EPT
I don't want this blog to be pointless bragging about what I've achieved with TL over the years, although I'm very proud with the projects I was involved in. My point is rather to show how a non-english speaker with no skills whatsoever and a rather short history as a gamer can find his place and get motivated by this unique community. To start things off, I just want to make clear that I brought no practical skills coming to TL back in 2008 - some people are gifted writers, some bring their amazing skills in Photoshop when they come here, but me ? I got nothing man, probably still don't... I'm TLs homegrown, this was the place where I developed myself and without the constant support and encouragement of everyone who was exposed to my terrible efforts, I was going to get discouraged and stop trying. But no one who does volunteer work for TL does it for himself, we all want to help, to contribute to this amazing place. You either have this desire or you don't (if you don't and just enjoy TL for what it is thats perfectly fine too). Because of my poor English the only thing that I could try contributing with was gfx. I always fancied myself a creative person, besides how hard can it be to get the hang of photoshop and do the mega awesome stuff people like shiro or fuse or AJ do?
I was a passionate BW fan, an avid SKT supporter. And when one of my favorite pro-gamers BeSt made his deep run in the OSL I decided to roll up my sleeves and make my mark on TL:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/disciple/banner_copy.jpg)
That's the first picture I ever made in photoshop, I probably toyed in PS before but not with the idea to create anything specific for an occasion. I sent this image to Plexa hoping it will be used for the news coverage but as you could probably guess it wasn't. I wasn't down by it though and I kept doing awful shit, but as blogs
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=81011
As you can see ppl were incredibly nice and supportive to me. Even if my stuff was terrible I made it out of love for this damn game and I think people saw that. I progressed really slowly, but instead of trying to copy someone else's great work and in the process create something really grotesque I tried to do what I want, even with my extremely limited set of skills. Each time I've learned something new it was an incredible breakthrough and I kept using the same technique over and over again. This is a path I keep following to this day - I never go for something beyond my capabilities, but instead try to shape simple things, stick to basic principles and do stuff that just... works I guess.
In the following year I found that theres a real demand for wallpapers with our beloved SC stars, even if those wallpapers are bad:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=90425
I liked doing stuff on request, it gave me a reason to practice the techniques I've learned and maybe master new ones, my work was presumably getting used by someone which was the biggest satisfaction and reward for me. TL gfx staff was out of my reach then, but I realized I needed to do more stuff and more frequently to progress, hell it was so much fun too... Thats why I started doing banners for sc2gg.com. Yes, thats right. I don't mean that the sc2gg guys had low standards for gfx, in fact their news coverage was really good and some fine writers were involved in it. It was just that rarely someone within sc2gg will raise from their community forums to do gfx and TL had a larger fish pound. On TL I found a great way to become an active contributor even if I wasnt in staff. I started doing LR threads.
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=102476
This was really a great way to keep busy. I would wake up at 6 am on Sundays, I would watch every single PL match for 2 years. Why not make it a bit more special for everyone else doing the same ? The 09-10 PL season was the golden age for me as a fan and the peak of my forum activity. I was raging, I was participating in bonjwa debates, I was a dick to rival players and teams fans and got back the same stick from them. I was a fan. You see, even back then there were the top fans - like Atrioc for OZ and JD and MrHoon for flash. These guys were just as active as me in the forum and they would also do a lot of volunteer work. I always respected them even if I hated their favorite players, outside of the bonjwa threads we got along really well cause we all shared the same goal - doing stuff that makes being on TL a little bit more enjoyable.
Eventually I got staffed after a talk with riptide about leaving sc2gg, TL doesnt share staff. The first project I was involved in was the modernization of the site looks. For those of you who dont remember (shame on you) or if you joined at a later point TL looked pretty much like this:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/disciple/12tlold_copy.jpg)
This was the first time I got to work on something directly with the important dogs - HotBid and Nazgul. I remember when I got my first PM from HotBid I was so psyched, I would re-read it for a couple of months bringing a smile on my face. These guys alongside Manifesto, FakeSteve, Plexa were my idols. In my eyes they were into this cool thing for so long and had friendships over it for years. Compared to them I was just a student somewhere looking for an escape. While Hotbids PMs made me excited, Nazguls made me very nervious. I would re-read everything I sent him about 10 times. I felt like I was taking from his time making him read my stuff, I still feel like that sometimes
But working on the TLs redesign made me find a new passion. More than doing hype posters, LR threads, News banners I like doing web page mockups and designs. There's something beautiful in it I think - creating something practical that people use day after day and is just there to work. I was always attracted by practical design meant to work for a purpose and not to amaze on its own, although I must admit webdesign in recent years can achieve both. I moved to create a whole bunch of mockups for site features that never saw the light of day and never got implemented on TL. Who knows though, I won't show anything here cause maybe one day some of the ideas can get recycled. Back in 2010 I think, I had my first RL meeting with TLers. I was incredibly awkward and out of place but I think all the guys showed genuine interest to talk with me. Most of them - flicky, Pholon and Aesop were devoted to Liquipedia. After this meeting I started doing stuff for them which eventually led to me and Salle designing the SC2 wiki as you know it now:![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/disciple/forwiki/wp_copy.jpg)
I started caring about fonts and color above anything else in my designs. I don't think Ive quite given up on my dreams for becoming a designer at this point, but I came to the realization that color and fonts can create some very nice designs all by themselves. You dont have to be lazy but you dont need to try hard to make something nice. Thats how I came up with the cutest way I found to contribute to TL. I dont think Im a particularly funny guy but I thought I can give other peoples funny stuff a great presentation. Thats how the best of TL infographs came to be:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=154586
The biggest problem in being a volunteer on TL for 4 years is burning out. I was sad to see many great guys and contributors come and go and I was very afraid that my motivation will be gone eventually. I had deep lows when I was just depressed by spending time on TL, but what always kept me going and rebooted my motivation was finding something new and fresh to do. From progamer wallpapers to LR OPs to site mockups , funny blogs and finally PonyTales Ive always wanted to try something new, to find a different expression of my contribution to TL. In retrospect I think I left one too many projects hanging cause I took them up and then left them for something else, but the ones I stuck with got other people involved and excited - like Pony Tales. What was considered a reboot of the pony express bulletin become TLs short lived but glorious magazine. PonyTales brough people like the amazing Lip the Pencilboy on TL. You see, whats great about TL is that its a canvas waiting to be filled up - there are no rules on how to contribute as long as you want to do it. You can have the initiative to create something completely new or you can have ideas how to improve the existing features, no good work will be unnoticed !
One night as I was really really drunk Nazgul messaged me on MSN saying I should leave the booze for a second cause he had something important to discuss with me. Then he offered me to become the TL Store manager. I dont know if it was the 3 redbulls I had with my vodka or the news but I really couldnt sleep from excitement for the next two days. It just came out of nowhere. I was so happy it was like a dream. And I declined the offer - I was so psyched that a dream might actually become true that I was too scared of what can happen. Luckily Nazgul and Hotbid insisted, they had trust in me and I decided to give it a go. The next 1-2 years were a steep learning curve for everyone, we all got to deal with problems we were not prepared for and made decisions on the go. But even if my work now carries a lot heavier responsibilities than preparing a LR thread for SKT vs KT it is just as exciting for me without any care which will one will actually meet more appreciation. As I open a new chapter now moving to TLHQ I hope I can keep my drive and motivation - at the end what kept me improving is not a love for a specific game, its TL.
