This isn't really a criticism, and you might already be doing this. But a lot of the time where I've found myself disinterested in the caster is when they don't really know what/ who they're talking about.

I'm can safely assume you have a pretty strong grasp of the meta and w/e strategies are being used. But maybe researching some of the players you're speaking about beforehand. Adding them, and speaking with them before a match and mention the players opinions. Giving yourself something to speak about during the stagnant parts (pauses, uber trades, etc.)

Once again I'm not sure if you've already done this but it's just a tip. GL improving, you're already doing a pretty great job!

You are doing 100% better than the people not trying.

You will get better with practice.

Try not to steal other peoples 'catchphrases'. ex: if i hear anyone but cbear say 'nipple hairs away' it makes me instantly annoyed with the caster.
(not saying you do this, but i've seen others do so)

humility goes a long way

During a cast? In general? Could you be more specific?

I know the esea alias thing is tricky but I really like it when the casters know the players' names and how to pronounce them.

jenkaiir

u should probably ask colman and shintaz.

stop getting sidetracked from the game and miss crucial events and then late-react to it

talk all you want in stalemates, but for the love of god catch the action when its happening

oh and don't talk over the other caster

overreact to plays/big plays, make it exciting for us

i like the fact you're putting work into it, thank you, we take it as granted and we shouldn't

i wish there was someway to watch the same thing as the cameraman is watching

BETTER THAN YOUR REAL ALIAS

Again, is this a specific thing you saw from me?

For Invite, we have a great plugin that turns, for example, "23_skidoo" into dbw, etc. for all teams. Certainly for all our Invite matches we always know who's who.

Me too - a year ago the Twitch delay wasn't as bad and it was easy to follow along with the cast on another screen. Good for calling out things the camera man is seeing, good for "as you can see", etc.

Thanks for the other points!

trim ur hair you damn hippy

if shitonmychest was still here would u still say his name as it is

u could pretend he was just a big superman fan and leave it at that

Nigga let me preface this with saying I studied broadcast journalism for 2 years, does this make me an expert? No way, but on that same train of thought getting into sports journalism is something that was on my mind for years of my life. So that being said I definitely have some opinions on the matter.

I am legitimately happy to hear you are on the cast for the night, how you cast triggers the same serotonin-laden part of my brain that feels euphoria watching most if not any sports cast with a decent broadcaster. You treat TF2 like Mike Tirico treats Monday Night Football, I get that kind of vibe.. and I've spent tens of thousands of hours watching sports broadcasts. The set of legitimate skills that you have on a technical level is perfect for broadcasting anything, let alone a video game.

You have some of the best 'pass to a co-caster' techniques/transitions I have heard in TF2 as well. You're very good at working your co-caster/color commentator into the mix. I feel bad even because when we casted together you threw it to me perfectly many times and I was out of sync/fumbling myself. The only person who can 'work with any co-caster' and perhaps carry as cast doing play by play as well as you've managed would be cbear. That's pretty noice company to keep.

Something that pisses me off is shit like this:

http://i.imgur.com/SJwtM8Z.png

What the fuck is that? It's like a running joke or something, I mean I know this community adores mob mentality in regards to hating people but that's the kind of shit no one deserves to see, let alone someone donating tonnes of their time to keeping as much high-level TF2 in the limelight as possible. I wouldn't just call this out if it was a funny one-time troll but people seem to get off on hating you. Please dear god, do not take that rubbish to heart.

What to work on?

1. Perhaps talking over people just a little. (I don't hear this happen with Marxist, who I think is a perfect co-caster for you) but by the nature of sometimes us throwing together casters at the last minute this always can't be the case.

2. Honestly, sounding uninterested when the co-caster finishes talking sometimes. I know them talking is you getting a break, but before you start doing play-by-play again you sometimes seem very " mhmmm, yep *nods head* " as if you were paying 50% attention to what they just said. I don't know how you actually improve this, but just something I've noticed.

TL;DR you're doing great, and since I just sucked your dick the least you can do is cum on my face. God bless.

i dont know if viewers from outside the circle of competitive players feel the same way as we do here on tftv but often it just feels like you lack awareness for the details of the game which are most interesting at any given point in the match.

as an example, a person who is vocal about details of the game when he casts, and i understand this isnt exactly a fair comparison, is bl4nk: often when he casts he calls out details which to the casual viewer seems uninteresting but to a competitve player who is watching the stream somewhat critically (i think a lot of us do this subconsciously) it is the most interesting.

again, this is on the far side of the spectrum: i dont think anyone expects a super critical cast but my point is that if you want to appeal to the group of competitive players who watch matches semicritically then the only solution i can possibly think of for you is to actually start playing the game a lot, instead of just exclusively casting

in all seriousness, tf2 is such an amateur, diy scene that I don't think people are 100% used to the idea of the true traditional 2-person casting model, ie play-by-play and color

if people are criticizing you for not doing analysis, or for asking seemingly dumb/obvious questions of marxist or whoever just to setup their analysis, then they don't understand how casting is actually supposed to work

if they think you try too much to actually do analysis yourself, and it isn't accurate, then that's a fair criticism. if they think you miss too many important kills/plays, then that's a fair criticism.

honestly, it's pretty hard to tell what the main criticisms of you are, not having watched much of your casting, cuz this community is filled with 14 year olds and they just bandwagon without putting thought into things

You don't really provide any insight. You do fine as a play by play type commentator but your lack of experience really shows when you try to do any sort of analysis. You've been lucky to be matched with casters like Marxist who really do understand the game, and you should let them do their job. You don't even need to ask leading questions. Just narrate the action (which you are very good at) and let your cocaster do the talking during stalemates/freezetime.

In general, I think the only caster who is hypey enough is gecks (besides cbear) and I really feel like most casters undervalue this quality. if you get hyped up for big frags, multi kills or whatever, it will get the viewers hooked into the game instantly. I've even found myself reacting in my chair with a big "WHOAAA" if the caster is making it exciting, If they are talking like they're narrating its really hard to get into it or stay focused on the game.

That being said, I think casts really need a little bit of a play by play hype caster and just 1 analyst to chime in during a bit of the downtime, the play by play caster should be doing 70% of the casting IMO.

just typical TF2 brainwashed bandwagon action, wouldn't worry about it.

i feel like a good caster really understands a game fully and breaks it down to the common viewer so that they can understand the strategies a team is implementing. Your casting lacks that deep level of analysis, and instead you just mention things that you don't really even need a caster to see.
an example IMO of a very basic, shallow analysis : "they are pushing through big floor"
an example of a more in depth analysis : "I've noticed that there demo always puts stickies and choke, not only that but their scouts just took heavy spam so they will be coming back to the med to buff up, this makes flank poorly watched and easier to push through big door"

ofc i'm a 16 year old who plays in low open, so my opinion might be flawed.

I agree with this. Unlike bigger esports, when you're casting TF2 your audience is gonna consist of a lot of experienced players/spectators who've watched and played a lot of the game. So it's a lot more obvious to us if you're unaware of certain aspects of the game than it might be to another scene. From what I've seen you've got all the technical aspects of casting down though, so play to your strengths and let a co-caster cover the weak spots. You do fine

lmao take your own advice botmode

idk how much free time you have or what your general skill level is getawhale, but actually playing the game, even at a low level gives you a whole lot of insight on what's happening and what/who you should be looking at

also +1 on the "try to know who people are beforehand" party, I know you talk with marxist a decent amount outside of casts, and he's been around a while so you could probably bring it up with him and he could give you a decent scoop on who's who

Already done

Love you more than girl gamerz

I started to wade into competitive play when I came back to the game in 2013 after a year or two away, but honestly playing got in the way of casting opportunities. It's the same reason gecks hasn't been around for some casts this season; he plays in ESEA.

Your point is very fair; I'd love to learn by DOING, that would be great. But I don't think it's logical at this point.

This is one area where I use the comparison to real sports. If I go on to do hockey announcing or basketball like I used to do, would I need to enroll in a league and play in order to understand the game? Not necessarily. Sure, it helps - it's the ABSOLUTE BEST way, and quickest way, and most complete way to understand the game. But you can also get to a very high level by watching and studying the game - it's not quite the same, and it's a constant learning thing, but it works. (I do understand that real sports are not the same as eSports but I feel like the time commitment and many other things are similar.)

Thank you for this. I get irked when people criticize the questions I ask of my caster; although sometimes I may be off-track, asking the questions is a mechanism to get analysis out in a natural and relevant way. It's not because I am literally asking Marxist to explain something to me personally.

This is a great and very valid point that I have been adjusting for 6-8 months. Initially, especially since I was doing Highlander, and that audience is very different, I was into the whole "keep it basic, cater to as many people as possible, explain for the audience of people who are new to the game" thing. I had to take a total 180 out of that, so yes that's a great point thank you.

-

Thanks to anyone contributing thus far. Remember if you don't want it public, just PM me or add me on Steam; I've already gotten one PM and appreciate it. If you want to agree/disagree with any of this, or just whatever.

hey getawhale. i noticed that you saw my reddit post criticizing your casting. but when you quoted it here, you kinda left out the almost constructive part of it. lets take another look:

http://i.imgur.com/3bumFdR.png

now, i think youve got the skills to be a good caster. you have a good voice and personality. but the thing thats bothering me, is that it feels like youre learning the game by casting it. in official casts. which to a lot of players, looks like youre underexperienced. tf2 is a game with a lot going on, and a lot of people making a lot of decisions. so when we have someone that seems a little unsure of why something is happening, or why. and thats the problem. i really only ever see you casting. youre not playing on a team, in esea or ugc, and that tells me that youre not willing to better yourself as a player. the best casters that weve ever had played at the top. even gecks was on an open team this season. so if youre coming here looking for advice, just look at it like any ugc player that comes here wanting sniper or pyro help. just play the game more. youll understand things better when youve done them for the same reason the players are doing them, not just when you birds eye view it in an stv.

EDIT: Guess i got ninjad, but w/e

play a season of esea 6s to help you better understand whats going on in the players heads and what they can potentially be thinking about, it seems like whenever your casting marxist has to mentor you on things involving with mentality and just basic things about the game its self.

I enjoy your casts but something I remember noticing is that the tempo/excitement during last pushes or crucial moments of the game is often off. For example, the team pushing last looking for their fifth cap (NA rules) is an absolutely pivotal moment, the outcome determines if the game is over or continues, but I often see it casted like any other fight in terms of the pace and energy levels. You may say that its game deciding, but the overall tone during the fight doesn't reflect it, and then when the game ends there has been absolutely no build up to this moment (or if the point is defended, there has been no deeper context created that makes it a significant defense). I'm not saying it's always the case but it's definitely something I've noticed, particularly in games that aren't incredibly close. I don't expect you to go bat shit wild when a team defends last with the score 4-1, but I feel like the "story" of matches is often lost and it ends up being a random sequence of events.

I think I've made it sound worse than it actually is though, but I'm trying to be detailed.

Hey Bill, sorry if you felt like I was singling you out - while the Reddit thread was the catalyst for this, I was citing general examples and not yours specifically.

That said, I hope you can consider the points I made above. At 29 years old, it makes zero sense for me to get into competitive; I just don't have the time for it. I know that may sound like I'm not willing to better myself or whatever, but try to understand it from my perspective. I work 5 days a week to earn a living, and most nights that I cast I'm dashing home a little early to be able to be there on time. This is a side thing I do, but the time just isn't there for me to both play and cast.

I've had good times with playing TF2 - beginning in 2007, and right up to when Highlander/6v6 became the decided upon formats around 2010 or so. I used to play every night, it ruled. I took a break for a couple years, and came back around late 2012, when I started looking at organized competitive. I played in the Lost Continents community, and got to play pickups/etc with lots of great players there - including another guy that came from there, djc. Admittedly, I don't take part in pugs or competitive anymore. I'm not saying I'm new, and I'm certainly not exalting myself as being old school; I missed some golden years of competitive. But I've been around the game.

I obviously know that not playing means I will never understand the game to the same extent as any high level competitive player, but I'm okay with this. As dashner alluded to, I am not there to be the encyclopedia of knowledge. While this may come with years of casting, as it does for real sport announcers, I am more present for my ability to move a cast along, to encourage good interaction between casters, and to try to do those other "broadcasty" things. I try to learn from every cast that I do, and make an effort to keep building the experience like a big.. dusty stack of experience.

Anyway I'm rambling but thanks for joining the discussion

Thank you. This is definitely a big thing that I've got sidetracked on while trying to improve other things. I think this is my #1 currently. Just watched half of the VOD's from S15 LAN and those kicked me into gear on the energy thing. Danford and cbear rule.