The Official Live On Three Thread - Page 115

[http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=334375] -- I wrote a guide on how to contribute to E-Sports, but when it comes to getting paid to do E-Sports, you either have to find a niche [which is both hard and time-consuming] or you need to know the right people at the right time and really exploit that window of opportunity.

As for claims of the "old boys' club", from the outside, it looks more to be stratifying groups of people based on both public exposure and perceived importance. On the "inside" [I use quotation marks, because this is just a social viewpoint from some people], I would assume it more to be groups of personal relationships [in other words, I would call it levels and high-school "clicks"]. I'm not really qualified to make these kinds of points, but that's my limited understanding.

OSX is right: "So perhaps the community should get off its butt and support these lesser known content creators", but not just content creators: there is a slew of hard-working background people who do so much for so many years and get little out of it. I mean, most of the people do it for experience, the enjoyment and because it refines their skills; but at the same time, not one of them would deny some kind of appreciation, some public recognition or worth, maybe hoping to lend them eventually to some future opportunities, chances to work with some real professional groups, etc.. There's definitely a strain, a frustration: People want good content, content directors get out some good stuff, but at the same time; the community has to sift through a ton of crap, a ton of people trying to make it big with just their personality, their ploys to get close to the big-names and hopefully snag something there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, regardless it distracts the community from seeing some real gems and some real underground workers.

There's no show or anything to promote up-and-coming people, community members or even players really [Namman does a show (sorry if I mistype your username) which iNcontrol promoted once, but that's pretty much it, anyone remember "In the Spotlight" with Jojo? That was good too. TL used to do small interviews with Xxio who interviewed upcoming people!]. We just keep seeing the same people we saw in 2011 and even those in 2010, relevant or not. It stagnates a scene that is ever-growing, increasing, evolving. What was a foundational tournament or organization back then (WCG) is no longer so and so you have new groups of aspiring organizers come and some go. But this isn't necessarily held true for people or icons, the same people who managed to not get filtered by public view are still relevant today; that's good because it means they still have something worthwhile to the community, but it also makes it tough for other people to fit in, to have a uniqueness that doesn't overlap with a wide cast of amazing people; and that really sucks for those trying.

I really think this is where Blizzard comes in, if shows like "Real Talk" and "Lo3" bring in unheard names, they lose ratings and dip in priority for the average e-sports follower. There's just no real reason or personal gain for them to go out of their way to find new people (they may want to at some point or another, but I don't know if they would go way out of their way to find someone relevant and who is new) when the established net them views and hits that they need to maintain both relevance as well as interest [Lo3 has been bringing in people outside StarCraft, which is great!]. Blizzard is in a perfect position to have everything to gain by promoting new names (similar to when they made an article about Ailuj ([http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4389519/Meet_Julia_Childress_--_StarCraft_II_eSports_Pro-2_2_2012]) and showing the rewards of being an E-sports contributor. I've hardly ever been financially rewarded for my work, but the the people I get to meet and the things I got to learn, see, experience have been amazing.

I think there's a distancing being made between the top dogs and the unpaid, volunteer market. The top dogs get a lot of flack and commendation for whatever they do: big or small, the contributors get little to no exposure, but also avoid a lot of criticism. Some lose motivation, some prioritize real life duties and others get a lucky break and get to do this full-time for a small wage [very small, I'm talking by commission for some, maybe more for those dedicated]. From my limited experience, I've come to learn that you don't get paid on how experienced you are, but rather how dedicated and devoted you are to an organization. This scene is a business of personal relationships and you can't build a personal relationship if you're constantly changing organizations or crews. At the same time, you may find yourself struggling to find the right team or group of contributors that treat you well, doesn't overwork you or understands basic human conditions and expectations.

I also feel that that distancing also changes how we criticize people or in general. Those who are below don't necessarily criticize people from above and those above don't criticize necessarily anyone in particular to avoid hurting people's feelings, but at the same time, huge gaffes and problems and mismanagement go unheard and uncalled for the longest time. Even in my small experience, I've been burned a couple of times and when I tell close friends, they're shocked and surprised, even more that I go silent about it. But when you think about it, is there any true gain in calling someone out and potentially detriment their orgs reputation? You might get "justice" served by a community backlash, but you put some good people out of positions they like and maybe even players, if the scenario affects them, are out on the street and without support. You just gotta swallow and feel a bit more bitter each time. But that's also why people like SirScoots, Kennigit and others who make a blantant opinion stand out, but it also puts everyone else in a difficult position who want to be vocal, but don't have an assured position within their org like these two do. I can't say what SirScoots said because I don't have that credibility nor that trust with both my peers/the people I work for nor of the community and that's unfortunate.

I think I have a lot more to say, I'm not anyone really important however. I've done a lot of work, but not for a long time. I'm not someone who's interacted with a lot of the "important" people, I've just helped a lot of people. So take what I say with a grain of salt, from my perspective, and my ability to talk out of my ass (I've been practicing). I hope it enlightens those who were curious or piques your interest to know more, I have some credibility to talk about working [volunteering] in E-sports.

My conclusion is that yeah, you can get paid to do E-sports, but don't go out of your way to do it. Find jobs that indirectly or even direct support the scene, not from the inside quite yet. It's still a pretty tough world and it can be sentimentally rewarding if you have the right state of mind and expectations. There are times when its strainful, emotionally difficult or straight-up spiritually draining. Hopefully, that won't deter you from trying and I hope you persevere through.

edit: I think I even touched upon these views here: [http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=349101#4] in response to Kennigit's blog.

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/zuu26/day9_getting_a_job_in_esports/c67zxmg -- I made a nice long post about this, but let's see if I can shorten this one.

I think this is a good follow-up, but ultimately, whatever he says will always have its cracks and faults.

I think it's good he highlights some real truths, that it is an upscale battle and that being the new guy is tough to break. But the idea of creating your own niche is becoming more and more difficult and really isn't a feasible idea anymore. The shift towards joining large organizations and groups is safer, potentially easier and all the more worthwhile in getting your name out there.

I think the statement: "The Business is Personal" rings strong here and his examples are kind of counteractive to what he's saying. With MrBitter, he produced positive content with positive (and reputable) people that created a good association of himself. From there, he gained more notoriety via casting for IEM and even more casting for NASL soon after. Is this a bad thing? Nope, because Mr Bitter is awesome, and he was awesome before he was known. But that's the problem, people are awesome, just no one knows how awesome they are. People have to piggy-back (read: associate) themselves with those who are the "old dogs" in order to create notoriety. This creates a pretty thin pipe of one kind of content (videos, interviews, writing) with the same people. Same old people remain relevant, newer people try to climb.

For Chanman, his "success" is pretty moderate. He gets some great guests, the same people we've seen since early 2011 (and some newer people, good mix and good for him!), but nothing really netting either both a self-sustaining way of living nor propositions of jobs with bigger orgs (or maybe he has, we dont know).

So your stacked problem(s) is this: 1. How do you newer people show how awesome they are and 2. how do we get the public interested in these newer people

I think the real concept of "old dogs" is the comfort of the content they bring. What brings more viewers? New guys no one has heard about (and don't want to invest the time to familiarize themselves with) or the older guys who we all know and love already and recognize/are familiar with? Less cynically: Being at the top and doing a good deed keeps your reputation afloat, people see it and recognize it and contribute to your already pronounced title.

There are tons of people who may or may not do similar (or a lot more), but what they're doing isn't exactly relative. It's only when they're referenced that they start getting noticed.

The reality is is that this is pretty much like anywhere, it's not just StarCraft or E-Sports, also a lot of people are doing good content for the wrong reasons, but is that really a priority issue?

Today - Special Guests: VP of CBSi Games Simon Whitecombe and @MLGLee to talk Valencia eSports Congress and the MLG-KeSPA MvP Invitational.