|
I was recently browsing the blogs section of teamliquid (By recently I mean tonight). I came across a blog post by a guy by the name of NB (Here) basically what it talked about was the difficulty of getting involved in eSports and questioning if it’s worth the effort. He went on to talk about some other things that you can go read but it’s that part that I want to talk about in my own blog.
Before I start I want to say that I will be discussing the barriers that are in front of the people like me but that in no way means that I’m giving up and not even going to try. I will still be putting forth effort to get involved.
For me I get inspired by a lot of things that have been posted here and around the Internet. I want to get involved and I have ideas of how I want to contribute. Some of the things that inspire me are:
-Incontrol's Blog About eSports
-First year of SC2 Video
-Being at an event like MLG Providence
I am inspired. I have the drive. But there are a couple things that I feel like hold people like myself back. These things are:
-Lack of experience
-Lack of contacts in eSports
-Late start
-School/Time
-Age
Now I’ll address each one of these individually.
Lack of experience:
Personally I want to help with managing a team and administrative type things for teams and I’m willing to put in hard work to do it. However, when organizations go looking for someone to help run their operation, they’re looking for someone with experience and not some greenhorn with little to no experience . This creates a very hard situation for someone who wants to get involved.Personally I do have some managerial experience. When I talk about it, it is extremely insignificant IMO. I managed for my High School team in the HSSTL Season 0. While this seems like some good experience I personally don’t believe so because what it was was me and 2 other guys (one of whom was a obnoxious almost to the point of impossible to deal with) talking on skype once a weekend for a match.I am trying to push myself into more positions that I would like and I believe I’ve found one that would actually be significant. I am going to be the manager for the New York team for the National Star League (We’re assuming it gets off the ground and happens). I feel I got very lucky with this opportunity and I’m not sure what will come after this. If there are multiple seasons of the NSL I would love to keep running the NY team but it’s not my ideal situation but it’s experience for me.
Lack of contacts in eSports:
You look at the current eSports scene (Foreign teams specifically) it seems as though everyone knows everyone and for those of us outside of the eSports inner circle it seems like there is an extremely tall wall standing in between myself and that inner circle. I still consider myself and outsider even though I kind of know people who are on “the in”. I have talked to Gretorp a couple of times and I was a moderator for NASL Seasons One and Two. However, these things do not really help while trying to get inside our imaginary wall here. I see these contacts as me touching the very top of this wall in my attempt to climb over then falling back down again to the outside. I’m not saying that I want to be instantly accepted into the inner cirlce but it is a very scary barrier to someone like myself.
Late start:
When I first got the game back on July 27, 2010 I was getting that game just to play it and have fun with my friends that also decided to play. Then, as I got further into the game I discovered this wonderful website. After discovering Teamliquid I fell in love with the community but I disn’t really have an urge to get further involved. I didn’t get this urge until quite recently (within the last few months). Now it’s been exactly a year and five months since the games been released, the community is pretty developed, and... I want in. There are people who have been involved with eSports since brood war and some just since the release. Now as someone who’s coming in this late it’s hard for me too see how I could possibly fit in the picture.
School and time:
College is a HUGE factor when I try to judge what I want to do with eSports and how much I can dedicate to trying to fulfill my goals. I am currently enrolled as a first year Software Engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The SE program at RIT is one of the hardest at the college and with it it brings a lot of work. This forces me to try and find a balance which i can handle. This also brings up the debate of what is most important for me to focus on. If I dedicate myself to college I will likely graduate with a degree and a job waiting for me and eSports is a small field that really doesn’t have any sort of guarantees for a guy like me. This is one of the major factors in this internal debate for me.
Age:
I am going to put this out there right now. I am 18 years old. Some people can view me as just another young guy that doesn’t have the maturity to do a proper job. For example, even though I wanted to I couldn’t try and apply for the recent Quantic position that had opened up because of my age. I completely understand why organizations would want to set an age restriction such as this because it’s easier than trying to weed out those who are not mature enough for the position. My birthday was recent so two months ago I wouldn’t have even gotten a look from any major organization because I was 17. I don’t know many 17 year olds get trusted with some sort or managerial position with a professional organization.
/End huge wall of text
With all that said, I look forward to managing Team New York. I am lucky to have so many talented individuals to work with and I will be giving it the best effort I can to move myself into that “inner circle of eSports”
Thank you TL! Much love <3
Edit: Formatting and forgot a hyperlink
 
|
This may not directly apply to you, but this seems like an appropriate place to say it. I think when a lot of people think about how there was a lot more opportunity back when SC2 was first released, they forgot that there was also a huge risk. The people who are big today didn't go into SC2 expecting it to be as huge as it is now (well, perhaps some of them), they took the risk because it was truly something they loved. Also, just because it was less saturated back then, doesn't mean it was easier to become big. While there was less supply, there was also less demand. People forget that destiny started out having very small audiences, but ultimately the reason he became popular was because there was something about his stream which was better than all of the other streams.
|
On December 27 2011 14:49 MrDudeMan wrote:
This may not directly apply to you, but this seems like an appropriate place to say it. I think when a lot of people think about how there was a lot more opportunity back when SC2 was first released, they forgot that there was also a huge risk. The people who are big today didn't go into SC2 expecting it to be as huge as it is now (well, perhaps some of them), they took the risk because it was truly something they loved. Also, just because it was less saturated back then, doesn't mean it was easier to become big. While there was less supply, there was also less demand. People forget that destiny started out having very small audiences, but ultimately the reason he became popular was because there was something about his stream which was better than all of the other streams.
I do agree with this I was more focused on the things that I'm facing personally as I try to get involved.
|
On December 27 2011 14:49 MrDudeMan wrote:
This may not directly apply to you, but this seems like an appropriate place to say it. I think when a lot of people think about how there was a lot more opportunity back when SC2 was first released, they forgot that there was also a huge risk. The people who are big today didn't go into SC2 expecting it to be as huge as it is now (well, perhaps some of them), they took the risk because it was truly something they loved. Also, just because it was less saturated back then, doesn't mean it was easier to become big. While there was less supply, there was also less demand. People forget that destiny started out having very small audiences, but ultimately the reason he became popular was because there was something about his stream which was better than all of the other streams.
very good point. i remember when artosis would go around filming stuff with his hand held camera just for the guys back home. now look at how far he has come. he took the risk and it paid off!
|
On December 27 2011 15:13 Golgotha wrote:Show nested quote +On December 27 2011 14:49 MrDudeMan wrote:
This may not directly apply to you, but this seems like an appropriate place to say it. I think when a lot of people think about how there was a lot more opportunity back when SC2 was first released, they forgot that there was also a huge risk. The people who are big today didn't go into SC2 expecting it to be as huge as it is now (well, perhaps some of them), they took the risk because it was truly something they loved. Also, just because it was less saturated back then, doesn't mean it was easier to become big. While there was less supply, there was also less demand. People forget that destiny started out having very small audiences, but ultimately the reason he became popular was because there was something about his stream which was better than all of the other streams. very good point. i remember when artosis would go around filming stuff with his hand held camera just for the guys back home. now look at how far he has come. he took the risk and it paid off!
Moletrap used to commentate from his car. Artosis was broke and from what I heard nearly homeless for some time.
|
On December 27 2011 15:56 Primadog wrote:
Moletrap used to commentate from his car. Artosis was broke and from what I heard nearly homeless for some time.
All of the BW guys had some tough times, I remember Moletrap saying he kept trying for jobs from temp agencies, it was super impressive when I saw the thread on him going to commentate GSL, I was soo happy for him! From using college internet in his car, to Korea :D. Also, for Artosis to not go to college and go straight into SCBW, I have to commend him a lot for his balls. It payed off though :D, Salem represent!!!
Also, a little story to help Locust out/to try and shed a ray of hope in the lack of connections in eSports:
+ Show Spoiler +1: This is also kind of a shameless plug  and 2: If I can inspire an SE major at RIT, by all means I will goddamnit (I'm a 2nd year SE major at RIT atm )
So back in NH, in late 2010 one of my friends told me about this LAN tournament at a local gaming place going on organized by one of his friends. I was super excited seeing as I never went to one before. So fast forward a bit and I realize that he's just an average guy that has a normal job. Here on TL he goes by Drogith, and he's basically created and maintained the New England SC2 League from having no connections whatsoever.
He was passionate enough to go out on his own and essentially force connections because he wanted to keep up all that he's been working for, and keep our community intact. At PAX East this year, he secured the NESC2L product sponsors for the 2nd season (most notably Kingston). It's good to talk it up with actual representatives I suppose.
I don't know all the details, but I know for a fact if you, Locust, are passionate enough about this, you will become a big name in the scene one day :D! Good luck with your endeavors, if you keep at it, you can definitely become a heavy hitter in the SC world soon enough!
|
Drogith is an awesome dude and you should be proud of what he done for the New England scene.
|
He's like the coolest person ever, I love him and everything he's done/continues to do for the NESC2L :D (no homo, of course  ).
|
On December 27 2011 17:39 a9arnn wrote:Show nested quote +On December 27 2011 15:56 Primadog wrote:
Moletrap used to commentate from his car. Artosis was broke and from what I heard nearly homeless for some time. All of the BW guys had some tough times, I remember Moletrap saying he kept trying for jobs from temp agencies, it was super impressive when I saw the thread on him going to commentate GSL, I was soo happy for him! From using college internet in his car, to Korea :D. Also, for Artosis to not go to college and go straight into SCBW, I have to commend him a lot for his balls. It payed off though :D, Salem represent!!! Also, a little story to help Locust out/to try and shed a ray of hope in the lack of connections in eSports: + Show Spoiler +1: This is also kind of a shameless plug and 2: If I can inspire an SE major at RIT, by all means I will goddamnit (I'm a 2nd year SE major at RIT atm ) So back in NH, in late 2010 one of my friends told me about this LAN tournament at a local gaming place going on organized by one of his friends. I was super excited seeing as I never went to one before. So fast forward a bit and I realize that he's just an average guy that has a normal job. Here on TL he goes by Drogith, and he's basically created and maintained the New England SC2 League from having no connections whatsoever. He was passionate enough to go out on his own and essentially force connections because he wanted to keep up all that he's been working for, and keep our community intact. At PAX East this year, he secured the NESC2L product sponsors for the 2nd season (most notably Kingston). It's good to talk it up with actual representatives I suppose. I don't know all the details, but I know for a fact if you, Locust, are passionate enough about this, you will become a big name in the scene one day :D! Good luck with your endeavors, if you keep at it, you can definitely become a heavy hitter in the SC world soon enough!
haha small world thanks for the inspiration ^^
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
