EPTCasting Concepts - A Blog About Under-discussed Topics
Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a fantastic day. If you haven't already, check out the last Casting Concepts chapter, where I discussed the most important steps to beginning your entry into eSports commentating. Today we'll be discussing some controversy spawned from a tweet from Dignitas' Apollo.
Chapter 2: Finding Opportunities
Esports is a hard industry to break into. Especially when it comes to commentating in Starcraft 2. It's fairly rare that you see a new caster rise up from the pack of "mid-tier" casters and become recognized as a "top-tier" one, but it does happen. The question is, how is it done? Obviously, there is no simple answer or solution to this or it wouldn't be an issue, but let's discuss some of the key ideas for it.
The Tweet
A few weeks ago, Apollo tweeted that there was a "lack of commentators in SC2." He goes on to say something more controversial that really sparked some debate among many aspiring casters and the community.
"If they aren't good enough, thats their problem to fix! Good commentators will always get jobs if they are good."
Of course, right off the bat, a large number of aspiring commentators in Starcraft 2 were somewhat offended. Unless you are one of a very select group of individuals, you are considered a "mid" tier caster and Apollo's tweet seems to imply that the only reason you haven't made it to the top is because you aren't a skilled enough commentator yet. It is worth noting that Apollo isn't directly suggesting that you'll be getting the best jobs around(Dreamhack, MLG, etc.), but rather that a skilled commentator will find jobs.
In response, rif_king posted posted a thread on reddit that really does a detailed job of talking about what it's like to be an aspiring commentator. It's hard to argue with many of his points because it's true that it's difficult to break into the top tier of eSports commentating.
So who is right? Do commentators in Starcraft really just need to get their shit together and "be better," or is there some nearly impassable brick wall preventing aspiring casters from moving to the top?
From Rags to Less Rags
First thing is first. There are a fair number of mid tier commentators trying to reach the top, but there are even more low tier commentators trying to reach the middle. For this, I'm going to talk a little about getting from low to mid level commentating because I feel this is something that's actually very doable for almost anyone.
+ Show Spoiler +
What is a "low tier" commentator? It doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad commentator, it's just that you're not doing enough to push your brand yet. People in this category might have a youtube channel that they don't consistently update, occasionally do an event every so often when asked, or still have some core issues to work out before people will want to listen to them(ranging from technical issues to distracting problems with their commentary itself).
If the issue is with consistency or you are only casting events when asked to, then I would highly recommend creating a schedule. I talked a a lot in the last chapter about consistency, but it cannot be stressed enough. Having a schedule will give you a reason to be more consistent and get your content out there for new viewers and followers to find. Of course, as you cast more you'll get more practice, but having more viewers also allows you access to additional feedback which you can use to improve. For months when I started casting, I had no idea that my microphone sounded terrible due to an echo in my room. Once I started getting more viewers, the audiophiles in the audience let me know about the issue. Even feedback about overused "crutch phrases" or awkward pauses will help you improve quickly and you will either start to have consistent followers, or have more opportunities to cast events when sending your resume around. Speaking of which, let's talk about sending your resume around.
Your Resume and You
If you ask any seasoned person in the workforce who has dealt with the difficulties of job hunting before, often times they will tell you the same thing. If you apply to a hundred places, you only need one to say yes for you to have a job.
Granted, applying to a hundred different places is a bit much, but the core idea is important to take away. If you are an "unemployed" caster and are looking to rise, you need to apply to a lot of places. Do not pin your hopes on one casting gig working out, and especially if you're starting out, don't be picky since everyone has to start somewhere. Not everyone gets to live cast ST Life vs SKT1 Flash.
+ Show Spoiler +
I'll note there are many Starcraft 2 events that are CONSTANTLY looking for more casters! Some of these include:
-After Hours Gaming League - B League games for both Starcraft 2 & League of Legends
-Zotac Cup is always looking for casters and is a featured event on Team Liquid!
-The Collegiate Starleague is a great starting place if you're in still in college(it's where I got my start) with tons of matches to cast. They're also looking for official casters if you go apply!
-The Under Rated Team League is a league I'm casting in that has done big searches for new commentators for the absurd amount of content they produce.
These are just some opportunities! There are tons of events to look for and apply to!
-After Hours Gaming League - B League games for both Starcraft 2 & League of Legends
-Zotac Cup is always looking for casters and is a featured event on Team Liquid!
-The Collegiate Starleague is a great starting place if you're in still in college(it's where I got my start) with tons of matches to cast. They're also looking for official casters if you go apply!
-The Under Rated Team League is a league I'm casting in that has done big searches for new commentators for the absurd amount of content they produce.
These are just some opportunities! There are tons of events to look for and apply to!
Let's say despite all of this you STILL can't find a commentating gig. What now? Well of course, continue consistently producing content on your youtube or livestream channels, but another great option is to just create your own event. Day[9] has an excellent article explaining how sometimes it's easier to create a job for yourself rather than to find it. If you hear or see about a showmatch being played out between two players from semi-pro teams, ask them if you can commentate it! Local tournament? Ask to commentate it. Realize that a LARGE number of small tournament organizers would love to have their content casted, but don't even think to send out requests for it.
Ask to cast where nobody asked for a caster.
I cannot stress that point enough as almost all of my initial gigs for both showmatches and live events have been because I asked if I could cast them. Another option is to create an event that would help you get your name out there. Do something unique like cast games where players have absurd restrictions placed on them, or where you spotlight a certain player from a semi-pro team each week. Be sure to advertise(respectfully and in the appropriate locations) on various sites like Team Liquid and Reddit. Being able to run an event adds a whole lot of value to you as a commentator because you get to do a lot of work with live production WHILE casting, which will be appealing to many event holders.
If you're doing all of these things, you should at least have some jobs commentating now. I cannot stress enough how important it is to not be too idle when it comes to commentating. When you drop your schedule one week, you can easily see your average viewer count dip from 25 to 10, or 100 to 60. Doing events gives you the viewers and the practice to improve so that you can move up in the casting world.
Mid Tier Scrubs
Now that we've come full circle back to mid tier casters trying to make it big, I want to come back to an important point. Finding jobs in casting is not difficult. Really it's not. I actually just wrote a big outline of how you can do it yourself. However, finding top tier jobs in casting is insanely difficult.
The reason why this is so difficult is because there's a big jump between casting a mid level tournament(URTL, AHGL, CSL, Zotac Cup) and casting a top level tournament(NASL, Dreamhack, MLG, GSL). When you hit a certain point, there's no longer the steady climb you find between low tier and mid tier casting, so it's very daunting to find a way to advance. Let's take a look at how some very well recognized casters have managed to bridge that gap.
Kevin "CatsPajamas" Knocke(forever CatsPajamas to me)
+ Show Spoiler +
Worked his butt off live casting for 4 to 5 hours a day(sometimes to audiences of under 10 people) until he had a large enough number of followers and eventually got a gig at IPL's qualfiers as a guest caster. After doing a great job there, IPL offered him a full time position.
Ben "MrBitter" Nichol
+ Show Spoiler +
Created his own event called 12 Weeks with the Pro's that brought him the eyeballs, connections and game knowledge to surge forward as a player and be picked up by team VT Gaming as both a player and eventually a caster. Eventually, he was able to move to ESL due to his success.
Alex "AxelToss" Rodriguez
+ Show Spoiler +
Casted Go4SC2Cups until he made enough of a name for himself to get a casting opportunity for the North American IEM qualifiers. When this went well, more opportunities opened with IEM and he began casting TL Opens, AxelToss became one of the main casters for the Lone Star Clash and eventually was able to become ROOT gaming's official caster move to MLG.
They all started with little to no notoriety and worked their way up. One of the most important things to note is that they continued casting the small events until they were able to get a "breakout" cast. For CatsPajamas, this was the IPL Qualifier that lead to him getting offered a job at IPL. For MrBitter, this was his self-made 12 Weeks with the Casters event and his move to ESL. For AxelToss, this was his North American IEM Qualifiers cast that netted him more opportunities at IEM, Lone Star Clash and eventually MLG. Finding your breakout cast that either gets you recognized by the community or some event manager is vital to make it to the top.
It Can Be Done
As an aspiring mid tier caster, it's important that you keep casting mid tier events to not only polish your resume, but to get opportunities like casting a qualifier for a big name tournament. The reason it's so difficult is because guest casting opportunities for big name tournaments are few and far between, but they do exist. Just recently WCS EU had Nathanias and Jorosar casting the qualifiers with a fairly decent number of viewers. But not only do you have to get this opportunity, you have to knock it out of the park so they people who hired you(or others) will want more! Is it easy? Dear lord no. But that's what it takes right now.
And it makes sense to a certain extent. To become one of the most well known casters in the world, you have to....well...be one of the best casters in the world. I believe this is what Apollo is getting at in his tweets. There is a big difference between the absolute best casters in the world and mid tier casters trying to make it big, and I think it's something people often underestimate. If you asked someone not at a high level to identify whether a barcode player in a replay was a masters league player or a pro player, they would likely have a lot of trouble being accurate because they don't know the subtle things that make the pro player that much better. Casting is the same way as there are so many subtle things the best casters will do that others will not, and it sets them apart and allows the to rise to the top. In the end, I feel that Apollo's tweet was about this nearly invisible difference between the top casters and the rest.
It's worth noting that the jump from part time casting to full time casting is very similar to the jump between a part time player to a full time player. Financially, it can be very stressful because casting requires so many jobs that don't yield any direct payment (I have so many eSports dollars...). Aspiring players will have a chance of payout when entering lower level tournaments if they do very well; but I suppose they have to deal with the uncertainty of a payout for a tournament. Meanwhile casters don't have any payouts at lower levels but have guaranteed income in the higher echelons of casting. Hopefully, as time progresses and we develop more well established and profitable mid tier tournaments and businesses in eSports, we will be able to give some pay to mid tier casters so the transition can be a bit more reasonable financially.
The Reddit Post
I've more been talking about what can be done rather than addressing the points rif_king made in his reddit post. This is partially because I like taking a very similar approach to the casting scene as I do with the game itself when it comes to balance. It is not actually within my power to change the balance of the game, so it makes more sense to instead work within the constraints I have been given and find optimal solutions. Similarly, changing the entire way that the commentating hierarchy functions right now is not within most people's power. It seems more productive to focus our efforts on figuring out solutions to the current system, and then working to change it once we develop more as a scene.
One point I will address that rif_king brought up was the concern of how many commentators will get to where they are because they just have the right "connections." This is a very funny statement to make because of course having connections is important. Being able to manage connections and market yourself comes with the job until eSports becomes so developed that we actually have managers for casters that will do this for us. Unfortunately, that is a very long ways off, so until then connections are as valuable an asset as your casting abilities. If you talk to someone in the wine industry, many of them will tell you that making wine is actually fairly straightforward. Many of the difficulties lay in developing connections with the grape farmers, retailers, etc. to have the best opportunities you can.
Developing connections is an important facet of commentating that I think too many aspiring casters overlook. I believe it was Apollo that once said that one of the best things an aspiring caster can do to improve their game knowledge, is to cast a series from a relatively high level player, and then ask for that players feedback on your analysis. Often times, the player will know more than anyone about what they were doing and the logic behind it, so getting into the head of a player can greatly improve your own analysis. These kinds of things are not possible without connections. In the future, I write a chapter on techniques you can use to develop these kinds of connections.
Closing Words
My hope is that in future chapters, we'll be able to address some of those issues that set the mid tier caster apart from the top tier. By opening a dialogue about those issues, we not only boost the level of commentary are the mid tier level, but boost the level of commentary at the top tier level because the top tier commentators are forced to innovate in the face of new blood. ReDeYe posted a great comment on my last chapter hinting at some of those topics such as working the camera, utilizing silence, etc.
Next time, we'll be talking about something that pertainsmore to the craft of casting. TotalBiscuit is a very interesting commentator in the Starcraft 2 scene because he is often criticized for his game knowledge, but when mic'd he knows how to make magic happen that even some of the best casters in Starcraft 2 have incredible difficulty replicating. We'll be taking a look at some of the things that I think TotalBiscuit does that almost no other commentators do, as well as outline a few of the areas he still has room to improve on. He's one of my favorite examples to learn from and talk about because he comes from a fairly different background than many other top casters, given his history in WOW Radio, youtube production, etc. All of this has culminated to give him access to an assortment of tools that we could all learn a great deal from.
Hope you guys enjoyed today's topic. If you disagree with me on any points or feel I left something out, please, let me know! This blog is about stimulating discussion and not so much just me lecturing people about my opinions.
Happy casting!
