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Do Casters Need To Be Good Players?

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 Next All
EspKaiser
Profile Joined April 2020
14 Posts
May 20 2020 15:40 GMT
#1
I don't know much about that.I think if a caster want to understand the match, make some prediction or analyze why something happened,he must be a great player first.What do you think about?If you think the strength of caster is very important and necessary,how many mmr a caster must have you think?

additional question,does a caster just need to tell what happened now and light up the atmosphere or he must tell many details about the tactics that the player of the match is using?
InfCereal
Profile Joined December 2011
Canada1759 Posts
May 20 2020 15:41 GMT
#2
You don't need to be a good player to be a good caster.
Cereal
Lexender
Profile Joined September 2013
Mexico2627 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-20 15:48:19
May 20 2020 15:47 GMT
#3
On May 21 2020 00:40 EspKaiser wrote:
I don't know much about that.I think if a caster want to understand the match, make some prediction or analyze why something happened,he must be a great player first.What do you think about?If you think the strength of caster is very important and necessary,how many mmr a caster must have you think?

additional question,does a caster just need to tell what happened now and light up the atmosphere or he must tell many details about the tactics that the player of the match is using?


While a caster must have a deep understanding of how the game works at higher levels, using MMR and such its nonsense really, top level players tend to be really bad casters as habing the verbosity and personality to be able to communicate everything clearly and in a fluid way has no correlation to the number there is next to you battletag.
Z3nith
Profile Joined October 2017
485 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-20 16:00:14
May 20 2020 15:56 GMT
#4
In Football you don't need to be a great player to be a great manager. Same applies to Starcraft and casters.
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
May 20 2020 16:07 GMT
#5
More importantly tho, is it possible to be a great player without being a caster first?

After today I think the answer is clearly NO.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
sudete
Profile Joined December 2012
Singapore3054 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-20 16:16:15
May 20 2020 16:13 GMT
#6
The answer to questions like these, and many other questions that demand stunningly absolute answers, is that it depends.

How many casters? MMR with only one race or multiple races? Do they have chronic laryngitis and a monotonous drone of a voice to boot? Do they have an accent that is not incomprehensible? Or do they have a voice that was made for radio?

If you could suggest things like game knowledge/skill as one important factor and general competency in shoutcrafting as another important factor in this formula, you will stop receiving answers that endlessly go in circles.

Imo players with high MMR and good casting ability are the absolute best in the business, assuming they don't get on people's nerves for some reason. I highly doubt this is an unpopular opinion.

Now we talk about players with low MMR and good shoutcasting abilities (e.g. the voice sounds delicious, they don't scream all the time, they say accurate things that make sense), and my obvious answer is that I would much prefer someone with higher MMR and equal or better casting ability. Does that mean the low MMR player cannot be a good caster? Probably not. We have seen enough evidence in the past (and present, though that makes for a tasteless joke) that the issue of knowledge/MMR deficiency is easily remedied by having a competent co-caster.

To answer your other question, which none of the other posters have bothered with, there is no obligation for a caster to be exceptionally play-by-play or analytic. It would help, but it certainly does not seem to be a requirement to cast starcraft. If your question is more specifically referring to whether a caster would be better received by the audience if they had some of these traits... then the answer is probably a big fat yes.
Year of MaxPax
Jerubaal
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States7684 Posts
May 20 2020 16:14 GMT
#7
Two things to remember:

-Having watched many games of the players is pretty important to casting, and it's unlikely a high MMR player would have this knowledge. In this sense, being a good steady caster and high ranked player are somewhat mutually exclusive.

-It's the job of the player to pick the one correct choice, while it's the job of the caster to expound upon the possible choices.
I'm not stupid, a marauder just shot my brain.
sudete
Profile Joined December 2012
Singapore3054 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-20 16:16:03
May 20 2020 16:15 GMT
#8
Edit: double post
Year of MaxPax
esReveR
Profile Joined February 2010
United States567 Posts
May 20 2020 16:26 GMT
#9
A hype/play by play caster doesn't need intimate knowledge of the game. For them mmr does not matter, just bringing excitement and keeping things interesting. However, an analytical style caster needs intricate knowledge of the game and match-ups to explain things to viewers. I'm not sure there is a mmr range required for this, but generally this type of caster is masters or gm. Ideally you have one of each working together in a cast (e.g. Tastosis).
Skill is relative.
DSh1
Profile Joined April 2017
292 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-20 17:44:32
May 20 2020 17:43 GMT
#10
Having knowledge is better than not having knowledge. Being good at SCII is better than being worse for sure.

As for casting though it is not the most important aspect imo. The main quality is to be entertaining. People who are interested only in what is going on are usually already competent at looking at the mini-map and production tab themselves

Maybe it is different for other games though. I can imagine that it would be helpful if someone know what's going on in overwatch as it is very difficult to see what is actually happening.
bulya
Profile Joined February 2016
Israel386 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-20 17:52:21
May 20 2020 17:50 GMT
#11
There are different sort of casters.
If you are a hype caster like Maynarde or Tasteless, then you don't really need to be that good at the game. You must know the units, and the very basics, but your job is hype the moment, so you don't really need any knowledge apart for the basics.
On the other hand, if you are a caster on the more analytical specter, then you must know a lot about the game. Examples for such casters are PiG, Artosis, Rotti, etc.

Wardii is a caster that is quite the whole package by means of casting, does it all, observing, hyping and analyzing, and I don't think he is that good. I ran into him on the ladder one time and he was below 5K MMR, I think even below 4.8K, which is an MMR doable for those who just go for a strong all-in build in every match-up and climb the ladder this way up till they get to the cap where enough people recognize well enough what they do so they win some and lose some with those. How high they get depends on the execution.
But I think its enough for him by means of MMR, as he wasn't doing an all-in, and he gets to experience all the match-up through casting so he is quite familiar with the metas and the way each player plays, and he can hype when he can't really analyze and give his 10 cents of analysis when he can.
DSK
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
England1110 Posts
May 20 2020 18:47 GMT
#12
On May 21 2020 00:41 InfCereal wrote:
You don't need to be a good player to be a good caster.


What Inf said, though it would probably help. Failing that, watching a tastosis ton of SC2 videos/replays.
**@ YT: SC2POVs at https://www.youtube.com/c/SC2POVsTV | https://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/SC2POVs @**
ThunderJunk
Profile Joined December 2015
United States677 Posts
May 20 2020 18:57 GMT
#13
There are plenty of good players who are just horrible at casting. When you look at football commentators, do they strike you as particularly athletic?

What really matters is being able to capture the most important things happening that relate to the outcome of the game, bring enthusiasm, and not be patently incorrect when speaking to shortcomings.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
Vindicare605
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States16056 Posts
May 20 2020 18:58 GMT
#14
On May 21 2020 00:41 InfCereal wrote:
You don't need to be a good player to be a good caster.


And inversely, just because you're a good player that does not make you a good caster.
aka: KTVindicare the Geeky Bartender
jojamon
Profile Joined December 2012
133 Posts
May 20 2020 21:15 GMT
#15
TY is probably the highest level player/caster haha
GreasedUpDeafGuy
Profile Joined August 2018
United States398 Posts
May 20 2020 21:16 GMT
#16
Casting quality has decreased GREATLY over the past few years
Cant catch me. You're wasting your time
BonitiilloO
Profile Joined June 2013
Dominican Republic614 Posts
May 20 2020 21:21 GMT
#17
On May 21 2020 06:16 GreasedUpDeafGuy wrote:
Casting quality has decreased GREATLY over the past few years


AGREE, casters just talk about the obvious things that are happening in the game, they should give players insight, strategic selection, map conversation, they need to be more like BW back in the days casters, you can learn a lot about the GAME MU by just listening to this korean casters, mean while artosis and tasteless are just pure entertaiment not to much knowledge about the game u can learn from.
How may help u?
dbRic1203
Profile Joined July 2019
Germany2655 Posts
May 20 2020 21:28 GMT
#18
On May 21 2020 06:21 BonitiilloO wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 21 2020 06:16 GreasedUpDeafGuy wrote:
Casting quality has decreased GREATLY over the past few years


AGREE, casters just talk about the obvious things that are happening in the game, they should give players insight, strategic selection, map conversation, they need to be more like BW back in the days casters, you can learn a lot about the GAME MU by just listening to this korean casters, mean while artosis and tasteless are just pure entertaiment not to much knowledge about the game u can learn from.

Artosis actually knows quite a lot about the game.
What Tastless does isn t even entertainment for me.
For GSL I usually tune into the Pros Casting on Twitch.
While it s also not great by any means, at least it s funny, when they are arguing, who s ahead and have realy strong opinions about it.
In general I enjoy the casting from other Casters quite a bit, as their mixture of hype/ knowledge/ backgrounds works just better for me than Tastosis.
MaxPax
Slydie
Profile Joined August 2013
1913 Posts
May 20 2020 21:49 GMT
#19
No, you don't. SC2 casting is not that different from casting any other sport.

As mentioned, a casting duo is usually made up by a play-by-play and an analytical guy. Both are equally important, but require different kinds of preparation and skills.

For the analytical part, there are plenty of examples of former athletes and coaches making a successul career switch to casting, but they do not have to be at a very high level currently. Tony Romo (NFL) and Grubby (SC2) come to mind as people to use their recent professional experience to make some almost superhuman calls about what was going on in the game, but I don't think that is a requirement. If you spend your time studying the game and talking to pros rather than practicing yourself, I you can become a fantastic caster while currently not being that great at the game.

Starcraft 2 is extremely lucky to have Tastosis! I remember the first time I heard them many years ago, and I was like "wow... these guys sound like real pros at what they do, esports is real!" I don't care at all about what MMR they are at.
Buff the siegetank
sudete
Profile Joined December 2012
Singapore3054 Posts
May 21 2020 05:15 GMT
#20
On May 21 2020 06:16 GreasedUpDeafGuy wrote:
Casting quality has decreased GREATLY over the past few years


It has simply always not been that great. The A-listers haven't changed much, the only real big losses being Apollo and Incontrol. The B-listers are totally different and still have that meh-ish level of casting, though I will refrain from giving names. There has always been a clear gap between the best casters, the good casters and the fill-in casters. Over the years, this is obvious if you compare the commentary quality on lower prize pool premiers, and higher prize pool majors, to the highest tier competition.
Year of MaxPax
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