On the forefront of bridging the gap between the Korean Heroes of the Storm scene and the rest of the world, stands RallyJaffa. As a freelance journalist he interviews [and translates] for top Korean teams. Rally has most recently and successfully assisted in signing reigning Global Champions, Team Tempest with American based organization, Tempo Storm. We talked a bit with him about the difference of regions, and what he feels Heroes esports and esports journalism is currently lacking.
Tell us a little bit about yourself for people that don't know who you are/your background.
I am a freelance journalist working from Seoul who specializes in Korean eSports coverage. I have closely followed the professional scenes of various titles for nearly two decades, and Heroes of the Storm has been my latest focus. Since introducing myself to the Western Heroes community in early May, I have published over 50,000 words' worth of articles.
Why freelance esports journalism/why Heroes of the Storm?
Despite keeping an eye on professional Heroes of the Storm for some time, I only started playing the game this April. I fell in love with the game very quickly, which led me to realize I really wanted to do something about the game's continuous slow decline. I knew there were many things I could do for Heroes, and figured that the best place to start would be doing what I could do best at that moment in time - writing about the Korean scene.
What skills does that take?
In no particular order: being perfectly bilingual, having a strong work ethic, maintaining one's love for writing, knowing how to build rapport, being professional when conducting business, understanding the distinction between niche and obscure, and actually knowing what you're talking about.
What is the hardest parts of it?
Knowing I could write only about League of Legends, Hearthstone, DotA 2, and Overwatch instead to near-instantly earn a respectable salary. My services are currently very much in demand for many paying publications/organizations, but only for those four titles, not my favorite game.
What type of content do you think esports needs more of?
Market growth naturally fosters more types of content, although in huge titles great content getting buried by highly polished garbage becomes a persistent issue. In terms of content quality and quantity, Heroes is in a very good spot. In terms of content creators' financial sustainability, Heroes is in a rather poor spot.
You specialize in the Korean scene— what have you learned so far about the differences between that region and others?
It has become increasingly difficult to pinpoint sweeping regional differences between major regions in terms of exposure, financial stability, and infrastructure.
...EU has the healthiest scene, then NA, then KR & CN.
We have to look at regions on a title by title basis - China has the largest League of Legends scene, Korea has the largest Starcraft II scene, North America has the largest Halo scene, etc. If we were to talk specifically about Heroes of the Storm, EU has the healthiest scene, then NA, then KR & CN.
Asian dominance in Heroes mainly stems from the majority of Western Heroes organizations failing to understand how to build and run a successful team.
You have a unique perspective seeing other regions as an 'outsider' that is focused on the Korean scene. From that, what do you think of the Global Heroes esports scene as a whole? (do you think it's doing well, could Blizzard improve it more, etc?)
Competitive Heroes of the Storm should shift to either a 'seasonal regional leagues' system or a 'frequent international tournaments offering various amounts of circuit points' system. The current format is financially unforgiving for the vast majority of professional teams and will fail to foster the growth of a truly sustainable scene.
Explain a little bit of what you do with Team Tempest and how you got involved with them.
No one on Tempest had any clue of how to market themselves to potential sponsors & negotiate with interested parties, let alone speak English, so I decided to offer them help for free.
Since then, I barely slept for weeks, working around the clock to bring the Tempest to Tempo Storm deal to reality.
Since then, I barely slept for weeks, working around the clock to bring the Tempest to Tempo Storm deal to reality. At the players' request, I also agreed to follow them to Tempo Storm as to prevent the language barrier from causing miscommunication, which is why my role is listed as Communications Specialist. My duties will be minimal. General team operations, managerial duties, and content creation will be handled by either the players or Tempo Storm.
What is your end goal?
On a short-term personal level, figuring out how to financially justify staying dedicated to Heroes of the Storm.
On a long-term professional level, helping Heroes esports grow to one day overtake League of Legends and DotA2.
Laugh at me if you want, but long-term end goals rarely sound realistic in the present.
What is your advice for people who want to get into esports journalism?
Always stay aware of your current and potential worth.
Any last thoughts? Shoutouts?
Keep an eye out for a Twitlonger detailing my potential future in Heroes: it should be uploaded sometime next week.
Sincere respects to Team Inven for granting us permission to run an official English stream for Powerleague S2.
Sincere respects to Tempo Storm for offering the best players in the world a contract and platform they deserve.
Be sure to follow Rally on twitter and checkout his past and present interviews on rallyjaffa.com
Follow us on Twitter @GosuGamersHotS and on Facebook for more competitive Heroes of the Storm news and coverage from around the world.
