The Ultimate Frustration
Now you must be wondering what is with the title — what is this article about? This article revolves a lot of my frustration as a caster…
Now you must be wondering what is with the title — what is this article about? This article revolves a lot of my frustration as a caster. It might help some of you, it might not. Writing this helped myself so much and talking to various players/journalists about it.
This is an odd reference to my own situation with being as hired as talent for CS2. I’ve really only done closed qualifiers and online tournaments. I’ve never casted a LAN. I can imagine some people in a bit of disbelief about it. You’re the not only one, I am one of them too.
There have been multiple times where I just wanted to really push on why I should be invited over others. What I bring to the table compared to some of others is far more encompassing. I cover a large range of Counter-Strike from various different regions.
I can imagine a few people stating that it sounds more egotistical and entitled but it is essentially stating what I’ve done in Counter-Strike and the commitment to it.
This article could be controversial and will obviously have my self-interest considered. However, this is an honest perception from my point of view.
Your Place in the World
With the recent Dreamhack Melbourne, I am a bit disappointed. It is generally frowned upon to complain about not getting any LAN gigs. I break that rule quite a few times to be completely honest but it isn’t without any merit.
This isn’t meant to be a jab at any member of talent but more of an indicator of are you what the Tournament Organiser needs? When you announce two people who you travel from North America and England respectively to be on an analyst desk. You have to question yourself on how the people hiring consider your casting and analysis. What am I missing?
Just remember, they are paying for these people’s hotel costs, flights and other expenses. It is not cheap.
What sort of criteria do they base their hires on? I am going to put it plainly. I literally have no idea and it is absolutely frustrating. You can have all the speculation that you want about it but you may not get the answer on why.
So essentially, you must go on an endless goose chase of collecting different set of skills like you’re playing pokemon. Maybe you get a level 100 Mewtwo or maybe you get a level 2 Rattata.
So I’ve extended my range to writing articles, to doing interviews and so many other areas. I’ve started doing interviews on my stream for ESEA Premier which the main channel no longer does (As i finished this article — the official channel started doing interviews again). ANZ Champs did this so I basically yoinked it off them.
I’ve been told by multiple players on how they appreciate that I attempt to analyse and rationalise the game.
I actively use the map feature and draw on it to generate analysis for people to understand why X did Y instead of Z. Also, I go through the thought process going through their heads.
I’ve also highlighted sound cues, grenade cues and tactical blunders/baits to audience to show that I am able to paint a picture for you. Or even where they see a foot or a trailing leg. I even highlighted that you cannot hear any weapon switches etc.
I have casted all the teams at ESL Challenger Melbourne other than a few members from Party Astronauts. I have actively researched each team at this tournament.
I put in a lot of effort and heart in knowing from T1 CS to T3 CS — noting up and coming stars. There are a few people who have clearly and consistently demonstrated this and they are Ne0kai and Flamboyant.
After a tweet exchange, Inmaniac did get an answer on a potential reason why. It is whether you can follow directions and production is able to trust you to run a show. It isn’t about your knowledge of a game but I assume it certainly helps.
However, in this instance, it still leaves me even more confused and frustrated. I guess that quote that you just don’t like the answer makes it worse. It is probably true in this instance.
I do respect the decision but obviously, I can be unhappy with it.
A penny for your thoughts
I asked for feedback from various different people because I am legitimately frustrated. A majority of people said it isn’t about how good your analysis is but whether you’re popular or not. Some people have said it is who you know what you know. Others have said whether you’re able to follow production’s cues and production are able to trust you to run a good show. It is an extremely competitive industry.
Am i popular? I don’t know really. How do you measure popularity? Is it how much people come up and want a photo or have a chat with me? Is it how many people go “oh yeah, i watch your streams a lot on CS”.
Is it how many players appreciate that you pay attention to their scene in Europe, NA or Asia? It is a tough gauge. I believe it is popularity with the employer in particular.
Do I know people? I know a lot of casters, players but the people that hire? I know of them but I don’t know them. I knew nobody in talent when I started. If you do not know, I came into casting because two of my European viewers dared me to cast their friend’s demo.
Can I follow production’s directions? Yes. Simply put, yes. Wix and I have greatly improved since our first initial cast on being able to cut to break and what not. We’ve worked with multiple different production crews.
I do not come from a CS2 background. My main game is WoW. I started really getting into CSGO at Dreamhack 2018. I literally had maps and callouts (EU ones) of all the maps until it just came naturally to me. I casted EU Advanced Games, followed by ESEA Prem in Aus then eventually was casting EU, NA, AU and AS.
Taffy had mentioned to me that being hired at all based on that background alone is quite an achievement.
You may note I have not mentioned anything about any particular member of talent because bringing them down does not bring you up. It is about what you bring to the table.
I could talk about the strengths and weakness of any talent hired but that does nothing (unless I’m doing the hiring).
Being unable to crack a LAN just indicates that there is something holding me back. It is highly likely related to my opinions on certain subjects. It can also be due to the few run-ins I’ve had with certain people.
I don’t think anybody can state that my work ethic isn’t there or my knowledge isn’t there. I’ve gone to events outside of Australia such as Dreamhack Leipzig and Dreamhack Winter. I’ve talked to players at those events such as Golden, NBK, torzii, Styko, vilga and various others.
The thing is that you can do everything right and you still won’t land anything. Or alternatively, if you do one thing wrong, you’re not going to land anything. I mean the second situation rings true for DusT and that has put him in no mans land until the recent RMR.
What can you do?
So, I chatted to Taffy and various other ex-casters on what I should look at and one of the people (Koga) there said he just randomly got hit up by PGL and casted some qualifiers.
This was a long time ago and sometimes luck is just a part of it.
It is also who you know as well. If you know who is hiring then you can effectively get into their good books and away we go.
If you get into the opposite then good luck on ever getting hired. It actually sucks because one caster who fell into this wasn’t actually in the wrong but the person hiring was just incredibly rude. However, there are some people who legitimately deserve to never get hired.
If you’re expecting a pure meritocracy in esports then you’ve probably come to the wrong place. Infact, expecting a meritocracy anywhere in most corporate jobs is just as crazy. It is mainly a mixture of both as if you do a serviceable job and don’t rock the boat.
Some people literally fall upwards in any industry and you may begin to wonder how they even got there in the first place. I deal with a BDM (Business Development Manager) who makes no effort to actually resolve problems or develop business. That is their entire job yet firm after firm hires them to find out that they can’t do it!
The other part is leverage, if the event cannot run without you or your team. You can strongarm the TO (Tournament Organiser) into doing so. I would not recommend this because every single TO will eventually find a way to run a tournament without you. Nobody likes being strongarmed.
Pretty much, be approachable, be versatile but at the same time, hold yourself with some integrity. If you can do a serviceable job, you’ll always get hired. If you’re something that they can’t operate without, you’ll never need to worry.
Self- Analysis is Important
Let’s apply that previous paragraph to myself as a caster.
I’m going to say — the first one is very difficult for me. Secondly, I do not think I do a good job at getting into people’s good books either.
I don’t approach people that much because I’m not sure whether I’ll be wasting their time or not.
There are no issues with my integrity or versatility. You name something that needs to be done and I’ll do it.
The frustration is that even if you do all of that to the best of your ability. You may not get hired. You can do everything right and still end up not getting anything.
If you are reading this as a caster or anyone in talent. You’re not alone in feeling like this at all. We’ve all been there. We all feel pretty poopy when you’ve worked incredibly hard and you’re still not selected as talent again, again and again.
If you’re seeking to make casting or become talent as a part of your career make sure there is a viable path for you to become it.
If you are still doing substantial unpaid casts at a full-time capacity for 2–3 years, you may want to consider hanging up the mic.
It means that you may not be cut out for it or in Australia, they have enough casters. It is a sad truth and you have to be honest with yourself about.
At the end of the day, nothing can take away the epic and happy experiences that you have had casting.
Thank you for reading and just remember when you’re going through the blues about not getting anything. Remember that so many others have been through this as well.