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The Armchair Athleticism critical series is an opinion-base article series regarding the issues and sociocultural deficiencies of the E-Sports and StarCraft scene. All articles are perceptive-base and revolving around my own experiences and understanding of the subculture.
+ Show Spoiler [summary introduction] +The Solo Trail – Unbeaten - Posted on October 20, 2012Short version of credentials: - Manager of 5 progaming teams (50+ professional players)
- Writer for 9 E-sports websites (5 team sites + 4 organizations: 150+ docs/articles)
- Organizer or Contributor of 11 community events (74,000 viewers/attendants)
- Some video-editing for one or two organizations, nothing big, just twitch.tv highlight-editing, presentational writing, etc.
Why are you starting your own space? I was listening to the suggestions of several friends and I finally started this space after I hit a dead-end in my endeavours in E-Sports. I’m at a point where I am not really affiliated with anyone and now’s a better time than ever to do some opinion topics. Doing my own content meant I would be alone and would work around my own initiative, drive and interest. However, it also meant that I may do something that requires more work than I thought and I would be on my own. It meant that the community reception can be more direct and harsh towards me personally and my views as I would not be backed by some credible organization as when I was writer for some. In the end, this series that took me about a month of writing, editing, verification and re-writing will really be everything I’ve learned, observed and felt throughout my time. I started out with three pieces and ended up going to ten. All of them delve into inspecting the five perspectives of the scene: teams, tournaments, players, spectators and contributors. Ultimately, it aims to really take a strong look into the many issues that inhibit the StarCraft community and E-Sports culture.
The Thin Corridors of New Content - Posted on October 31, 2012
When it comes to content-creation, half the battle is getting it out there and the other half is keeping it alive. Using common grounds to promote your idea becomes challenging when everyone else relies on the same community watering holes as you. Successful self-promotion of your content is both a finicky and difficult area to achieve in a saturated scene with a very skeptical community. It’s even harder to bolster your name if it isn’t in a convenient form of media. The hurdles of content is due to the community’s narrow interests, available free time and the amount of overabundance of the same entertaining material. To explain, the uphill battle in this niche interest is funneled by the convenient format the community enjoys the most (videos over writing) as well as the subjects they like the most (established champion over unknown with potential). The reason for this is the common rule of liking what you know and wanting to see more of what you like.
So your first obstacle of getting your content out there is latching yourself onto someone the community knows, likes, and is familiar with. A good example of this is ChanmanV’s Pro Corner who keeps flowing good content with some big names, though I’m not sure he has the reputability to do a show with lesser names and still maintain a strong viewer count.
The other problem is personal weight of one’s name, it matters. Does anyone remember JoJoSC2News? This guy pushed out tons of content about a variety of people ranging from Robert Clotworthy, James Lampkin (Kennigit) and even David Ting (IPL). Those are some great and interesting people who had some amazing things to say. However, no one knew who JoJo was nor did he aggressively self-promote himself. The other problem is that he has no influence or reputability within the scene. Kennigit’s video about Boobs, Framing Shots & Esports has about 13,000 more views in only a few months. This a difference of one’s name and reach; how one’s ability to be recognized can affect the flight of one’s content.
So for relatively new content-creators, they face two major challenges. For the iconic and established members, they are approached by a different set of challenges, both are summarized here:
- If you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you have to constantly flush out new, quality content with established members that the community recognizes/knows/likes. This is a question of endurance and consistently finding ways to reinvent yourself and your show. Let’s not forget that you have to find something that no one else is doing, and then keep that constantly changing and expanding. Being new, being innovative and keeping doing it despite rocky starts.The possibility of guests, the popularity of your original show or how long you can do it are not guarantees to increase viewership.
- If you are someone the community recognizes (but underachieving), your challenge is to remain relevant. To periodically push out material that reminds everyone that you’re still just as analytical/entertaining about the game as those who can still mechanically achieve it. I want to say that being at the top and remaining up there is easier than starting from the bottom up but I think that would be presumptuous. Then again, was there as much saturation of content in nearly all forms as there is now? I don’t think so, but there were also less possibilities or technology to do as much as we can do now…
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Y0b0X.png)
The diagram above is just a quick mock-up of how both sides’ challenges lead to similar end-goals, the start of one’s career is similar to a show hosts’ start of his webshow. For the host, the longer he is consistent in his content creation, the more his relevance and popularity to the community increases, so long as no mistakes are made (note the occasional drops; due to changed scheduled times, less popular guest, gaffes). For the community member, the longevity of one’s career extends more for each material released periodically (once in awhile). Their relevance and popularity also increases or decreases depending on similar aspects as the new content producer.
What’s unfortunate is that people who do come up with new and unique ways to reinvent what’s been done, often go unseen and miss their chance. For example, MLG’s “NFL” chalkboard-post-game analysis is actually a pretty cool concept. But, CecilSunkure did this last year (2011) in July, he just failed to have the exposure on such a good idea. So what we’re seeing is “namesake” (public recognition in one’s name) and reach (how far and wide does he reach a general audience). MLG and CecilSunkure had the same idea, one year apart: MLG has the reach to take advantage of it and CecilSunkure didn’t have the time or dedication to follow-through and really publicize his idea.
As we stated before, people like what they know. This means relevant characters from 2011 or even 2010 remain in the spotlight while no webshow wants to pick up up-and-coming players. I reiterated this on Reddit a few weeks back on how no webshow wants to promote:
“There’s no show or anything to promote up-and-coming members or players [besides Nanman's show which hasn't been recently]. However, we just keep seeing the same people we saw in 2011 and even those in 2010 , relevant or not. It stalls a growing scene that is ever-changing, increasing, evolving. What was a foundational tournament or organization back then (WCG) is no longer so and thus you have new groups of aspiring organizers come and some go. But this change isn’t necessarily held true for people, so it makes it tough for newer people to fit in, to have a uniqueness that doesn’t overlap with a wide cast of amazing current members; and that really sucks for those trying.”
My solution was to ask Blizzard to start showcasing these people:
“I really think this is where Blizzard comes in, if shows like “Real Talk” and “Live on Three” bring in unheard names, they lose ratings and dip in priority for the average E-sports follower (potentially). 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) when the established professionals net them views and hits that they need to maintain both relevance as well as interest. Blizzard is in a perfect position to have everything to gain by promoting new names (similar to when they made an article about female player Ailuj) and showing the rewards of being an E-sports contributor.”
There’s no one to blame about these circumstances between community interests, priority of shows and the main draws towards people’s curiosity. People just do what they like and this scene is built around entertainment. It’s only natural that people follow their own personal enjoyments and stick with them.
The general underlining problem is that there are a lot of hurdles and areas you need to commonly overcome to make your content stand apart. The traditional method to promotion and advertising is an approach that still holds true for the majority of those content-creators at all levels (just starting, successfully at the top, breaking out). That in of itself creates an over-abundance of similar formatted content and with similar people (players, casters, major key leaders). Think of interviews, how many interviews have you seen of one particular person? How many of them do you remember that underlined something new about that person? How did you locate that particular interview? That’s the final exam for a a content-creator: you need to answer those questions for the audience and apply them to your work.
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This informed series of written pieces could not have been achieved without the help and opinions of my peers and friends. Below are the people I wish to thank for their insight, accuracy/consistency check or expert opinion on the numerous topics: thank you
- Brad Carney (Lefty)
- Chris Chan (Host of ChanManV's Production)
- Eric Grady (Cyber-Sports Network's Director of Events - Usurp)
- Flo Yao (Quantic Gaming’s Progamer - Flo)
- Jacqueline Geller (eSports Network Coordinator of Blizzard)
- John Clark (Cyber-Sports Network Executive Director of Operations)
- Josh Dentrinos (FXOpen’s Director - Boss)
- Marc McEntegart (Team Liquid Writer - SirJolt)
- Matt Weber (Team Liquid Administrator - Heyoka)
- Payam Toghyan (ROOT Gaming Progamer - TT1)
- Shawn Simon (Team Liquid Progamer - Sheth)
- Steven Bonnell II (Progamer/Entertainer - Destiny)
- Thomas Shifrer (ESFI World Senior Journalist)
If you'd like more information about the series (more pieces about different aspects of the scene will be released periodically), to contact me privately or to generously give me some siteviews on my website, you can follow the following link:
You can also follow me on Twitter where I tweet public news and information about the scene including roster changes, controversy and/or overall E-Sports news: @TorteDeLini
Thank you very much and I appreciate all feedback or corrections.
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I only recently have been trying to delve below the surface or super high level scene. There is so much talent in smaller leagues, and they are really fun to watch. It is really easy to forget the depth of the community and those who generate content in it.
It would be great for Blizzard to do some features either on the launch splash or community news section
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I commented on the reddit version, but again this is a must read IMO.
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Thanks for the comments. I received one from StarVe via my website:
"Yes, I remember JoJoSC2News, I read his threads and posted questions for him to ask on the show but I felt like I was almost the only one taking any notice of it. I remember watching the livestream of his interview with Kas and he had probably about 30 to 40 people watching. In my opinion it was different enough from any other show to deserve its place, it was basically a shorter version of JP’s Real Talk (obviously with a lot lower production value, but still) before that existed. You said he didn’t shamelessly self-promote, but what more promotion are you supposed to do as a content creator? I really can’t think of much else. Giveawaysand shit?
He posted reddit threads, bumped the show thread on TL a couple of times before the shows and had it listed in the event calendar. It’s just if no one upvotes it or posts in the thread apart from the OP himself, to me it seems like there’s only so much you can do until you realize that a lot of people are just not interested.
Kaelaris did mouzTrap, a show where he talked about replays with mouz players for a good while and few people cared.
I like what Blizzard is doing now where they at least have community guys interview all the qualifiers for WCS finals, but even they need to promote this a lot more. Unless you have some already very popular community figure as recurring guests on your show, you’re pretty much fucked regardless of your efforts, I don’t remember a show without one succeeding."
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Another great comment on my site from Raja Banerjee:
"I think it is very important to realize the bar that has been set for content quality. ChanmanV may produce “good content,” in your perspective, but relative to the production quality, liveliness of the personalities on the show, the pacing of the show, Chanman’s show suffers from being a bit worse that either Inside the Game or State of the Game.
People who start their own content development need to start by taking a cold, hard look at the quality of what they want to put out there, and need to strive for nothing less than the best that the industry has ever seen. If you can’t be the very best for that kind of content that the industry has ever seen, you can’t cut it.
I say this as someone who was once a blog-writer for Dignitas. Two of my articles reached the front page of reddit. Even before posting either of those articles, I knew that they were some of the best stuff I had ever written, and were better than most TL guides in terms of focus, depth of analysis, organization of the article, conciseness, being relevant for the current state of the metagame etc.
The other elements you discuss certainly do matter, but any new venture will still be doomed if it can’t exceedingly supercede it’s established competitors in key facets of quality that matter.
tl;dr: “Good” isn’t good enough. If you get in the business, be the absolute best at the most important facets of your value offering. Otherwise, consider leaving."
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Torte this is almost ironic. O_O
The amount of views your new column is generating is underwhelming! ;o
Anyway, I'm glad you used JOJO as an example. He's one of the few guys I've been giving advice because I think he did a good job from what I've seen.
Now with regards to your JP's; your Husky's; your Day[9]'s; your Totalbiscuit's etc. Definitely agree.
It's always best to jump in right away; but, this doesn't mean you cannot excel if you're slow out of the gate.
I'll leave this message here. If anyone wants to build new content try to think outside of the box and find your niche; don't use the same molds.
There's way too much imitation out there when it comes to casting, podcasts and the whole shebang.
Look at JP for instance. Remember SC Center with Chobopean & JP? Well, I got word that he was doing a similar project but by himself and the views were lousy from what I saw from Youtube. Concept was too similar and there's just too much of it. Good thing it was only a test.
It's a tricky business but it doesn't mean new guys cannot enter the market and still pull their weight like the CarbotAnimations youtube channel. 
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To the esteemed Mr. Cohen,
I'm of the opinion that good content gets noticed. It's talked about. It spreads. Shitty forced viral marketing is an imitation of this.
There is no good reason why Blizzard could not or should not follow your advice and give spotlights to community creative content. Hell, Blizzard could even give brief keynote interviews each week to discuss something that has been on their minds or has been on the minds of the community. How fascinating would it be to have Blizzard make an official post or quick interview on SlayerS disbanding? Or on the end of the OSL as we knew it before it ventured into the tested but new waters of Starcraft 2.
Certainly they did make a public note of some things in the past. Usually written by a faceless intern of questionable understanding. When Blizzard talked about the end of Brood War there were.. there were a few people that wanted blood for their flippant way of discussing the end of an era. That was visiting and communicating with the community but it was as widely read as the poorly viewed shows you referenced in your post. Generally the only people that mentioned it around me were sour about their sendoff.
Yes, your idea would be wonderful. I don't believe Blizzard has enough spare marbles rolling around up there to understand that they have been surpassed by Valve in community relations. So I'm not going to cross my fingers. But it's still a lovely thought.
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On November 04 2012 15:22 Probe1 wrote:
To the esteemed Mr. Cohen,
I'm of the opinion that good content gets noticed. It's talked about. It spreads. Shitty forced viral marketing is an imitation of this.
There is no good reason why Blizzard could not or should not follow your advice and give spotlights to community creative content. Hell, Blizzard could even give brief keynote interviews each week to discuss something that has been on their minds or has been on the minds of the community. How fascinating would it be to have Blizzard make an official post or quick interview on SlayerS disbanding? Or on the end of the OSL as we knew it before it ventured into the tested but new waters of Starcraft 2.
Certainly they did make a public note of some things in the past. Usually written by a faceless intern of questionable understanding. When Blizzard talked about the end of Brood War there were.. there were a few people that wanted blood for their flippant way of discussing the end of an era. That was visiting and communicating with the community but it was as widely read as the poorly viewed shows you referenced in your post. Generally the only people that mentioned it around me were sour about their sendoff.
Yes, your idea would be wonderful. I don't believe Blizzard has enough spare marbles rolling around up there to understand that they have been surpassed by Valve in community relations. So I'm not going to cross my fingers. But it's still a lovely thought.
It rly is a good idea. Some kind of permanent dialog every week or so where they could comment whats happening but even so i think blizzard couldnt talk with one voice regarding these events so it wouldnt be possible to have quick reactions. Plus these dialogs shouldnt be in a forum, it should be from people trusted by the community and smart enough to umderstand the whole picture: streamed conversation etc...
On topic, perhaps what i will say isnt true, i can admit im wrong but isnt there a saturation for this kind of content. We have tournaments every week and a lot of "talk" on players, organisers. I dont think our community is large.enough to support content about "lesser players". Im following millenium heavily and they dedicate a lot of money and time for the french scene (article about players, french only tournament) but i dont think they get their money back, the french community isnt interested in this content (i am but not a lot like miself) meaning the community isnt big enough. People USUALLY prefer looking at the bests but when there are a lot of people they also get interested in the "lesser" scenes.
Sry for orthograph im on a phone.
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I am heading to bed because I just finished editing Part III of the series (third time editing it).
I am very glad to see new feedback on my topic and surprised you all managed to find it despite it being MLG right now.
I will respond as soon as possible and thank you (:
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On November 04 2012 15:08 StarStruck wrote:Torte this is almost ironic. O_O The amount of views your new column is generating is underwhelming! ;o Anyway, I'm glad you used JOJO as an example. He's one of the few guys I've been giving advice because I think he did a good job from what I've seen. Now with regards to your JP's; your Husky's; your Day[9]'s; your Totalbiscuit's etc. Definitely agree. It's always best to jump in right away; but, this doesn't mean you cannot excel if you're slow out of the gate. I'll leave this message here. If anyone wants to build new content try to think outside of the box and find your niche; don't use the same molds. There's way too much imitation out there when it comes to casting, podcasts and the whole shebang. Look at JP for instance. Remember SC Center with Chobopean & JP? Well, I got word that he was doing a similar project but by himself and the views were lousy from what I saw from Youtube. Concept was too similar and there's just too much of it. Good thing it was only a test. It's a tricky business but it doesn't mean new guys cannot enter the market and still pull their weight like the CarbotAnimations youtube channel.
Yes, I get a bit of the last laugh with this if this piece didn't really incite much response hehe.
yes, thinking outside the box might get you leeway into something really successful, but at the same time; people like things that are contributory or add to the scene or game they really love.
Concept was too similar and there's just too much of it.
I think it was more to do that it didn't really say or achieve much at all.
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On November 04 2012 16:07 Acertos wrote:Show nested quote +On November 04 2012 15:22 Probe1 wrote:
To the esteemed Mr. Cohen,
I'm of the opinion that good content gets noticed. It's talked about. It spreads. Shitty forced viral marketing is an imitation of this.
There is no good reason why Blizzard could not or should not follow your advice and give spotlights to community creative content. Hell, Blizzard could even give brief keynote interviews each week to discuss something that has been on their minds or has been on the minds of the community. How fascinating would it be to have Blizzard make an official post or quick interview on SlayerS disbanding? Or on the end of the OSL as we knew it before it ventured into the tested but new waters of Starcraft 2.
Certainly they did make a public note of some things in the past. Usually written by a faceless intern of questionable understanding. When Blizzard talked about the end of Brood War there were.. there were a few people that wanted blood for their flippant way of discussing the end of an era. That was visiting and communicating with the community but it was as widely read as the poorly viewed shows you referenced in your post. Generally the only people that mentioned it around me were sour about their sendoff.
Yes, your idea would be wonderful. I don't believe Blizzard has enough spare marbles rolling around up there to understand that they have been surpassed by Valve in community relations. So I'm not going to cross my fingers. But it's still a lovely thought. It rly is a good idea. Some kind of permanent dialog every week or so where they could comment whats happening but even so i think blizzard couldnt talk with one voice regarding these events so it wouldnt be possible to have quick reactions. Plus these dialogs shouldnt be in a forum, it should be from people trusted by the community and smart enough to umderstand the whole picture: streamed conversation etc... On topic, perhaps what i will say isnt true, i can admit im wrong but isnt there a saturation for this kind of content. We have tournaments every week and a lot of "talk" on players, organisers. I dont think our community is large.enough to support content about "lesser players". Im following millenium heavily and they dedicate a lot of money and time for the french scene (article about players, french only tournament) but i dont think they get their money back, the french community isnt interested in this content (i am but not a lot like miself) meaning the community isnt big enough. People USUALLY prefer looking at the bests but when there are a lot of people they also get interested in the "lesser" scenes. Sry for orthograph im on a phone.
If we limited all efforts due to how small the community, we wouldn't have half the things we do now.
Short line, but I don't think I have anything more to say, the scene and community will always be small and it is always a problem with any subjects of discussion about E-Sports.
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Holy shit. I was just reading through the Armchair Athleticism articles when I this mention. I feel quite honored.
I feel like I really did everything I could regarding self-promotion and trying to get content out there that was different, new and entertaining. Could I have been more aggressive? Yes I could have been but not without giving up my principles. I believed in the content I produced and thought that the content itself would prove to be enough but as you all know it isn't as easy as that - at least not at the beginning.
You gotta make a name for yourself. I wasn't willing to spam forums or otherwise aggressively interfere in other peoples spaces. There were other people out there at around the same time who were willing to be much more aggressive (LagTV - but they produced very different content).
I really feel that I have achieved a few things that are way out of what I expected. Robert Clotworthy wasn't really involved in the community when I approached him and he was really impressed with the feedback he had gotten. He went out there much more and the interviews with him popped up all over Youtube after that. The interviews with James Harper (Mengsk), Neil Kaplan (Tychus) and Robert Clotworthy were seriously one of the greatest experiences for me during the time of content production. I have been in contact with them ever since.
The content I produced was also very much focused on putting people in the spotlight that don't necessarily get the attention but contribute SO MUCH to this outstanding community. I knew from the beginning that that meant I wouldn't be getting too much attention because obviously an interview with Grubby will get you more views than an interview with p4NDemik (that was my first TL Behind The Scenes interview. I will never forget that. He taught me a lot of what I know about TL now. I learned to appreciate all the hard work that all the volunteers put in to making this a great place). I didn't care about the BOOM effect of the names. It was really something personal. I interviewed people who I personally thought are interesting people in the community.
The interview with David Ting for example was a great experience for me. He was sitting in some sort of basement and smiled at me with a really contagious smile. He didn't know who I was either (where from would he) but he seemed really pleased and positively surprised about the quality of questions asked and in the end shared a really important moment of his life. A moment that changed the way he thought about things and ultimately a moment that made him pursue what he is doing now. Moments like this were what I was after with my interviews.
Empire.ho8ot told me that sometimes he doesn't have engough money to eat but as long as he can go for a drink with some friends at the end of the month it's alright. He graduated but even as a graduate his regular job would make him less than playing StarCraft. I don't know. This just really impressed me. It made an impact on me. Every single interview has and that's why I am probably not really an Armchair Athlete but an Armchair Aesthete.
There were low points as well of course. One of them, which still hangs over me is the interview I did with Plexa. He didn't have a microphone and I said it was ok because I was quite nervous (it was one of my first interviews) but in the end it turned out the sound was HORRIBLE beyond belief. The interview is still not published because I just couldn't get it to work. My apologies Jesse and happy birthday!!!
Alright. I am trying to get back to the point of the article again. The previous wall of text is pretty much just my complicated way of agreeing with this point:
If you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you have to constantly flush out new, quality content with established members that the community recognizes/knows/likes. This is a question of endurance and consistently finding ways to reinvent yourself and your show. Let’s not forget that you have to find something that no one else is doing, and then keep that constantly changing and expanding. Being new, being innovative and keeping doing it despite rocky starts.The possibility of guests, the popularity of your original show or how long you can do it are not guarantees to increase viewership.
I was trying to get a lot of viewers of course but mainly because I wanted people to see what I saw. It was all so interesting.
If you are planning to make money with this or make it a career then you should probably focus on big names, aggressive advertisement and especially regularly posting content.
Sorry if this was way off-topic.
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On January 08 2013 06:25 JOJOsc2news wrote:Holy shit. I was just reading through the Armchair Athleticism articles when I this mention. I feel quite honored. I feel like I really did everything I could regarding self-promotion and trying to get content out there that was different, new and entertaining. Could I have been more aggressive? Yes I could have been but not without giving up my principles. I believed in the content I produced and thought that the content itself would prove to be enough but as you all know it isn't as easy as that - at least not at the beginning. You gotta make a name for yourself. I wasn't willing to spam forums or otherwise aggressively interfere in other peoples spaces. There were other people out there at around the same time who were willing to be much more aggressive ( LagTV - but they produced very different content). I really feel that I have achieved a few things that are way out of what I expected. Robert Clotworthy wasn't really involved in the community when I approached him and he was really impressed with the feedback he had gotten. He went out there much more and the interviews with him popped up all over Youtube after that. The interviews with James Harper (Mengsk), Neil Kaplan (Tychus) and Robert Clotworthy were seriously one of the greatest experiences for me during the time of content production. I have been in contact with them ever since. The content I produced was also very much focused on putting people in the spotlight that don't necessarily get the attention but contribute SO MUCH to this outstanding community. I knew from the beginning that that meant I wouldn't be getting too much attention because obviously an interview with Grubby will get you more views than an interview with p4NDemik (that was my first TL Behind The Scenes interview. I will never forget that. He taught me a lot of what I know about TL now. I learned to appreciate all the hard work that all the volunteers put in to making this a great place). I didn't care about the BOOM effect of the names. It was really something personal. I interviewed people who I personally thought are interesting people in the community. The interview with David Ting for example was a great experience for me. He was sitting in some sort of basement and smiled at me with a really contagious smile. He didn't know who I was either (where from would he) but he seemed really pleased and positively surprised about the quality of questions asked and in the end shared a really important moment of his life. A moment that changed the way he thought about things and ultimately a moment that made him pursue what he is doing now. Moments like this were what I was after with my interviews. Empire.ho8ot told me that sometimes he doesn't have engough money to eat but as long as he can go for a drink with some friends at the end of the month it's alright. He graduated but even as a graduate his regular job would make him less than playing StarCraft. I don't know. This just really impressed me. It made an impact on me. Every single interview has and that's why I am probably not really an Armchair Athlete but an Armchair Aesthete. There were low points as well of course. One of them, which still hangs over me is the interview I did with Plexa. He didn't have a microphone and I said it was ok because I was quite nervous (it was one of my first interviews) but in the end it turned out the sound was HORRIBLE beyond belief. The interview is still not published because I just couldn't get it to work. My apologies Jesse and happy birthday!!!Alright. I am trying to get back to the point of the article again. The previous wall of text is pretty much just my complicated way of agreeing with this point: Show nested quote +If you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you have to constantly flush out new, quality content with established members that the community recognizes/knows/likes. This is a question of endurance and consistently finding ways to reinvent yourself and your show. Let’s not forget that you have to find something that no one else is doing, and then keep that constantly changing and expanding. Being new, being innovative and keeping doing it despite rocky starts.The possibility of guests, the popularity of your original show or how long you can do it are not guarantees to increase viewership. I was trying to get a lot of viewers of course but mainly because I wanted people to see what I saw. It was all so interesting. If you are planning to make money with this or make it a career then you should probably focus on big names, aggressive advertisement and especially regularly posting content. Sorry if this was way off-topic.
It certainly helps when he's linking back to every other article he's ever wrote to get more views. One of the smartest things I've seen a columnist do on these forums because that way he's actually generating more traffic than he originally would have. Others should take note!
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On January 08 2013 08:31 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2013 06:25 JOJOsc2news wrote:Holy shit. I was just reading through the Armchair Athleticism articles when I this mention. I feel quite honored. I feel like I really did everything I could regarding self-promotion and trying to get content out there that was different, new and entertaining. Could I have been more aggressive? Yes I could have been but not without giving up my principles. I believed in the content I produced and thought that the content itself would prove to be enough but as you all know it isn't as easy as that - at least not at the beginning. You gotta make a name for yourself. I wasn't willing to spam forums or otherwise aggressively interfere in other peoples spaces. There were other people out there at around the same time who were willing to be much more aggressive ( LagTV - but they produced very different content). I really feel that I have achieved a few things that are way out of what I expected. Robert Clotworthy wasn't really involved in the community when I approached him and he was really impressed with the feedback he had gotten. He went out there much more and the interviews with him popped up all over Youtube after that. The interviews with James Harper (Mengsk), Neil Kaplan (Tychus) and Robert Clotworthy were seriously one of the greatest experiences for me during the time of content production. I have been in contact with them ever since. The content I produced was also very much focused on putting people in the spotlight that don't necessarily get the attention but contribute SO MUCH to this outstanding community. I knew from the beginning that that meant I wouldn't be getting too much attention because obviously an interview with Grubby will get you more views than an interview with p4NDemik (that was my first TL Behind The Scenes interview. I will never forget that. He taught me a lot of what I know about TL now. I learned to appreciate all the hard work that all the volunteers put in to making this a great place). I didn't care about the BOOM effect of the names. It was really something personal. I interviewed people who I personally thought are interesting people in the community. The interview with David Ting for example was a great experience for me. He was sitting in some sort of basement and smiled at me with a really contagious smile. He didn't know who I was either (where from would he) but he seemed really pleased and positively surprised about the quality of questions asked and in the end shared a really important moment of his life. A moment that changed the way he thought about things and ultimately a moment that made him pursue what he is doing now. Moments like this were what I was after with my interviews. Empire.ho8ot told me that sometimes he doesn't have engough money to eat but as long as he can go for a drink with some friends at the end of the month it's alright. He graduated but even as a graduate his regular job would make him less than playing StarCraft. I don't know. This just really impressed me. It made an impact on me. Every single interview has and that's why I am probably not really an Armchair Athlete but an Armchair Aesthete. There were low points as well of course. One of them, which still hangs over me is the interview I did with Plexa. He didn't have a microphone and I said it was ok because I was quite nervous (it was one of my first interviews) but in the end it turned out the sound was HORRIBLE beyond belief. The interview is still not published because I just couldn't get it to work. My apologies Jesse and happy birthday!!!Alright. I am trying to get back to the point of the article again. The previous wall of text is pretty much just my complicated way of agreeing with this point: If you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you have to constantly flush out new, quality content with established members that the community recognizes/knows/likes. This is a question of endurance and consistently finding ways to reinvent yourself and your show. Let’s not forget that you have to find something that no one else is doing, and then keep that constantly changing and expanding. Being new, being innovative and keeping doing it despite rocky starts.The possibility of guests, the popularity of your original show or how long you can do it are not guarantees to increase viewership. I was trying to get a lot of viewers of course but mainly because I wanted people to see what I saw. It was all so interesting. If you are planning to make money with this or make it a career then you should probably focus on big names, aggressive advertisement and especially regularly posting content. Sorry if this was way off-topic. It certainly helps when he's linking back to every other article he's ever wrote to get more views. One of the smartest things I've seen a columnist do on these forums because that way he's actually generating more traffic than he originally would have. Others should take note!
That's how I got to this article. It's working.
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On January 08 2013 08:44 JOJOsc2news wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2013 08:31 StarStruck wrote:On January 08 2013 06:25 JOJOsc2news wrote:Holy shit. I was just reading through the Armchair Athleticism articles when I this mention. I feel quite honored. I feel like I really did everything I could regarding self-promotion and trying to get content out there that was different, new and entertaining. Could I have been more aggressive? Yes I could have been but not without giving up my principles. I believed in the content I produced and thought that the content itself would prove to be enough but as you all know it isn't as easy as that - at least not at the beginning. You gotta make a name for yourself. I wasn't willing to spam forums or otherwise aggressively interfere in other peoples spaces. There were other people out there at around the same time who were willing to be much more aggressive ( LagTV - but they produced very different content). I really feel that I have achieved a few things that are way out of what I expected. Robert Clotworthy wasn't really involved in the community when I approached him and he was really impressed with the feedback he had gotten. He went out there much more and the interviews with him popped up all over Youtube after that. The interviews with James Harper (Mengsk), Neil Kaplan (Tychus) and Robert Clotworthy were seriously one of the greatest experiences for me during the time of content production. I have been in contact with them ever since. The content I produced was also very much focused on putting people in the spotlight that don't necessarily get the attention but contribute SO MUCH to this outstanding community. I knew from the beginning that that meant I wouldn't be getting too much attention because obviously an interview with Grubby will get you more views than an interview with p4NDemik (that was my first TL Behind The Scenes interview. I will never forget that. He taught me a lot of what I know about TL now. I learned to appreciate all the hard work that all the volunteers put in to making this a great place). I didn't care about the BOOM effect of the names. It was really something personal. I interviewed people who I personally thought are interesting people in the community. The interview with David Ting for example was a great experience for me. He was sitting in some sort of basement and smiled at me with a really contagious smile. He didn't know who I was either (where from would he) but he seemed really pleased and positively surprised about the quality of questions asked and in the end shared a really important moment of his life. A moment that changed the way he thought about things and ultimately a moment that made him pursue what he is doing now. Moments like this were what I was after with my interviews. Empire.ho8ot told me that sometimes he doesn't have engough money to eat but as long as he can go for a drink with some friends at the end of the month it's alright. He graduated but even as a graduate his regular job would make him less than playing StarCraft. I don't know. This just really impressed me. It made an impact on me. Every single interview has and that's why I am probably not really an Armchair Athlete but an Armchair Aesthete. There were low points as well of course. One of them, which still hangs over me is the interview I did with Plexa. He didn't have a microphone and I said it was ok because I was quite nervous (it was one of my first interviews) but in the end it turned out the sound was HORRIBLE beyond belief. The interview is still not published because I just couldn't get it to work. My apologies Jesse and happy birthday!!!Alright. I am trying to get back to the point of the article again. The previous wall of text is pretty much just my complicated way of agreeing with this point: If you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you have to constantly flush out new, quality content with established members that the community recognizes/knows/likes. This is a question of endurance and consistently finding ways to reinvent yourself and your show. Let’s not forget that you have to find something that no one else is doing, and then keep that constantly changing and expanding. Being new, being innovative and keeping doing it despite rocky starts.The possibility of guests, the popularity of your original show or how long you can do it are not guarantees to increase viewership. I was trying to get a lot of viewers of course but mainly because I wanted people to see what I saw. It was all so interesting. If you are planning to make money with this or make it a career then you should probably focus on big names, aggressive advertisement and especially regularly posting content. Sorry if this was way off-topic. It certainly helps when he's linking back to every other article he's ever wrote to get more views. One of the smartest things I've seen a columnist do on these forums because that way he's actually generating more traffic than he originally would have. Others should take note! That's how I got to this article. It's working.
I know it is. If I were a guy to toot my own horn/plug myself this is how I would go about doing it.
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On November 04 2012 15:08 StarStruck wrote:
Torte this is almost ironic. O_O
The amount of views your new column is generating is underwhelming! ;o
As someone who's read some of Torte's earlier works, this is extremely accurate. He deserves more recognition for his work.
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Australia8532 Posts
On November 04 2012 15:08 StarStruck wrote:
Torte this is almost ironic. O_O
The amount of views your new column is generating is underwhelming! ;o
Haha makes you think it was almost planned this way?
Torte you sly devil (:
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Thanks for bumping this topic up (:
Thanks Jojo for the full reply, I really value these kinds of responses.
and yes, this topic is 100% irony :B
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kwkQa.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PhU1k.png)
