EPTAs you'd notice by reading my signature, you'd notice that I write for the eSports website Definitive-eSports.com. Even though we aren't really a website on the scale of Esfiworld or Gosugamers quite yet we're slowly but surely getting there and we really noticed it at Dreamhack Summer 2012 where we were one of the largest producers of content during the entire weekend.
Now as a young male Swede who loves video games you'd think that I would've been present at about 48 Dreamhacks, raided around 60 Statoil's and also wore one-pieces religiously. But the truth is that this was my absolutely first Dreamhack (Dreamhack Eizo Open in April excluded), I had only heard of the massive venues and the incredible tournaments and I was really looking forward to watching so much SC2/LoL/DOTA that my brain would start mixing them up. This wasn't the case however which was a shame because seeing Teemo break down a bunker defence would've been quite the sight. Instead, the cold hard truth was, simply put that the finals in each respective game were gonna be the only games that I'd be able to watch and that was what made me think of writing this blog. Because I had many expectations and thoughts going on in to this event as a journalist, but I left with a completely different attitude. The unfortunate reality is that eSports in its current stage is still an extremely niche business. Sure you can look at the number of viewers the SC2 finals got on national television and say that we're truly breaking in to the mainstream, but the competition between the news-outlets covering eSports is fierce and there are almost no moments where you can sit down and relax.
Because if you want the views to attract potential sponsors needed for the funding of trips and food you've got to get your name out there and that means competing with already well established names and brands like Teamliquid.net, Gosugamers.net, Esfiworld.com and especially rakaka.se in Sweden. This meant that we had to put in almost 14 hour days in order to hunt down players for interviews, taking literally thousands of photos and looking through them all to find the good ones and finally the most important part; making connections. I will discuss all of these points separately, but I will start of with talking about my boss and the founder of Definitive-eSports.com. James "BanKs" Banks.
I am thankful to have a boss like BanKs. Besides the fact that he looks after his team as well as he does he's really passionate about eSports, and without him Definitive-eSports wouldn't have existed and wouldn't have been doing as well as it is today. He is also very good at making us in the team motivated, some might call his style of management aggressive but he simply knows that if something doesn't appeal to him, it won't appeal to others. This is due to the extreme competition between the eSports news-sites and the fact that one can't do this half-assed because then everyone will simply check out the other sites that are available. I want to thank BanKs personally for pushing me and the editor in chief Chris to the limit. Because without it Definitive-eSports wouldn't have received the payoff it deserved from the event. So thank you, BanKs. It's a pleasure working with you and I look forward to the next event we'll visit together.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Es8ul.jpg<br>)
Me to the left, Banks in the centre, editor-in-chief Chris to the right
and Markus the translator below Banks after all the hard work was done
Point 1: Getting the interviews
This may seem like a really easy thing to do, "you just walk up to them and ask". But this isn't the case. Many times players will cheer on their team-mates or friends during games, and may want to cheer them up after losing a series. They might not even want to conduct an interview even after a series they won because the conditions during these LANs are gruelling. Games go on for very long periods of time and when they are done a line of 50 fans may be awaiting them. The most important aspect of dealing with players is to simply watch how they take a loss or a win, and remember to only ask for interviews after games if you actually know the outcome of the series. If it was an unnecessary game because they had already advanced, I'd be sure to ask the player in question, but if it was a series that mattered, keep your distance.
Even though you may only view it as a computer game the player will always put his all in to the competition and the sting of defeat never gets any easier to deal with. Respect the players and watch things like body language after a game. It'll go a long way and the players will appreciate it, especially if they recognize you at future events.
So, aspiring journalists. Know that if you see a player like this after a game:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1rkVg.png)
The only outcome will be this:
Point 2: Photos
If there was one thing I learned at Dreamhack Summer, it was undoubtedly that taking photographs at eSports events is a very hard thing. The lighting at the events are usually terrible which means that good photos are usually a rarity. Another detail is also that unless you're as awesome as TL that can have people like R1CH or Bumblebee as dedicated photographers you are probably gonna have to step up to the plate and take the photos yourself. It doesn't matter if your content is written as if you've been graced by an angelic typewriter, because people couldn't give less of a shit unless there are any pictures involved. So be prepared to buy a camera for photographs, because they are important.
The most important part of all is this, however. Respect your fellow photographers, and last but not least the cameramen. Because they bring the show to the crowd, real-time video shots are important as hell for the viewers at home. They show the players emotion, and can stir deep emotions in the audience and the fans of the player. So keep out of their way, because if there were no cameramen we wouldn't have moments like this:
I learned this the hard way. I actually got in front of one of the cameras used for the national Swedish broadcasts. Sure it's nice to see Definitive-eSports on national television, but not when it's unintended. I can still only really sum up my feelings after it happened in one mental image:
![[image loading]](http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/186/an_hero1.jpg){kind=icon}
Point 3: Making friends and connections
Assuming that the website you work for features an editor-in-chief and a manager and you've got a team working for you you've got to make sure that their hard work doesn't go unnoticed. This means that you as a manager must constantly work to get more sponsors and eyes your way, and if not sponsorships try to go for a partnership.
This was what we did with Gosugamers who allowed us to post all of their DOTA 2 coverage in exchange for all of our SC2 coverage. It's a win-win situation as we don't cover DOTA 2 at all and they don't put as much effort in to their SC2 content as we do. It's also important for you to know that websites like rakaka.se (even though they are mainly in Swedish and market themselves towards a Swedish market) will put up interviews and content done by other websites if they themselves aren't able to get a hold of the player/person in question. This year especially as one of their main contributors unfortunately couldn't be present, which meant that rakaka were starved for content. These are opportunities where you can get your content shown and it could pay off big time for you. Now, naturally I am not saying that we should cheer as soon as a competitive source of content suffers such a heavy blow as that which rakaka suffered, but it is important to know when your content could be featured on more sites and thus receive more hits.
Another important aspect of this is mingling. Since all news-outlets at events are usually in one area, you're going to be surrounded by a multitude of different representatives from a multitude of websites, which is a perfect opportunity to make more connections and also put in a word about you website and if your content would be of interest to sites like rakaka.
Point 4: Accepting criticism and learning from it
If you aren't willing or capable of receiving criticism, you will never become anything. No-one has built anything from nothing and I quickly realized that I was acting as a third wheel because of my previous expectations of how we'd work at the event. This led to our day one at Dreamhack being rather eventless when it should in fact have been exploding with news, updates and content. The criticism directed towards me at first felt baseless. "I was only joking around" and "take it easy" were the most uttered phrases of mine throughout that day but in the end I realized that joking around was time wasted when we could have been working on getting the site updated and telling someone to take it easy because they were being "harsh" towards me was idiotic.
Why? Because the criticism I received was fair and shouldn't be confused with senseless bashing. I was criticized because people saw what I could do better, and as soon as I learned to swallow my pride and accept that what I was doing was costing us time and effort things started going a lot smoother. Hard work and constant thinking about how to make your work better leads to such personal growth that I can't even begin to describe it. It also leads to great treasures. Don't believe me? Ask my Shootmania-key.
Ya better believe it!
Point 5: Love the people you work with
If you aren't willing to spend gruelling 14 hour days working whilst getting only four hours of sleep a night for a total of four days. Calmly tell your boss that this eSports-thing isn't for you and hand him your letter of resignation. As I've stated before, this is such a niche-industry that the
providers of content have to produce really good interviews/editorials/reports in order to stay alive. We can't sit down calmly because the business is still so young and it's dog-eat-dog when it comes to providing the coverage necessary in order to break out. Trust me, people may think that getting in to eSports is easy. It isn't. You guys reading the news we put out have high standards, and if the readers of the many eSports-sites out there don't like the stuff a certain site puts out it's not really an issue because they can then turn to another news-outlet with the click of a button.
This is why you as a team must work. No pussyfooting, as Brian Eno and Robert Fripp so eloquently put it. If there is an issue with any member of your team bring it up with them and work together to find a solution to it. Managers are expecting a lot from people who will have to work their fingers to the bone, so make it sure to them that you truly want this to work and befriend them. Because without your writers, you're nothing. This also applies to the writers. Make sure to try and form friendly relations with everyone on your team because you are going to be spending almost every hour of your time awake with them. Also, since they're obviously interested in eSports how hard can it be? Buy a kebab and reminisce over the fact that BoxeR bunker-rushed YellOw three times in a row in the finals of an MSL, or that CLG never actually dropped a set in their entire tournament-run at Dreamhack. eSports may be young, but be sure to know that it has a rich history and that you being there on location are adding to it.
I apologize if this has gotten incoherent along the way, but I really felt the need to write this down as Dreamhack Summer has been one of the most important experiences of my life. Many views and opinions I had about eSports as a whole have been shattered throughout this weekend and it made me not only realize about the job we do at Definitive-eSports, but also
about life. Don't expect to get anything in life for free, just like experience, the good things in life are earned. In the end the experience is something you will remember for life and is so important at developing yourself as a person.
- Sam Nordmark, proud writer at http://www.d-esports.com, passionate eSports enthusiast.
