EPTThese thoughts began popping into my head around the same time when I moved away from Finland to the Netherlands; to study Media Culture in a University. Happens to be that I moved into the same household with a guy who is a long time ’internet friend’ of mine that I have been playing various Blizzard games with for years. We both share the enthusiasm for competitive gaming especially when it comes to strategy games (namely SC:BW/War3:TFT/SC2). Although I see myself not playing that much anymore, I am also beginning to find myself having stong interest in other aspects of the whole eSports gaming culture. More specifically the on-going growth of eSports as a business, and the media coverage around it. So much actually, that I have already decided to write my Bachelor thesis about this very subject!
eSports has only started to be a seriously noteworthy business inside Europe in the few couple of years, and I think that no one can argue against me for saying that it still is one of the most rapidly growing, ’new’ businesess of the present day. Just look only five years back. How many tournaments did you find back then with the same kind of prize pools that are quite common today? Not that much outside South Korea – at least when it comes to the Starcraft progaming scene (WCG the only one actually?). How about the media coverage inside Europe then? Apart from small scale try-outs here and there, the ESL TV has been the flagship of competitive gaming coverage since 2007. And that is only 4 years back! One clearly does not have to be a clairvoyant to have an accurate guess, that eSports will only grow that much more big in the upcoming years – and I want to be part of it.
The biggest problem I have is that I find myself being something you could call a ’Jack of all trades, master of none’. By that I mean that I am by far more experienced than your average twelve year old day-nine-wannabe with epic dreams of earning thousands of dollars by setting up my own stream and letting peope amaze my awesome skills. But on the other side of the coin, I’m not specialized in anything specific either. There are pros and cons in my thouhts of building a career based on my knowledge of eSports and media so to speak. Below I will list some of them that come quickly to mind:
Pros:
- Vocational Qualification in Audiovisual Media production (Media-Assistant)
I studied three years of audiovisual productions, both in TV and radio field. I specialized in both multicamera productions as well as video editing. I was also lucky enough to get the basic training for working with a Steadicam.
- Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Culture (Media Culture as Major)
Where as the previous education was more based on work-related issues, my current studies are more into the theory of media as such. I have not yet started my major, but it will obviously only broaden up my current experience. And as I mentioned before, I will 99% surely make my Bachelor’s thesis based on some relation between eSports and media production.
- Working experience
After my Vocational Qualification is worked in few projects for the national broadcasting company of Finland. I gained experience from multicamera studio working, drama productions, and even got to work as a Steadicam operator few times. That thing did not really take off that well, so after six months I got myself to work as an audiovisual techician in a video conferencing business. It was an awesome job in every single way, but I just felt the need of acquiring a University degree for myself as well as doing it abroad (to be honest, I had wanted to get the hell out from Finland for the past seven years by then already).
- Experience in Starcraft
Ok, this same thing can be found from the cons below, but the fact is that I have been part of the Starcraft (and other Blizzard games) community since –98. I have seen pretty much all there is to see. I know my shit – or do I (see cons)?
As a sum-up, I can confidently say that I have the experience needed for at least having serious thoughts for building a career in the Media (quite the large of a definition). I have also taken an entrepreneurship course back in Finland, so I’m quite aware how the business-related issues work. I am also stationed right next to Cologne, which again is currently the capital city for eSports in Europe – makes thing that much easier. However, then there are the
cons:
- No long-term specialization in pretty much anything
- I have done quite much of everything, but I still do not have any kind of respectable portfolio to show to anyone.
- I have above average experience on video editing, but I am far being a professional in it
- I have not really done anything for the Starcraft community, I am a completely unknown person to everyone. I do not even have that many posts in tl.net even though I have been lurking the site before it was even known by the masses.
- I have no connections whatsoever to anywhere, I do not know anyone to use to get my career going on!
As you might notice, the cons are more strong in this case than the pros, even though the prons have some weight in them as well. Personally I would love to see myself having my own Media Production company in the near future, but I have to start from somewhere.
So, the next process I will get into, is to compile all my ideas and start actualizing them:
The To-Do List:
- I love writing.
Sure, my written English probably requires a lot of improvement, but I’m quite confident on my skills already to start writing amateur articles and blogs related to eSports (specifically about Starcraft)
- Start paying attention
Even though I have been active browser of tl.net and other websites, I hardly have the amount of knowledge about the scene in general than some completely random 15 year old might have, who simply is even more enthusiastic about the scene than I am.
- Get an internship in media, close to eSports coverage
Hi ESL people?
- Start enhancing your video editing skills
- Start building contacts
- Get into the Nordic scene of Starcraft
- Publish your works!
I have so much of ideas that could be made true. I just need to force myself to actually go through the effort while struggling with other issues in my life (Uni, social life, etc.). I already have a domain for my stuff, and there has been some whispering with my friend that we could hit our heads together and both start working in the same field just for the fun of it.
Obviously I will not reveal every idea I have, but let us just say that I am currently greatly influenced by TotalBiscuit’s and PsY’s work. I do not intend to plagiarize them, but they have given me some specific ideas. In a nuttshell it would be some kind of a weekly video podcast which includes a magazine type of strongly video edited TV show, with the same kind of structure as your basic radio block would use.
So there it is. The later part started to be quite unorganized thought-pattern, but at least writing this thing down made my head feel a bit more clear! Feel free to comment/flame/question/etc. Any kind of feedback is appreciated, even though I did not have a specific argument or a question in the post. Especially I would like to have comments from other people that have been able to make their similar dream come true.
