Part 2 of this series of player development guides is focused on Media Relations; a factor in a player’s career that most players seem to overlook. A player’ value runs much deeper than just the scores they can put up on the board. A player’s...
Part 2 of this series of player development guides is focused on Media Relations; a factor in a player’s career that most players seem to overlook.
A player’ value runs much deeper than just the scores they can put up on the board. A player’s value lies much with their image as a player and promotion of sponsors and home team organizations. Without promoting these companies in a positive manner, players will not be able to keep their positions.
Previous editions in this guide:
Keeping a level head and positive image when dealing with the media is something that is more important than most players realize when it comes to E-Sports. As a player you usually represent yourself, as well as your team organization and the sponsors invested in that team. Thus, maintaining an image that reflects positively upon those people is a very important factor in a person’s career.
When conducting interviews with major media outlets, players can’t exactly ‘speak their mind’ as sometimes the things we say as ‘people’ aren’t acceptable; however when we speak as ‘professionals’ the things we say need to be right all the time. As a player you must know what to say, how to say it, when to say it and when to keep quiet.
Knowing what a journalist will ask in an interview before hand will help tremendously when you go to answer the questions later as you have time to think about your responses. However, this does not happen all that often; often times you will conduct the interview live, and sometimes on camera or audio, so you need to know what to say and what not to say at all times.
A few ways to cope with questions that put you on the spot or that you just cannot answer for one reason or another are too;
Answer vaguely:
Answering a question, without actually answering it leaves the interview going, as well as it allows you to avoid the specific question at hand, so you don’t say things you shouldn’t.
For example:
Q: “There has been a lot of talk about you and player X, a lot of 'drama' between the two of you has surfaced recently, would you care to comment on that?â€Â
A: “I think player X is a very skilled player, and I am hoping that when I play him again in the future I will come out on topâ€Â
Have prepared statements for certain ‘current topics’:
When popular topics arise, whether they are good or bad, it is best to have prepared statement for the media so you can remain consistent in your statements, as well as to protect yourself in tough times. An example of a rough situation is:
Q: “There has been a lot of rumors circulating recently about you changing team organizations, care to comment on them?â€Â
A: “I am just focusing on the upcoming tournaments, I have been practicing hard, and I hope to display good results for my team and our sponsors, MSI notebooks, Steel Series, and Ugame.netâ€Â
or to simply say: ‘next question please’.
It is best not to answer at all than to give a negative answer. A lot of people get stuck on difficult questions and do not know how to play them off, or they simply stumble and mumble through their answers, unsure of how to proceed. Ways to deal with these sorts of problems are quite simple as you can do ‘practice promotional interviews’ with your team/organizations staff. This is where you can practice answering questions on the spot, and when problems arise you can simply edit them out later, but you as a player still get that practice answering questions on the spot and your team will still get the promotional content from this as well.
When conducting interviews with major media outlets, players can’t exactly ‘speak their mind’ as sometimes the things we say as ‘people’ aren’t acceptable; however when we speak as ‘professionals’ the things we say need to be right all the time. As a player you must know what to say, how to say it, when to say it and when to keep quiet.
Knowing what a journalist will ask in an interview before hand will help tremendously when you go to answer the questions later as you have time to think about your responses. However, this does not happen all that often; often times you will conduct the interview live, and sometimes on camera or audio, so you need to know what to say and what not to say at all times.
A few ways to cope with questions that put you on the spot or that you just cannot answer for one reason or another are too;
Answer vaguely:
Answering a question, without actually answering it leaves the interview going, as well as it allows you to avoid the specific question at hand, so you don’t say things you shouldn’t.
For example:
Q: “There has been a lot of talk about you and player X, a lot of 'drama' between the two of you has surfaced recently, would you care to comment on that?â€Â
A: “I think player X is a very skilled player, and I am hoping that when I play him again in the future I will come out on topâ€Â
Have prepared statements for certain ‘current topics’:
When popular topics arise, whether they are good or bad, it is best to have prepared statement for the media so you can remain consistent in your statements, as well as to protect yourself in tough times. An example of a rough situation is:
Q: “There has been a lot of rumors circulating recently about you changing team organizations, care to comment on them?â€Â
A: “I am just focusing on the upcoming tournaments, I have been practicing hard, and I hope to display good results for my team and our sponsors, MSI notebooks, Steel Series, and Ugame.netâ€Â
or to simply say: ‘next question please’.
It is best not to answer at all than to give a negative answer. A lot of people get stuck on difficult questions and do not know how to play them off, or they simply stumble and mumble through their answers, unsure of how to proceed. Ways to deal with these sorts of problems are quite simple as you can do ‘practice promotional interviews’ with your team/organizations staff. This is where you can practice answering questions on the spot, and when problems arise you can simply edit them out later, but you as a player still get that practice answering questions on the spot and your team will still get the promotional content from this as well.
Many professional players take things for granted, for instance their positions as pro-gamers. Many players make it very hard for content involving them to be produced; whether it's interviews, VODs, blogs, reviews, etc. players think that they do not need to do that stuff, which just isn’t the case.
As a player, your value runs much deeper than putting results on the board; you need to be accessible and marketable to the public (ie, your fans). Without providing any content regarding yourself, who is going to want to cheer for you?
You need to have good ‘morals and ethics’ as a pro-gamer. Meaning; you should love what you do as a player, and want to promote your team, sponsors and E-Sports as a whole in a positive way. A very large part of this is working alongside the journalists and marketing staff you have available to you. Producing content that fans can view regularly helps them relate to you as a player and as a person; it allows them to ‘get to know you’ and in turn, if they like what they see, will most likely become a fan.
If you are in this for the money, it will show. The players who do this for a ‘quick buck’ get passed to the wayside very quickly. As a player, you are also a role model for people, and in E-Sports those people are generally youthful individuals. If you do not support and help the development of your own industry/community it will surely show, and your so-called fans will not wish to support you anymore as you obviously do not support them.
As a player, your value runs much deeper than putting results on the board; you need to be accessible and marketable to the public (ie, your fans). Without providing any content regarding yourself, who is going to want to cheer for you?
You need to have good ‘morals and ethics’ as a pro-gamer. Meaning; you should love what you do as a player, and want to promote your team, sponsors and E-Sports as a whole in a positive way. A very large part of this is working alongside the journalists and marketing staff you have available to you. Producing content that fans can view regularly helps them relate to you as a player and as a person; it allows them to ‘get to know you’ and in turn, if they like what they see, will most likely become a fan.
If you are in this for the money, it will show. The players who do this for a ‘quick buck’ get passed to the wayside very quickly. As a player, you are also a role model for people, and in E-Sports those people are generally youthful individuals. If you do not support and help the development of your own industry/community it will surely show, and your so-called fans will not wish to support you anymore as you obviously do not support them.
Despite what many people may think, a person’s physical fitness and appearance are very important when it comes to E-Sports. When a professional athlete is endorsed by a large company such as Gatorade, it is not enough to be the best; companies want good looking well spoken individuals to represent them and be the face of their products.
You may be thinking to yourself that someone’s appearance does not matter when it comes to E-Sports because it is just video games, you don’t need to be in good physical condition to compete at the top and be signed with the best teams in the world. However most professional gamers would disagree, for example the wemadeFOX team in Korea has their own gym at their training center so their players can stay in good shape. Alessandro ‘Stermy’ Avallone goes to the gym 3-4 times a week, Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel runs 6km every day so he can stay fit, and former professional Quake 4 super star Johan ‘Toxjq’ Quick even took to body building towards the end of his pro-gaming career.
The fact is that a person’s physical condition plays a rather large role in their E-Sports career. Whether it is to maintain a healthy image, or to just maintain a healthy body and mind, staying in shape is very important.
For instance Intel probably doesn't want to portray the stereotypical greasy obese gamer to promote their latest hot product to the masses. Companies don't generally wish to promote a negative lifestyle or image alongside the products they wish to sell as that would reflect poorly on them.
You may be thinking to yourself that someone’s appearance does not matter when it comes to E-Sports because it is just video games, you don’t need to be in good physical condition to compete at the top and be signed with the best teams in the world. However most professional gamers would disagree, for example the wemadeFOX team in Korea has their own gym at their training center so their players can stay in good shape. Alessandro ‘Stermy’ Avallone goes to the gym 3-4 times a week, Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel runs 6km every day so he can stay fit, and former professional Quake 4 super star Johan ‘Toxjq’ Quick even took to body building towards the end of his pro-gaming career.
The fact is that a person’s physical condition plays a rather large role in their E-Sports career. Whether it is to maintain a healthy image, or to just maintain a healthy body and mind, staying in shape is very important.
For instance Intel probably doesn't want to portray the stereotypical greasy obese gamer to promote their latest hot product to the masses. Companies don't generally wish to promote a negative lifestyle or image alongside the products they wish to sell as that would reflect poorly on them.
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