EPTCasting
(ver. 1.1)
#1 - You do not have to be a good player to be a good caster.
#1.a - But you have to be willing to work just as hard.
Professional Starcraft 2 players invest incredible amount of time to refine their skills. In the same way, Casting is a skill and it can be refined, but you have to be willing to put time and effort into it.
Everyone starts out at different rungs of casting effectiveness. Some people are gifted with great voices, others have in-game skills that translate well to analytic ability. But regardless of how much natural talent you have, if you don't work to refine it, it won't take you far.
In one of Day[9]'s AMA, he references the brick wall story by Will Smith. If you can't watch the video, the take-away is this.
Hard work beats talent. Every time.
#2 - Casting is a service to the audience.
First and foremost, if you're starting into casting to make money...
Stop. Right now.
I will not say more on this.
Now, Casting is a service to the audience. You have to bring the game to life for the viewers and let them enjoy the intricacies of the game. There is a tension between the two players that only the caster can convey. Analytical casters and Play by Play casters regardless, both can and ought to explain the conflict between the two players.
That being said, as a caster, you need to reach out to the community to offer your services. Simply sitting around and hoping that people will find your Youtube video is not providing a service. Participate in small time tournaments on z33k or Playhem, or even go about to start your own tournament services!
#3 - Most people will supportive.
#3.a - But you can't please everyone all the time.
Even Tasteless and Artosis have people who hate them, and arguable, the Tastosis casting archon is the closest you'll get to pleasing everyone. With that said, as you start to gain more visibility in the community, remember to focus on your own style. Husky has stuck with his own casting style since the Starcraft 2 Beta, and hate it or love it, it's what he does.
If you start casting, explore around and explore frequently. If it means you need to emulate someone, do it! What's important is that you find what YOUR style is like. Someone may turn out to be a mix of Day[9] and djWheat with a splash of Khaldor. Another may be a Mr.Bitter with twist of d.Apollo and a faint hint of PsyStarcraft. Another yet, may be something completely new and unseen before!
The point here is that a large majority of the Starcraft 2 community will be supportive of you, but you shouldn't try to go out of your way to please everyone.
#4 - Stop asking for permission.
I started out this blog post by saying, after "scouring nearly every thread". I say "nearly" because I quickly found a pattern among most of the threads related to starting casters. An incredible overwhelming group of amateur casters start out something like this:
"I want to start casting Starcraft 2, can anyone give me replays?"
Needless to say, none of these people actually took off, and I stopped bothering to open threads like this.
If you want to start casting seriously, at least be willing to put in the effort to find resources yourself. The very fact that you say, "I want to cast Starcraft 2" means that there are resources out there. Read up on their interviews, find guides and put in the time and effort to find things yourself.
#5 - There will always be someone more knowledgeable than you. About anything.
If you make a mistake and someone calls you out on it, own up to it. You can always learn something new from anyone.
#6 - You're not expected to know the future, don't presume to.
As a caster, your job is to describe the game for the audience. Let the 'gg' be called by the player.
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Well, that about covers it for now. I'll be updating these rule sets as I improve on my own casting experience. I'm still working on the Macro and Micro techniques of casting and I'll post another blog entry once I'm done analyzing VoDs.
