EPT[M] Corto : Hello everybody !
For those of you who currently try to keep up with every StarCraft II tournaments, you must have noticed that most of them can be followed on the Twitch.tv channel BaseTradeTV : IEM qualifiers, Against the odds, Olimoleague, 32 boys One Cup, Who’s the best European, Go4SC2 and I could continue like that for some time…
Simultaneously, this channel is probably most of the time when it’s on air at the top in terms of viewership among other StarCraft II channels. So such success has for sure something to do with the charisma of its main caster and founder Graham Rogers that you probably know under the nickname Rifkin.
To come back with him on the history of BasetradeTV and discuss about its future and probably many other StarCraft II related questions, it is my pleasure to have him with me today.
So hello Rifkin !
Rifkin : Hello !
[M] Corto So, from what I understood, BasetradeTV was created early in 2012 after you left ZEEK TV, another organization for whom you used to cast, and that you left to start your own project.
After two years, BasetradeTV is probably one of the most viewed StarCraft II channel on Twitch.tv if not the most, if we exclude big tournaments channels like ESL, Dreamhack and Redbull. My first question is very simple : according to you, what have been and still are the key points for such success ?
Rifkin : Oh Boy... I want to say me first, right ah ah ! I guess that part of it is dedication, I think it has to be the number one thing. It is the fact that even when we had like only twenty people watching our stream, we still kept at it. Every week we would be there for Zotac cup, we’d be there for the Go4sc2. It was a matter of just keeping to it, I mean, every single week. For the last two years we have covered various weekly cups. And I really tribute a good ninety percents of our "success" to dedication.
[M] Corto OK. That’s probably it.
I would have also said maybe “the rhythm”. Because when we watch your stream, there’s really a lot of rhythm, I mean the breaks are really short, you are always talking, there is really a very good rhythm during your stream. I was also wondering if sometimes you watch your replays to see how it looks like and to see what you could maybe improve in your streams ? Or you don’t do it ?
Rifkin : Yes, I do it a lot and I got to tell you I think that just like every other human being on the planet, I hate listening to my own voice. It makes it incredibly difficult to go through hours of footage. But what you guys have to understand, is whenever you see a video cut up on Youtube, it is not because there is really sick timestamps someone else made, it’s because for the last year and a half, in fact up until two weeks ago I was the only one who’d cut off our VODs so I had to go through and watch each video, fully through so I cut it at the start and at the finish.
And there is a lot of thing you pick up on when you hear yourself. I think number one is a lot of the repeated words. I know for example that one of my vices is that I say “granted” way too much. But you know, I look back on it and it used to be every third word out of my mouth was “like” : you know “like this, like that, like ...” and after some time I manage to kinda cut that out of my dialogs, so I mean... Yeah I kinda go back and listen to what I am saying and what I can improve on.
For those of you who currently try to keep up with every StarCraft II tournaments, you must have noticed that most of them can be followed on the Twitch.tv channel BaseTradeTV : IEM qualifiers, Against the odds, Olimoleague, 32 boys One Cup, Who’s the best European, Go4SC2 and I could continue like that for some time…
Simultaneously, this channel is probably most of the time when it’s on air at the top in terms of viewership among other StarCraft II channels. So such success has for sure something to do with the charisma of its main caster and founder Graham Rogers that you probably know under the nickname Rifkin.
To come back with him on the history of BasetradeTV and discuss about its future and probably many other StarCraft II related questions, it is my pleasure to have him with me today.
So hello Rifkin !
Rifkin : Hello !
[M] Corto So, from what I understood, BasetradeTV was created early in 2012 after you left ZEEK TV, another organization for whom you used to cast, and that you left to start your own project.
After two years, BasetradeTV is probably one of the most viewed StarCraft II channel on Twitch.tv if not the most, if we exclude big tournaments channels like ESL, Dreamhack and Redbull. My first question is very simple : according to you, what have been and still are the key points for such success ?
Rifkin : Oh Boy... I want to say me first, right ah ah ! I guess that part of it is dedication, I think it has to be the number one thing. It is the fact that even when we had like only twenty people watching our stream, we still kept at it. Every week we would be there for Zotac cup, we’d be there for the Go4sc2. It was a matter of just keeping to it, I mean, every single week. For the last two years we have covered various weekly cups. And I really tribute a good ninety percents of our "success" to dedication.
[M] Corto OK. That’s probably it.
I would have also said maybe “the rhythm”. Because when we watch your stream, there’s really a lot of rhythm, I mean the breaks are really short, you are always talking, there is really a very good rhythm during your stream. I was also wondering if sometimes you watch your replays to see how it looks like and to see what you could maybe improve in your streams ? Or you don’t do it ?
Rifkin : Yes, I do it a lot and I got to tell you I think that just like every other human being on the planet, I hate listening to my own voice. It makes it incredibly difficult to go through hours of footage. But what you guys have to understand, is whenever you see a video cut up on Youtube, it is not because there is really sick timestamps someone else made, it’s because for the last year and a half, in fact up until two weeks ago I was the only one who’d cut off our VODs so I had to go through and watch each video, fully through so I cut it at the start and at the finish.
And there is a lot of thing you pick up on when you hear yourself. I think number one is a lot of the repeated words. I know for example that one of my vices is that I say “granted” way too much. But you know, I look back on it and it used to be every third word out of my mouth was “like” : you know “like this, like that, like ...” and after some time I manage to kinda cut that out of my dialogs, so I mean... Yeah I kinda go back and listen to what I am saying and what I can improve on.
You can hear the interview here : Click me ! or read the transcription here : Click me !
Don't be afraid about the French words at the beginning, the interviewer, Corto, switches to English after a few seconds.
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