EPTI went to college to study political science and philosophy, two topics I had (and continue to have) a great interest in learning more about. Originally I’d hoped to go into a government or legal field after school, and this was my hope until my junior year of college! Then something happened, I saw an ad that Dignitas was looking for StarCraft II writers. I applied with their editor in chief Sui and was accepted as a trial writer. I put some time in there eventually becoming a volunteer staff member, but chose to part ways after realizing it wasn’t the correct environment for me. I started posting my content straight to Reddit in the form of self posts, and got a lucky break when Richard Lewis, at the time the editor in chief of Esports Heaven, took notice of my content and asked if I’d like to do some work with him. ESH as a platform offered significantly more legitimacy and reach than any previous way I’d published my work, and I began to truly feel like I was making an impact and gaining some traction. My work at ESH led me to be promoted to a management position, and suddenly I was earning enough money from my work in esports that I had to file a tax return on it! During this time I’d also been doing work in the Chinese StarCraft scene, I’d noticed there was a huge lack of English language content for a scene that was absolutely exploding. I created an Esports Heaven Twitch channel as the one stop shop for all English language coverage of Chinese StarCraft tournaments. Working with Tenshi and Zeweig we provided a constant stream of coverage for events like GPL, NSL, and Kung Fu Cup! I even had the (underserved) privilege of casting Flash’s final professional game of StarCraft II. This was a really amazing time in my life and it made me seriously consider trying to go full time in esports after college.
As graduation neared I decided that esports was absolutely what I wanted to do, and I chose to take a job in IT to help me accomplish that. I’ve been working on and off in IT since I was 16, and I was very comfortable that I could continue to do esports work while having a job in IT. I continued my work at Esports Heaven, and eventually a new opportunity arose. A series of meetings with a start up in Philly would become the genesis for Cheeseadelphia. N3rd Street Gamers had a successful Counterstrike tournament franchise (Fragadelphia) and wanted to expand into a new game. I convinced them that I was their guy. Cheeseadelphia 1 took place in October of 2015, and to be perfectly honest it was kind of a failure. The event was not a financial success, and our stream viewership never broke 200. That being said the higher ups at NSG were satisfied with the event itself and saw potential for growth. Cheeseadelphia 2 was a fairly successful event from an organizer's standpoint, and N3rd Street Gamers were ready to take things to the next level, to the point that they offered me a full time job as their LAN Chief. I quit my job in IT and prepared to fully commit to the world of competitive games!
I learned an enormous amount in this position, and I’ll always be grateful that in 2016 I was given a chance to go full time in esports. I worked numerous different roles: tournament admin, production, tech support, event organizer, and support staff (gophering). I also got the chance to dip my toes into a wide array of competitive gaming scenes, aside from StarCraft I worked in: Overwatch, CSGO, fighting games, and Smash!
During this time I’m most proud of Cheeseadelphia, an event that was my baby through and through. I was responsible for all aspects of the event: organizational, promotional, financial and the running of the event itself. In just over a year Cheeseadelphia went from a not very successful LAN, to the largest independent tournament in North America. Our fourth Cheeseadelphia broke new territory in terms of attendance, player quality, and the quality of our production! It’s been incredible to create and grow this product and take ownership of something I can be truly proud to put my name on. If that all reads like a eulogy I’m sorry, because Cheeseadelphia is one of several projects I plan to continue collaborating with the N3rd Street Gamers crew on, and as long as my situation permits it I plan to continue running Cheeseadelphia tournaments.
That brings us to the now. 2017 will be my last year trying to go full time in esports. I’ve set some goals for myself that I need to hit to feel comfortable trying to make this into a true career, and I don’t believe that staying on as a full time employee at N3rd Street Gamers is the way to achieve them. If I’m not able to find a job that allows me to achieve the goals I’ve set for myself than it will be time for me to pivot career wise, and make work in esports a hobby or side hustle once again. I’m currently chasing some exciting leads and exploring some freelance opportunities, but I’ve made peace with the idea that nothing is guaranteed to work out, and it’s okay if esports goes back to being a hobby. A part of me wonders if that would allow me to reclaim some of the magic that seems lost when you immerse yourself in an all esports all the time lifestyle.
Anyways if you made it this far thanks for reading. I think 2017 is going to be a terrific year no matter what happens, and I’m excited to see how this year unfolds for myself and StarCraft!
