EPTCasting Concepts - A Blog About Under-discussed Topics
Hello everyone! My name is Ravi "feardragon" and I've a Starcraft 2 caster for about 2 years. I've done casting for the URTL(Under Rated Team League), AHGL(After Hours Gaming League) and unofficially for the CSL(Collegiate Starleague)While I think I have a long way to go in casting, I spend a great deal of time considering the concepts behind successful casting. I'm an avid consumer of any content that addresses casting suggestions, ideas, thoughts, etc. but to be quite frank, the material is rather thin. There are some great references such as the guide by DotA 2's very own Purge to be becoming an eSports caster and Redeye's famous "So You Want to be a Shoutcaster?" book, but there's a distinct lack of public conversation about the topic beyond the occasional "give me feedback on my casting" threads.
What the Blog's About
So that's what I'm here to do with this blog. Similar to Artosis' great blog, SC2 Dojo (though I'm not the nerd-baller Dan is), I'm going to be detailing my thoughts on various topics, but on topics related to casting. This will range from getting started on casting, to high level issues experienced casters seem to face, to trying to break down top level commentators for their essence(Must. Acquire. Essence.), etc.
Here's the thing, I don't want my thoughts on casting to be taken as facts. Commentary can be a very subjective thing so it's bound to leave room for disagreement. Because of this, I do want you to voice your opinions about it because there are very few "undisputedly correct" statements when it comes to this content. This blog was made to create a dialogue about the topics and challenges casters will face that are often only discussed in private. If this blog had to have a mantra, it'd take from Day[9]'s to "Be a better Caster." Casting, just like playing Starcraft, requires a lot of effort, practice, and thought to improve at.
Chapter 1: Embarking on Your Journey
Alright, now that our intro is out of the way, let's talk about getting started. This is one of the most heavily asked questions in the casting world by people looking to jump in. Because of that, it's gotten some of the most responses. I'm here to say that you can become an eSports commentator in 3 easy steps.
Step 1) Just Go Do It
To try your hand at casting, you don't need to buy a 5 thousand dollar gaming rig, or purchase two hundred dollar microphone, or a three year subscription to xsplit. You just need a computer that runs Starcraft 2 at a reasonable rate(which you most likely have because you play it), and functioning microphone, basic recording software, and a replay.
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To briefly touch upon these things, you can purchase a basic quality microphone from Wal-Mart and other local stores for $10 to $15 USD. OBS is a fantastic piece of free recording software and is fairly lightweight. Replays can be found on a multitude of replay gathering sites, or just ask your friends to give you a replay of a good game. I'd recommend doing something diamond or higher because below that point, games can be longer winded than usual and can be harder to cast because you need to fill much more down time when nothing is happening. Here are some great replay sites I use:
http://www.sc2replays.eu/
http://www.sc2win.com/
http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/replays
http://www.sc2replays.eu/
http://www.sc2win.com/
http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/replays
Your will almost certainly look back on your first commentary and shudder at how bad it was. First commentaries are bad because casting Starcraft well is hard. Depending on your comfort with public speaking, you might struggle with your uhms and er's, filling up the empty space, repeating the same phrase time and time again, or just struggling with having smooth camera control. Here's the thing, it doesn't matter. You've done it! You did your first cast. You now have some idea of areas you feel comfortable in and areas you don't.
It's important to realize that you will not be judged by your first cast, you will be judged by the first cast someone sees you do.
Sean Day[9] Plott has often quoted his success to the simple idea that he "just showed up." This is a very powerful idea that is applicable to not just Starcraft, but life in general. You will never succeed if you never try, and you will never improve if you do not have a starting point from which to improve from.
A last note on this topic that does not get addressed enough is the fact that technical issues(such as fps, video resolution, microphone quality, etc.) are in fact part of the improvement process. Do not let these hold you back from casting. Over time, you will learn more and more about the technical side of casting and will get these issues resolved.
Step 2) The Critique
So great! You've done your first cast. It might be in 240p, have a segment where you were quiet for 3 minutes straight, and have your cat coughing up a hairball in the background, but it's done! What I'd recommend now is finding some friends who can give you honest feedback. This can be much harder than you'd think and I'd highly recommend you listen to your own commentary and writing down your own feedback as often you will be your biggest critic.
But for your friends you do ask, I've found it more useful to phrase the request as "Can you tell me what you didn't/did like about the cast?" If you're aware of technical issues such as a bad mic, be sure to ask for feedback excluding that. Take all the feedback you get, and consider writing it all down in one place. Now evaluate each piece of feedback as unbiased as you can and consider whether there's truth to what they're saying.
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Taking criticism is a very complicated topic I'll probably go more in depth with on another day. But one issue that took me a long time to address was the danger of blindly listening to advice. It's very easy to slip into the habit of blindly following advice, but it's important that you become the commentator you want to be, not the commentator your viewers want you to be. If you don't agree with the choices you make, you'll have a hard time improving and eventually commentating will become very frustrating.
When you're evaluating all the feedback from your commentary, don't take anything personally. Your goal is to improve your commentary so there's no need to be self-deprecating or upset with anything you hear from others or see in your own commentary. Improving is a process that takes time.
Once you've taken the nuggets of wisdom from both your own analysis and the analysis of your friends, it's time to move onto the next step.
Step 1) Just Go Do It
Wait what? This is step 3! I lied about beginning commentating being a 3 step process because it's a 2 step process. The third step is the same as the first because the biggest key to start commentating is consistency and repetition.
I started commentating in 2011, but for a long while, I was inconsistent and hardly improved. After speaking with Sean "Day[9]" Plott at an MLG event, I asked him for advice on commentating and he told me to cast every day, once a day, for 30 days. This was one of the most eye opening experiences about casting for me because it taught me a few things.
1) Casting is not something you should do if you don't enjoy it, and you won't really know if you actually enjoy it, until you give it some time. Just like trying anything new in life, you have to give it some time before you can really make a good judgement call about whether you're truly interested in it or not.
2) You will have off days where you feel like you're casting worse than usual. It's important that you learn to cast on these days too. The nature of casting often leads into casting live events that are pre-planned. Whether you're having a good day or a bad day, you've committed to casting on that day, so give it your all and learn to still enjoy it. If you can't do that, you'll begin to resent casting and eventually stop.
3) Consistency is vital in building a following. I am a rather small time caster. I don't have many people that follow me, but after following Day[9]'s 30 days of casting challenge, my videos without any advertising jumped from one view to around 30 or 40 views by the end(with a few getting some hundred after others posted them on reddit). People want consistent content and it's one(of many) reasons why Day[9] and HuskyStarcraft are so successful. They both consistently provide content on a regular basis, and give people a reason to stick around and expect the next dose of content.
Summing Up and Moving Forward
So my challenge to you, aspiring caster, is to just go cast, every day for 30 days straight. It's as simple as that. If you feel so inclined, tweet at me(@feardragon64) every time you upload a commentary to help you stay motivated! While I can't promise this for every single commentary, I'll do my best to provide feedback for your casting when asked.
Thanks for reading the first edition of Casting Concepts. Next time I'll be looking to tackle an issue that was recently brought up by a tweet from DignitasApollo. I think I have a slightly different opinion than many of the other community casters out there so hope you decide to check it out! Follow me on twitter @feardragon64 for a notification of when it comes out.
Cheers! Happy Casting!
