Photo by Patrick Strack and ESL.
How did you get into Esports and what made you choose this line of work?
I fell in to it really. I loved games from an early age and being very competitive found myself enthralled by computer games in the arcade and on my spectrum, dragon 32 or commodore 64 to the point where I just had to beat the computer and complete the game. That same kind of competitiveness also drove me to play online in 1995 with Quake on one of the first internet modems. Back then of course it was 300ms ping and expensive dial up costs, but I loved the idea of playing other humans in game rather than just beating the computer. So I guess that was my first taste of competitive online gaming and from there I started playing in clans and competing in online tournaments like Barrysworld and JoltLeague and by 1999/2000 in leagues and ladders like ClanBase and ESL. I’d also started attending events in 99 at I-series and other UK lans that were anything from 30 player tournaments up to 500 people and regularly winning tournaments with my team. In 2002, I was competing at a high level in Unreal Tournament CTF and was asked to do some shoutcasting, which I’d never done before but loved it and the feedback was pretty good so I just kinda carried on doing it for free online via shoutcast radio. So I wouldn’t say I chose this line of work and indeed never had any desire to be a broadcaster though my childhood friends all tell me now its something they always thought I’d be good at!
These days I am lucky to have a full time role with Gfinity and still do the odd event as a host or commentator and I feel super lucky for that opportunity as sitting in an office 9-5 was getting pretty boring. Esports is full of competition, great players, amazing teams and brilliant games, there is no other industry like it in my opinion.
After all these years do you feel the same energy when you enter the stage in comparison to your first ever event?
Yes! Surprisingly perhaps, but it never gets old walking out in front of thousands of people and speaking to millions of viewers watching. Its still a huge buzz and adrenaline rush to go through it personally and the day I stop feeling butterflies in my stomach just before we go onair is the day I will know I have had enough of doing it. I imagine I’m a little calmer now with experience and I don’t worry so much about things going wrong, but the same excitement level is still there.
"The day I stop feeling butterflies in my stomach just before we go onair is the day I will know I have had enough of doing it."
How do you keep energy when you are in front of a full stadium, when the crowd is cheering for their favourites and you are the one calling them out?
I get the energy from the crowd! I’ve never had to worry about that honestly, its just something you feed off when at an event. Its partly why I hate seeing commentators shut away in a room somewhere else and not being in the venue as they really do get a lot of energy and feeling from the crowd and the reactions they make to teams and players etc.
Have you ever had a hard time hyping up the crowd, and if so how did you settle the situation?
Luckily not really. I think you need to make sure you understand your audience and act appropriately. The hardest challenge I always had was at the Gadget Show where it wasn’t just esports, but had lots of technical or hardware related segments and it was totally focused on the crowd interaction. In those circumstances it was a little harder than normal esports events, so I had to use humour and free stuff to make it more fun for the audience, but that was due to understanding the audience we had around were casual gamers and weren’t interested in the esports part of the show but did want to get free stuff and appreciated a little light humour after walking around a big show all day! I think if you have trouble hyping a crowd you are probably in the wrong job as a host or presenter.
As a person who has been in Esports for a very long time, what do you think of its current state? Is it moving in the right direction or are some adjustments needed?
I love how far esports has come over the last 13 years since I was first involved and I think its in an amazing position right now, but there is still more work to be done, better facilities for players, associations to be built, teams still need to improve their general treatment of players and fans, we still need to get even better at broadcasting esports events and especially providing a great experience in large venues for those who visit and our talent still needs to improve or face being replaced by traditional TV personalities as the money increases. But overall, when you consider I was commentating to 50 people from my bedroom on internet radio 11 years ago, I’d say we’ve come a long way in a very short space of time and everyone should be very proud of that no matter how big or small their contribution to esports.
Was it hard for you to decide to leave ESL after so many years, and how are things looking in Gfinity so far?
It was an incredibly tough decision to leave ESL. They’d given me so many opportunities to do what I loved doing and I’ll always be grateful for that but I needed a new challenge and I also needed to look to secure my personal future, I’m not a young man any more and I only have a limited time to make sure I am set. The role of a host has a limited timespan in my opinion, but I could be wrong. Gfinity has given me plenty of challenges and I think we’ve come a long way in a short period improving our broadcasts exponentially to the point of high quality shows and our events have been excellent so I’m looking forward to some exciting times ahead.
Have any younger colleagues ever approached you asking for professional advice?
Yes, a lot. I regularly get skyped and tweeted for advice from people who either want to learn how to commentate or host or even those who have been involved a long time will ask for advice. I think its important that the long standing broadcasters give some time over to those looking in to commentating or broadcasting in esports, especially as they are usually the most passionate people about their game. I was very lucky to have lots of great people help me out in my early years so I feel like it’s the right thing to do for those asking me the same things now.
Many people are saying that DreamHack Cluj-Napoca has set new standards in terms of production quality. What is your point of view on this?
I think it depends what your view is. The in game stuff was fantastic and I think on a level we haven’t previously seen, but overall, I didn’t feel like it broke new ground or set it apart from any other top level production. That said, I think DreamHack got it right on many levels including the talent pool, the overall production, the staging and the pyrotechnics were excellent. They also did something for those attending that you couldn’t get at home such as the light sequencing and the player information synced to the lights which I thought really did set a new standard. I think that’s something we could all learn from.
What does it take to be a good stage host and what characteristics are paramount for the profession?
Lots of things, but mostly character! You need to be able to handle anything and do so gracefully under pressure. You need to be able to deliver different styles depending on the crowd and the information you have to give out (announcing a minute silence requires very different delivery to hyping up a team entrance for example) and you also need to remain calm, but still be a fan at heart so you can get across the excitement of the moment. Maturity also helps, but I can think of lots of great hosts who are relatively young too. It takes grace, gravitas, poise, thought and charisma in varying levels, but you also need to be a great communicator.
Having participated at numerous events you have surely seen a lot of matches. Players usually come out of them experiencing a plethora of emotions, do you remember any particularly extraordinary reactions from players?
I’d say Get_Right at last years ESL One Cologne hit me pretty hard. Him just sitting their in his socks wrapped around the giant trophy and crying through sheer joy of the moment. Having spoken to him and known him for a long time I had a good idea how much that Major win meant to him, despite all the other wins in his career I felt like this one mattered the most as a justification of his brilliance and in that moment all I could do was hug him. That will stay with me for a long time. I also love the FGC because they always give you something unique and I remember during a DOA4 match when Swoozie won against all odds, he literally jumped out of his chair and ran in to the crowd giving them all high fives as he ran around, that was also amazing to experience first hand.
Photo by Helena Kristiansson and ESL.
What would you describe to be the best experience you have had so far during any event?
Impossible question! I think as a host though, the opening 10 minutes of Katowice this year was very special as we’d written it between us and we’d practiced it a dozen times the day before and then we delivered an amazing opening, one of the best in esports history and to be the stage host in that moment felt very special.
"I think the community worries too much about the prize money overall."
Do you feel that Counter-Strike:Global Offensive is finally at the level where we should see an increased prize pool for the major tournaments and further involvement from Valve like in some other games?
I differ on this every day. When you consider the sticker money is in excess of $4million and all the players and teams benefit from that, the prize money is almost incidental. If you ask the players, most don’t really care about the prize money its all about winning a major and if you could give them a major win on their CV but told them it didn’t come with any money, they’d probably take it! I think the community worries too much about the prize money overall, its like no fans give a shit about how much the teams get for winning the FA CUP (Less than the team who won TI5 by the way!) or for how much Andy Murray got for winning Wimbledon, its about the glory of winning that event and I think it should be the same in esports. The main worry I have is for the players and making sure they have a sustainable income that doesn’t preclude them from being able to be a full time professional and as long as that’s covered, it doesn’t really matter. Sure, if each major had $1million it would look better to mainstream and those outside of esports, but id rather it was $4million in sticker money and $250k prize fund than, no sticker money and $1milion prize pools.
Do you think that the event schedule is overfull, or does a large amount of events help the game develop?
I think at some point it becomes unhealthy for the players and the fans and we may be close to that right now but it doesn’t stop the game from developing.
What do you predict the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene to become the next two years? Is there any particular direction you expect the scene to grow in? If so, is it the direction you would like it go?
I’ve honestly no idea. I think we are close to seeing a plateau in viewing figures though, but the game still has massive potential to grow even more if it can attract even more players.
The Counter-Strike scene is now almost fifteen years old. How far away are we from getting competitive gaming widely acknowledged as an official sport? What can we do in order to reach that goal?
I don’t personally care about that goal. I don’t think its advantageous in almost any way to getting it recognised as a sport. The bottom line is, its competitive gaming and whether that allows it by someones dictionary definition to be called a sport or not doesn’t really matter. Mainstream acceptance is far more important in my opinion and I think we have come a long way down that road already. We still have more work to do but its mostly a generational thing and in time it will be absolutely normal for a young teenager to tell their parents that they want to be an esports professional just the same as telling your parents you want to be a rock star or a professional footballer is now. The difference is, in 15 years from now, todays esports fans will have children asking them those questions and it will be absolutely normal.
Photo by Kelly Kline and ESL.
CS:GO is rated M for mature by ESRB. We have seen professional players use profanities time after time during interviews and obviously this is impossible to moderate, as it is up to the individual. Do you feel players should be penalised for outbursts, or is the viewership mature enough to handle profanity?
In theory the audience is mature enough, though I think we all know many under 18’s do watch and play CS:GO. I’m not overly worried about players using profane words on occasion, but I think they should be thinking about setting an example to their fans but hey, lets not get in to the realms of punishing players for the odd slipup or it will become sanitised and I don’t think that would be good either.
Do you find betting has had a largely negative impact on CS:GO as an Esport, or is it the case that it is a natural occurrence in competitive sporting that cannot be changed?
I’m more concerned about under age betting than betting per se. I think it’s a natural evolution in the case of any sport where popularity means someone, somewhere wants to bet on the outcome of the competition, so I don’t think its something we can stop ever if we wanted to but I do think companies need to take more responsibility to ensure their members are of age and it is legal to bet for that person in their country. There are a lot of different laws about it and they differ significantly around the world, but I think we can all get on board with trying to educated the younger members of our community on the perils of betting and ensure the controls are in place to stop them from gambling until they are allowed to.
What is your opinion on the Team Union and all the rumours surrounding the monopolisation of the CS:GO scene?
I think a team union was always inevitable and I don’t see that its about monopolozing anything, I think its just a set of people who have monetary considerations that collectively they can help steer people to what they want. I don’t think theres anything wrong with that as long as it’s a two way street with organisers and open, non-hostile discussion can take place. I think its more important than ever that the players have an association as right now, they are massively unrepresented and are not always looked after in the correct way.
Headline image by Patrick Strack and ESL; DreamHack image by Adela Sznajder.
