EPTI've been thinking about doing this for awhile but for one reason or another never really got round to it, I'd just thought I'd share my thoughts and feelings, not really splurge my heart out to the TL community and beyond but just to post this to get some things out for the sake of peace of mind really.
I have never been an active community member as such, I don't post a lot on TL or reddit, I'm not a well known figure and I kinda prefer it that way, I like working behind the scenes in the back making everything tick so the others can have the best possible experience. This post/blog isn't going to be the most interesting read or the most well written literature you've ever seen but I want to get this off my chest because why the hell not I fell the need to.
I have admined over 350 Online events for the EU region for Starcraft 2 for various Tournament Organizers such as z33k.com, ESL, SCVRush, eXe Clan and Playhem.
I have run everything from Daily and weekly events to Pro show matches to a Team league with 16 different teams and 100 team members, sometimes Solo and most of the time with a team, the people I work with and have worked with have been some of the best people I've known both online and in real life
History up till now
I'll start at the beginning where everything should, I first got involved with the Starcraft 2 Community a little over a Year ago in Mid-April, After seeing some Youtube videos from TotalBiscuit and Husky, I decided to go and pick up myself a copy, being late to the party in fashion, after being a massive Command and Conquer fan since I first played Tiberian Sun as a Child I thought why the hell not.
I started Laddering and playing the Campaign as most people do, Quickly finding TeamLiquid and the Pro-Streams I started learning my way around the game from streams, Thread discussions build orders etc I placed in Silver with Zerg, Falling down to bronze after mass Protoss Void Ray all ins and I had no idea how to combat. From being interested through casts and Youtube videos I decided to try my own hand at casting which lead me first to z33k.com where I casted a Clan war but started to get involved with tournament administration running the Simply Silver every week, working my way up to running the dailies and eventually becoming a Senior staff member and Running the Main Dailies, BSG dailies and the Diamonds are Forever Weekly events, putting my own money up for Prize pools, During this time I got to know a great community from the SC2 Scene and the Staff at z33k, from then on i was completely immersed and hooked.
I kept casting on the side doing the odd replay and live event but after not really getting a feel for it and hating the sound of my own voice I decided to shelve it completely and focus on Event running, the majority of it at first was with z33k, I decided to moonlight at ESL for a bit to broaden my Horizons and try to improve as an admin, I didn't spend long there but I feel I did benefit from it, I was working with z33k from April 2011 to near the end of 2011 where the pressure of School and Admining was too much so I decided to take a break and try and focus on my studies, I decided to causally play SC2 still, and I found the eXe community through an event they ran on z33k.com I applied and got accepetd, being a Team member first but then heading up one of the Plat/Diamond Teams in January, I naturally applied to the Tournaments and leagues crew running the weekly events for the EU which I did on the weekends
However that didn't help and I subsequently failed for a 2nd year running dropping me out of school in early March 2012. I decided to not give up and search for an apprenticeship in my other hobby which was Computer Programming and Software development, I also decided to get back into admining with z33k, but since I had more free time I also decided to apply myself more and sent applications in to SCVRush and got accepted their as well running their weekly events on and off as was needed.
Within eXe the head of the T/L Crew departed from his post and I, without realizing naturally flocked to the position, taking over the reins of the Team League that had just been set in motion, Catching up on the plans and schedule was hectic but I enjoyed it and it's still currently running.
After a disagreement with some of the z33k staff and realizing the slow death that was occurring and nothing I could do I decided to leave after imparting all the tips to the founders as I could to help them stay afloat, Scaling back my work at SCVRush as well since I had applied and was accepted into the staff ranks of Playhem which is where I am today.
What this means to me
I take an immense pride in running events, I see it as people taking part in something I helped make, and they are enjoying it and coming back, sure it isn't all me making it and running it but I'm a part of something bigger and people want it to continue and come back and to me that gives me so much happiness and satisfaction. Sure I have my down moments and it can be stressful when things don't go smoothly. It isn't as easy as a lot of people think, especially those players who think "We aren't doing our jobs right" when we make a decision against them. It happens, Yes we make mistakes but we are all human.
I've never been good at anything in my life, I'm terrible at SC2 I rage so much at it when I lose, I failed school when i should of tried harder but I didn't and I've had a lot of personal setbacks, I can't play any instruments well and I have no amazing hobby to speak of.
But what I do, and have done over the past year, Running all these events and interacting with all you people, the Starcraft 2 community. I have found what I enjoy most in life, I have found my passion and my hobby. I honestly want to make a career out of these I will try damn hard to. For the first time in my life I have something I want to hold on to and keep doing.
I just want to thank everyone who had made the community what it is today, The Game Devs, Pro Players, Streamers, Casters, Everyone. Thank you.
And if you've managed to read all of these and stay with it, thank you even more, Feel free to PM me or comment with anything.
Thanks again
For this reason I'm glad you blogged 
