Moletrap, frankly, gets too much shit for reasons that are unbeknownst to me. I'll admit, he's not the most analytical caster, but that's not a thing even half of all casters are good at, and his shoutcasting is on a decent level. His banter in between games isn't the best, but what the hell? Do people actually watch GSL for the BREAKS and talks that have nothing to do with Starcraft 2 at all?
When I watch Moletrap on GSL, I feel like he is, bar none, the guy who works hardest to do his best at the job I'm watching him do right then and there, and that's casting the GSL. He's always aware of the results and records, keeps track of the player's momentum, and hey, gives us stories once in a while about the players and how they were feeling leading up to the match because he talks to them and gets to know them (case and point how Bomber felt against JYP). Even when I watch Artosis and Tasteless I feel there's a distance between them and most of the GSL players, and despite Artosis's huge mancrush on Clide and Nestea, they are hardly the best of friends.
Now I know what some of you will say, that there's a language barrier and yes, of course I understand that, and this example was not meant to bash Artosis and Tasteless, but to rather praise Moletrap for doing things that aren't required of him, and that's to get to know the players outside the booth. He's also very aware of what these guys did pre-SC2, and information like that is not only interesting, but hard to come by for the average viewer.
He's very dedicated to the GSL, and his priorities are above all else, the GSL. Here's a guy who will look up a bunch of stats, write them down, and prepare talking points before the players even play, and that sort of professionalism is something I can get behind.
I'm generally pretty neutral towards Moletrap, he isn't an exemplary caster but he isn't terrible either. You are right though, I've never thought about the other things he does. Moletrap is actually pretty great because of the things you have said.
haha, the first thing that popped to my mind when I saw "I like Mole...", was "I like Molesting". Not sure if that says more about me or about my expectations for the Internet o_O
On topic, though, I have to agree (even though I like Tastosis best) that the hard work and research is admirable!
He actually has very very very little knowledge about high level sc2. For instance, yesterday in G2 of losira vs alicia, losira had a ton of roaches with burrow, and alicia had an army with like 30 stalkers + 5 immortals and no obs. Moletrap got super excited and talked for a few minutes about how losira should just burrow under that army and win the game (meanwhile alicia is sitting right near cannons to avoid this). This is just one example i noticed recently. I'm sure theres many more that are even worse
I like Moletrap the best out of the code A casters. Khaldor is really good too. I don't Doa and Wolf because they analyze the game when they don't know shit. Doa isn't as bad as Wolf though
On November 30 2011 19:00 marttorn wrote: These damn kids running around flaming moletrap, need to learn some respect for a proper veteran of Starcraft!
I should clarify; he didn't know much about the actual game of BW and never seemed to care about that.
The reason I really can't stand Moletrap, is his voice. It has to be one of the most annoying things I've heard. It is quite unfortunate that it's something that can't be changed at all. I'll have to try appreciating him for some of the things you've mentioned though.
I cannot do anything but think Moletrap is awesome tbh. Too many times have I watched his casts from BW. People seem to hate on him for no particular reason these days.
I just dislike people who talk over other people and try to impose themselves over their cocaster because they seemingly feel threatened all the time. Moletrap is getting better at it now, vibing more with his partners though. This is also the reason I dislike catspajamas as well.
On November 30 2011 19:08 Zidane wrote: I just dislike people who talk over other people and try to impose themselves over their cocaster because they seemingly feel threatened all the time. Moletrap is getting better at it now, vibing more with his partners though. This is also the reason I dislike catspajamas as well.
This has been my issue with him as also... I do think that he has much better chemistry with khaldor than any other caster and this is becoming less of a problem.
On November 30 2011 19:08 Zidane wrote: I just dislike people who talk over other people and try to impose themselves over their cocaster because they seemingly feel threatened all the time. Moletrap is getting better at it now, vibing more with his partners though. This is also the reason I dislike catspajamas as well.
Thank you for starting this thread, I've always wanted to see what would happen if someone took a real look at how Moletrap does as a caster in the GSL. As annoying as Moletrap may have been at the start of his GSL gig, what's more annoying to me is the amount of crap people say about him on the GSL comments and elsewhere. Most of it is just this undeserved wave of hate that a lot of kids have to throw out on the internet from time to time, and he's just the convenient target. I've come to respect Moletrap a lot because A.) He has definitely improved as a caster since I started seeing him on GSL, and B.) the fact that he's put up with all of the hate and not given up shows strong dedication to the e-sports community. I hadn't previously considered his ability to always have the facts about each player in every game, but now that you mention it you're absolutely right. So all in all, props to Moletrap, and @Itsmedudeman - thanks for a good positive post.
I think moletrap/english casters in general could benefit from a more "professional" style of broadcasting, more akin to what I've heard the koreans have with more or less "roles" to play--an overall MC, a statistician/player analysis, and then the in-game interpreter who more understands the game. You can tell thats the way OGN/MBC commentators act: a bit more formal, a bit more crisp than the more casual english caster type. For all the years I've listened to korean commentary, I actually don't speak a word of korean so I don't know if this analysis is too correct, but tasteless and artosis have talked about it before. Granted a lot of the korean casters are former progamers, not all of them are super skilled in the game themselves (this can be analogous to coaches, who are not all good players but still can understand the game). The english speaking community is expecting all casters to be skilled in all fields--following every detail of the scene while also playing a ton while also being very good, etc etc.
I got into pro bw via finding english commentaries on youtube, and watched most of moletrap's commentaries back then. He never had fantastic knowledge of the game but you could tell he had the passion and did follow all the results of the scene (sometimes I feel tasteless in particular doesn't know anything about like B-teamers or "up-and-comers", which I feel is part of his job). Moletrap could benefit a lot of having the "statistician" role, as he's actually pretty good at that, just as tasteless could be a better MC than be a mix of trying to be expected for a full detailed knowledge of the up-and-coming players and such. Of course each role does all the roles, but people don't have the same expectations on it and you could get less haters.
On November 30 2011 18:54 unSpeake wrote: He actually has very very very little knowledge about high level sc2. For instance, yesterday in G2 of losira vs alicia, losira had a ton of roaches with burrow, and alicia had an army with like 30 stalkers + 5 immortals and no obs. Moletrap got super excited and talked for a few minutes about how losira should just burrow under that army and win the game (meanwhile alicia is sitting right near cannons to avoid this). This is just one example i noticed recently. I'm sure theres many more that are even worse
Classic example of why casters HAVE TO BE ex-top level players. And having an annoying voice + being the most socially awkward guy for the first 3 months of his casts have not endeared him to anyone. He's actually better in his BW casts when he knew something.
I agree that he seems to work the hardest of all the GSL casters. I have nothing bad to say about him or his casting, GOM made a great choice picking him up.
EPT
