she should still study strategy forums in here in spare time for example. This prevents from calling out wrong strategies, colours the cast with knowledge, and once she isn't taken by her hand by Tastosis anymore, lets her stand on her own feet.
Third, don't call a player dead until he is dead. Comebacks are the most epic thing happening in a sport, so don't spoil them by lowering the tension beforehand. Try to avoid getting ahead of yourself.
Fourth, try to spice up the vocabulary, practice some expressions to avoid repetition. Repetition is natural when you cast 15 games a week of course, but some work here might turn out rewarding.
I could also ask for her to start smoking 50 cigarettes per day to lower her voice as I have a hard time following female that high on focus on such a long period, but I guess we're getting ahead of ourselves here 
Expectations for the future
After all, Kelly will improve. She seems to be smart enough to know that she has room for improvement, and seeing her nerves at the first day, I feel sad for all the hatred she received without a chance of proving her.
Although the quality of games in Code A have drastically improved, I thought the first two days, this season is worse than before aswell.
But I gave myself and Kelly some time, and I think when we all, including herself, do that, and she works on herself, she is able to provide decent Korean Starcraft on GOMtv.
Cheer up, girl, you can do this, for us all!
  
|
I had no problem with it from the start, and I thought she did perfectly fine. If not good.
Second, increase game knowledge. I'm fairly certain she talks to Artosis a lot, but she should still study strategy forums in here in spare time for example.
Yes...what better way to learn about strategy than on a strategy forum...*ahem*
|
United States4126 Posts
On March 02 2011 23:49 kazansky wrote:
Her casting was decent, but the moment she got excited, her voice went 2 octaves up and the speed doubled at the same time, together which her asian pronounciation, this equaled into a puddle of noises which I couldn't understand anymore.
Despite being Asian myself, this is a major problem for me too. I showed a VOD of her casting to a friend and he thought she was speaking Korean.
|
Yeah just put a dead corpse next to tasteless and artosis, and they will manage to make something of it. But that gives no credit to the dead corpse.
User was temp banned for this post.
|
On March 03 2011 00:25 Navane wrote:
Yeah just put a dead corpse next to tasteless and artosis, and they will manage to make something of it. But that gives no credit to the dead corpse.
This was very mean and hurtful. You do know Kelly is a contributing member of TL right?
|
On March 03 2011 00:18 The KY wrote:I had no problem with it from the start, and I thought she did perfectly fine. If not good. Show nested quote +Second, increase game knowledge. I'm fairly certain she talks to Artosis a lot, but she should still study strategy forums in here in spare time for example. Yes...what better way to learn about strategy than on a strategy forum...*ahem*
I figure she plays on her level (which seems to be rather high) and watches tournament VoDs or streams, as far as I understood from her casting.
That is why I mentioned it. I think she knows certain builds, but the refinement state is a essential part of knowledge that for example artosis has.
Things that work but also things that don't. And that kind of background knowledge, she lacks in my oppinion.
|
I've listened one GSL cast with her. I thought she did a good job.
However, I simply don't like the sound of her voice. It is too high pitched. I prefer the soothing male voices of Tasteless and Artosis.
I'm watching only code S now. Previously, I would tune in to code A just to see Tastosis cast, even though the matches themselves didn't really interested me. Now I have no real reason to tune in to code A anymore.
No hard feelings towards Kelly, I think she is hardworking and doing a good job. I just don't like her style.
|
I actually laughed out loud when she gave Artosis the high five and put her hand down.
But overall, she is not the best commentator but she is so much better than most of the commentators I see on the TL streams. And game knowledge is not going to be that important in the future where the crowd will be mainstream.
|
Her game knowledge is fairly decent. I agree it would be nicer if her voice was lower. I would love for her to get some sort of speech coach to help with her overall knowledge of the English language, including 'western' intonations of the voice, and hopefully reduce her accent.
My biggest problem is that she (thankfully) says things like "Zerg is opening hatch first because he sees that the Terran player got gas", and then Tasteless chimes in to tell me that there's an SCV on the screen. I know there's an scv on the screen.
I would like commentary to stay away from what we can already see, and tell us more of player strategy and player decisions that their years of progaming has taught them to see. I really hope Kelly doesn't pick up the bad habit of just telling us what we can see on the screen.
|
|
|
There was a lot of threads, some with dozens of pages, about this topic, but thanks for reopening the debate.
I think you are missing the point. I appreciate the constructive comments that you wrote, but It's not about "improving", because no amount of improvement is going to make up for what she lacks.
It's about not being fit for this job. It's that simple. Honestly I don't know how Kelly became a caster in the first place, and that genuinely puzzles me, because she doesn't even meet the basic requirements. Casting as a hobby, sure, go ahead. But it stops here.
You know yesterday I was watching this ad about marines.com. Can you imagine what would happen if a quadriplegic guy decides to apply in order to become a marine? Huh-huh. Even given infinite practice and time for improvement, this is simply not going to work.
In my opinion this is quite a funny & mind-boggling topic, because in the real world where I live, either you got what it takes, either you're fired.
Anyway I have stopped watching Code A, nonetheless I wish Kelly a nice & happy life.
|
:D Want to start a discussion on Tasteless and Artosis instead of incontrol and Bisu for once?
|
I'll be honest, at first I was very critical of Kelly and didn't expect her to do a very good job. But after the first week I have to say I think she's done a very good job. Of course there have been some problems, mostly just her accent which can be very hard to understand sometimes. But, all in all I think she has done a very good job and I have enjoyed her commentating. Her game knowledge is much more than I expected. Of course, while I'm writing this, I realize one more problem I have with her casting, she can tend to get off topic sometimes, much like a teenager with ADD. But, I can't complain I think she's doing a great job!!! 
|
her game knowledge is remarkable compared to the expectations, and she can provide valuable information from time to time.
uh... she just said "he pulled the drones off the gas, so he's probably going for an all-in" in a stream
but I guess I agree on most parts with OP: My worst fears didn't come true. that's a fact. Code A IS watchable. I still have a hard ass time understanding a lot of stuff she says =(.
Not sure I really care tho
edit: also, my signature. I LMAO when tasteless "translated" what she said :D
|
No need to whiteknight that much.
|
As far as casting ability goes I think Kelly does just fine, better than most of us probably good. I think the issue is going to be understanding her voice. If she's serious about the job she could always get voice coaching, actors and announcers all over the world do it and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It shows commitment and seriousness about the job. I can however understand her so i really don't mind all that much.
All in all, Kelly you're doing a great job keep it up, and do your best.
|
So ... in other words; all the drama surrounding Kelly Milkis was in fact
*pause for dramatic effect*
just drama!? OMG, in light of TL being full of overly critical quick to judge bandwagoning people who feed on eDrama, that just completely caught me off guard.
|
I didn't find anything wrong with it before she was hired. Still don't see any major issues. Considering the pool of possible choices it was a good pick with some minor downsides as mentioned in the OP.
Sadly I havn't had time to watch more than two days of code a due to various reasons. :/
I do like her more than the same old tastosis combo since she seems to care more than they do in a normal game. In a special game tastosis does well, but when it is same, same they just don't bring excitement.
|
I can understand her, BUT I have to TRY to understand her. So I spend more time thinking about what she's saying instead of watching the game and getting excited. So in the end I'm bored because I end up basically just listening to the cast figuring out what she says, it doesn't get me excited, it doesn't make me feel like I learned something new. I could listen to tasteless/artosis cast games no problem, don't need the video, but with Kelly, regardless of her casting ability, I have a hard time understanding what she's trying to say. And as stated above, I have heard her say something in one of the casts that was just blatantly untrue.
I think she's a great person and I know she cares a lot about what she does, she just needs to get her game knowledge up to par and she needs to sound excited without increasing her speed and pitch.
|
Hi five!
*Withdraws hand*
Did you just dodge a hi five???
Now you know how "grack fields!"
Kelly fighting!!
I suppose I should contribute something to the OP: Just like the observer, Kelly is putting in the hard work to take steps to improve her casting. By consciously slowing down and hopefully to brush up on her SC2 knowledge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
