EPTNASL Finals 2
First off, holy shit. Wow. This blog is not about which tournament is better, or even good, it's about getting involved, but I have to say this was a blast. Best tournament I've ever been to, hands down. (To clarify, I've been to: NASL1, MLG Anaheim, Blizzcon, MLG Orlando and MLG Providence) Ok, back to the real blog.
This event has been the most significant networking event yet.Other events have laid the groundwork, but this is where all the little pieces started to fall into place. There are a few reasons, but lets start with the big fun one :D :D
Live on 3
For those of you who were there, or watch Live on 3 that night, you may have seen (a slightly [moderately really] inebriated) me on stream for about 5 seconds. But who cares about that. What was amazing was that Scoots and Wheat brought up SC2Ratings.com on steam and chatted about it. This was HUGE - but I was out of the room when it happened, chatting with the GosuNews.com people (who are totally awesome. Shout out to Ian, Ben and Stephanie. You guys rock), and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
Why was this such a big win? It was only two guys chatting about my site for a minute, and I don't even know what they said. Well, there are two reasons. Firstly, and most obviously, this is one hell of a good plug. I know it's not state of the game, or a Day[9] daily, but Lo3 is big, and Wheat/Scoots are big. A plug like that increased our traffic 4x right away. We'll see how it works out as people catch the VOD, and see if they continue to use the site.
The other, slightly more important, reason this is such a big win, is because it means that I've actually started to build a rapport with Scoots and Wheat (henceforth known as Swheat => Sweet). The constant bumping into at parties, the short conversations and the countless drinks bought have paid off enough that when I say, "hey, I've got this site, take a look" they actually bothered to look, and look at it with actual interest.
Before I continue, I should say that had SC2Ratings been bad, Sweet wouldn't have done anything. They wouldn't have plugged something that wasn't worth it - I've had that conversation once, when Wheat subtlety let me know that the site looked like ass, and that it needed more work before it got promoted somewhere.
Anyway, back to the story. This is a mile stone. Yeah, I'm no rock star, I still have to be a little sly and weasel my way into things, but I can almost start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. This is the first time I've had a real glimmer of hope that I could really be involved - and it's through connections like these.
Players, Casters, and Staff
I've seen the same players at event after event. I always go up, shake their hand, chat a moment, and go on my way. Sometimes we do interviews, sometimes we have a drink at a party, sometimes they call my friend when he's sick and wish him well. This event showed that some of the players are starting to recognize me and some of my staff.
I wont use names, but there was a player we wanted to do an interview with - but we were third in line. So, we patiently sat and waited through the previous interviews. By the end of the second interview (which was the longest, most brutally boring interview ever), he was dead. He was bouncing his legs, rubbing his eyes, looking away, and clearly uncomfortable.
But, when it came our turn, he immediately recognized me from Providence. That same rapport that helped out so much with Sweet, really helped with this guy too. He smiled, we chatted, and he was visibly relaxed. We offered to do the interviews another time, but he sat down and gave an AMAZING interview. That connection from Providence carried over, and made him loosen up, crack a few jokes, and let some of his personality shine through (which doesn't often happen with this guy).
Staffers that I had met at other events went out of their way to come say hello (and gave me a press pass. Shhh don't tell Rus. =p) As you can see from above, Sweet now knows me by name. Primadog, who hates the limelight so I'll keep it short, made me tea, and gave me no end of great advice (I'm so sorry about the couch. Other people were up there using it when we left. I hope it all worked out). Albert gave me an awesome poster he painted
Something else that is becoming apparent, is that in getting to know the staff - players and casters instantly feel comfortable around us. After seeing us chatting with so much of the NASL staff, players and casters are much more receptive to chatting. I'm trying desperately to avoid specific names or well known situations, but I can feel the difference between walking though the player area at the beginning of the event, where I get some stray looks from players wondering (Is he really allowed back here?) to the end of the event where I could carry a conversation with them in the lounge.
Something super cool, but I can't really talk about it yet.
There was something else, something amazing, that happened at NASL on the topic of getting involved in the community, but I don't want to Jinx it. If some day, I say "Remember back at NASL 2, that cool thing that happened? Well it was this", you'll know what I'm talking about.
When I write about events in the future, I'm think I'm going to do a rundown of the people and organizations I've met so people can get an idea of how valuable it is to attend live events. So here are the people I ran into, be it a handshake and a hello, or having spent the whole event with them:
Primadog, Merza, Rus, Duran, Barbie, Mark, Muffin, Ian, Stephanie, Ben, Joe, Jay, Angela, <I can't believe I forgot your name, short Australian man.
I'm so sorry>, AlpacaHenry, WombatSteave, HamsterBob, NormalPatrick, Ellen, Orb, Hero, Albert, Sheth, Demuslim, Strelok, Hasuobs, DJWhat, Cody, SirScoots, Gunrun, Sen, Jared, Bitter, Garret, Conrad, Seltzer, Torch, Thorzain, and about 10 other people who's names I cant remember right now. These are all people who are involved in one way or another in the community - most of them more so than me, a few around my level, and some who are also starting to break in. I also ran into dozens and dozens of general SC nerds who were awesome. I even met a guy who went to my high school like 5 years after me, and is friends with one of my closest friends little sister.I cannot stress it enough, if you want to be involved, you need to attend live events - even if it's just your local Barcraft. You don't have a barcraft in your town? Make one; I'll put you in touch with people who can help you.
Getting a plug this big is a huge deal and I have to say your site is amazing. Also, is there any possibility to watch the LO3 from that evening? I can't access the VOD from NASL without the season pass.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/s3ILT.jpg)
