*nods* Thank you. Kaidus raised that one and I addressed it in post 31. It's definitely big.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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

Hey! I continue to get criticism on my casting, which is great in theory, but very little of it is constructive or specific. So I'd like to put out a call for people to give specific criticisms to the way I cast TF2.

I put a lot of effort into casting, and lots of work. I have taken my habit of doing prep for announcing into TF2 casting, and always like to give team histories, stats, or anything related to standings etc. during casts. I never just sit down and start talking - on a night that I cast, I'm typically running through parts in my head hours before, on my drive home, whatever. It's just like playing - at least some level of preparation is needed no matter how many times you do it, or else your performance may suffer.

I certainly know I'm not perfect, and am always looking to improve. But criticisms like "you say dumb shit" are vague, and something like "you just read the kill feed" is, frankly, criticizing something I don't really do much at all, certainly a ton less now than I ever have. Again, I'm far from perfect, but I have focused on that particular point a lot.

I'm asking if anybody would like to look at some recent casts (TFTV YouTube is the best place to find them, as I've done a ton of ESEA this season) and give me some real feedback. Either in this thread, or by Private Message here on TFTV (preferred, because this avoids this thread turning into a shitfest etc.) In October, I actually reached out to several users and got some really great points and feedback, and it helped a ton. I am always open to this.

All I ask is you are specific with your feedback and criticisms. One user even gave timestamps in YouTube videos of casts - that helped ENORMOUSLY.

Broadcasting, especially for sports, is my education, my job, likely my career going forward. I appreciate YOUR help in aiding me with this hobby of mine which is TF2 casting.

Thanks a million. You can also add me on Steam if you'd like.

when i bought The Orange Box in December 2007, i bought a shitty 20 dollar Logitech headset that day at Sears

it's so old that it doesn't even exist on the internet anymore, but it was kind of like this only shittier.. only one earphone, not USB, shitty cheap black foam that eventually wore completely off

http://cf4.souqcdn.com/item/88/91/8/item_L_88918_516102.jpg

anyway i used this headset for the better part of 6 years until it basically fell apart. i sort of miss it for its shittiness

Tried these? They fuckin rule

http://harvestsnaps.com/img/products/sc-blackpepper.png

i inhaled some helium with marxist

http://www.twitch.tv/getawhale/c/6216093

john_johnson come along to Newbie Mixes tonight - same goes for anyone else wanting to see what competitive play is all about!

Hope to see y'all there

Thank you for that input, that's actually something I'm conscious of. It's good to know it's evident because that means I have to keep working on it.

1,393,514

http://41.media.tumblr.com/a391a1b4b46dd6b498d379e50f96ecbc/tumblr_nkcjuq8Tdr1tnacy1o1_1280.jpg

apparently the internet is having a hard fuckin time deciding what colors this is

post your decision here before reading the article because it might influence you